Hybrid cichlids : what do you think?

[Velvetgun]

In Italy, if you even try to say that you would like to get a Blood Parrot, a Polar Blue, a Flowerhorn, you are almost insulted.
The fact that they are hybrids is very contested, that aquariums are a preservation of nature, that we should instead help preserve endangered species and not create fish with morphological problems that make their life difficult or are even sterile.
I am very intrigued by the very particular character of the Blood Parrot, I find the Polar Blue very cute, the Flowerhorn are not really my favorites, too big and I don't like the extreme of the growth (but it also applies to the Oranda)
To get the popcorn out...
There are many species that have been made extreme by man making them more delicate and with problems, is it so different for hybrids?
And are we sure that some aesthetic "changes" in the "natural" species are not instead linked to hidden hybridizations?
What do you think?

 

[Magnum Man]

I personally tend to prefer more natural fish... but man's finger is seen in everything from fancy guppy's to glo fish, to electric blue acaras, and rams... some could have been natural crossing, but others are gene spliced, like the glo fish... I don't appreciate the fish meddling, that grossly effect the fishes life, like balloons, etc. but funny thing is the glo fish, which have the greatest meddling done, don't seem to suffer, from any physical ailments... I guess if they are viable enough to enter the hobby, they are here to stay, as long as they continue to sell...

BTW... welcome to the forum

 

[Velvetgun]

Personalmente tendo a preferire pesci più naturali... ma il dito dell'uomo si vede in ogni cosa, dai guppy fantasia ai pesci glo, agli acara blu elettrico e ai montoni... alcuni potrebbero essere stati incroci naturali, ma altri sono frutto di un'unione genetica, come il glo fish... non apprezzo l'ingerenza dei pesci, che influiscono grossolanamente sulla vita dei pesci, come palloncini, ecc. ma la cosa divertente è che i glo fish, che hanno commesso l'ingerenza maggiore, non sembrano soffrire di alcun disturbi fisici... immagino che se sono abbastanza validi per dedicarsi a questo hobby, sono qui per restare, finché continuano a vendere...

A proposito... benvenuto nel forum

thanks for the welcome, let's see if you say it after a while
glo fish in italy are absolutely forbidden but as usual every now and then some unaware beginner posts a photo of them on groups or forums so someone illegally sells them.

 

[Magnum Man]

sorry, translator not working... I got... I, Glo Fish, in, italia, & forum...

 

[Velvetgun]

sorry, translator not working... I got... I, Glo Fish, in, italia, & forum...

sorry, I thought and wrote in Italian...
I have now corrected above in English

 

[GaryE]

I'm the hardline natural fish type. I have no use for hybrids and while I respect the skills of linebreeders, I would not keep their products.

Blood parrots as laboratory creations reflect no fish breeding skill - just technology. The same is true for glofish.

But I am not dictator of the fish world, and if others want them, fine. Just don't say "they're beautiful! Don't you agree?" unless you want an honest answer. I think flowerhorns are really ugly. But as I said in another thread, you may think my shirt is ugly. There's no guarantee I have good taste in anything.

 

[Back in the fold]

I'm the hardline natural fish type. I have no use for hybrids and while I respect the skills of linebreeders, I would not keep their products.

Blood parrots as laboratory creations reflect no fish breeding skill - just technology. The same is true for glofish.

But I am not dictator of the fish world, and if others want them, fine. Just don't say "they're beautiful! Don't you agree?" unless you want an honest answer. I think flowerhorns are really ugly. But as I said in another thread, you may think my shirt is ugly. There's no guarantee I have good taste in anything.

I wish we were all the hardline natural fish type and my shirts are tasteful .

 

[Uberhoust]

For me it is a matter of personal taste. I don't like most hybrids and I really don't like ones that make it hard for the fish to survive normally, excessive fins, poorly developed jaws etc. That said fish keeping for most of us is not to the benefit of any species directly as they fish never go from our tanks back into the environment so in the end it is what you want to put into your aquarium. Just my two cents.

 

[GaryE]

On a personal, individual level, it doesn't matter to me.

There is the 'global view' though - the aquarium industry view. Hybrids can be very cheap to mass produce, and the blood parrot, for example, is modified to the point it's a hyper aggressive fish that can't bite. The natural fish it was built from are more difficult characters. But in many markets, the fish that are the product of natural selection can't be found anymore. Once available, really interesting Cichlids are 'extinct in the hobby'. We don't have serious, working endangered fish networks, so we can't say the ones that have also vanished in nature could be saved if we had access to them as things of value to work with. There's no grand plans.
When aquarium bred species are crossed, often it seems aquarium stocks of the real species are discontinued by the farms. You get one novelty fish at the price of 2 natural ones we could have learned from. On a forum like this, we tend to have a concentration of hobbyists who get into their fishkeeping. Out in the industry, fish are disposable decor.
I started with platys as the first fish I bought after I was given a tank with mollies and guppies, 57 years ago. I believe the store I bought from imported its own fish, as the owner did collecting trips. I probably kept several local varieties of wild caught platys, up until I was about 13 years old. I loved them, but was clueless about them. As I got older and learned more, I discovered I couldn't find platys (X maculatus platys) that looked like that. It took me a while to catch on to the fact only linebred and hybridized platys were available. I've look for 40 years, and have never found a wild maculatus platy. They're a holy grail fish to me.

Everyone thinks they're common. But what they have is often larger, crossed with swordtails, etc.
But through hybridizing, we have reduced choices. I like choices.

 

[JackGulley]

That’s the thing for me. When I started aquaria I was really infatuated with this fantasy of selectively breeding the fish into all these interesting and novel patterns. But as I learned more about fish, I realized that the wild forms were more interesting than anything humans could create! Now I’m more interested in uncommon wild species.