Maybe a stupid question, do fish have to breed with their own specie? Lol

[Tttay89]

My Tropheus duboisi keeps digging holes in my substrate and laying in it. Which I can only assume is a nest attempt. Only problem is I only have one tropheus. So why is it doing it ?. I do have a julidochromis also and sometimes it does look like they do some weird vibrating side to side thing. Is this fish sex? Lol

 

[Utar]

I don't have a clue except to point out that there are several hybrids very popular in the aquarium industry. These hybrids are not natural and created by breeders using different species. Flowerhorn is one that comes to mind.

 

[Avel1896]

For example, any Poecilia can breed with any Poecilia :
Poecilia "uuppy" reticulata x Poecilia wingei
Poecilia "guppy" tericulata x Poecilia "molly" sphenops or velifera
In most cases fry is infertile.

So why is it doing it ?

2 reasons to me :
- atavism.
- stress : yours are alone and Tropheus and Julidochromis are schooling fish that have to live in group of 8-10.
Maybe their behavior influence each other.

 

[Fishmanic]

Probably similar to Betas making bubble nests even if no female is around. Maybe he's hoping to a attract a female.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Different species in the same genus can sometimes produce offspring hybrids which are sometimes sterile. It's unlikely that the two you mention are breeding, but perhaps going through 'pre-progammed' motions.

 

[Sgooosh]

For example, any Poecilia can breed with any Poecilia :
Poecilia "uuppy" reticulata x Poecilia wingei
Poecilia "guppy" tericulata x Poecilia "molly" sphenops or velifera
In most cases fry is infertile.

2 reasons to me :
- atavism.
- stress : yours are alone and Tropheus and Julidochromis are schooling fish that have to live in group of 8-10.
Maybe their behavior influence each other.

sometimes fish get too desperate and try to mate with other species
one person got fooled to think that guppies and mosquitofish can breed

 

[Avel1896]

Mosquito fish isn't a Poecilia but a Gambusia so cannot breed with Guppy........ until it happens !

 

[Sgooosh]

Mosquito fish isn't a Poecilia but a Gambusia so cannot breed with Guppy........ until it happens !

yep!
and they think it succeded becuase the guppies and mosquitofhs were already impregnated

 

[Avel1896]

In their fefense, Guppy and Gambusia have similar bodies....

 

[Sgooosh]

In their fefense, Guppy and Gambusia have similar bodies....

yep, guppies would probably try to mate with a gambusia and other way around

 

[unapirocorn]

Mosquito fish isn't a Poecilia but a Gambusia so cannot breed with Guppy........ until it happens !

I have Mosquito fish/guppy fish hybrid
Mom was Mosquito and dad was a number of different fancy males
I have only purchased male guppies and female mosquitoes and this is what I got

 

[GaryE]

Many species will hybridize, because the barrier they face is geographic - they don't ever meet in nature.

Now, as a hobbyist, should we encourage this? Hybrids are big business, so if that's your approach, you argue that it's fine. If you are interested in natural fish, then you note which ones have a genetic history that says there were natural hybrids (it is a force in evolution) and you stick to producing fish as the species they are.

I've had accidental hybrids here, and have never distributed any of them. Fish have been made extinct by aquarists crossing their last populations. There's a good chance endler's are gone in nature, and they are pretty close to gone in the hobby - living in the soup pot of careless breeding. There's no going back there.

 

[Byron]

A fish is genetically programmed to spawn with members of its own species. A fish is able (I'm speaking in general here) to spawn with a member of another species that is taxonomically classified in the same genus because the species in a genus share a lot of genetic material. In nature, cross-hybridization within the genus is so rare as to be non-existent (again general terms). Geographic separation may be involved, but there are examples where even two species in the same habitat never hybridize, so there is clearly more to it than just geography though this is very true none the less. Examples I am familiar with include the Marble Hatchetfish, Carnegiella strigata, which occurs in two distinct lineages. In one habitat stream both lineages occur side by side, but scientific examination has shown that they never appear to hybridize but remain within their distinct lineage.

Ian Fuller has written that distinct species of Corydoras within the same lineage (there are nine recognized lineages within the genus, which means there will one day be nine genera in place of the one) can hybridize (I have had this occur in my own tanks over the last decade) but never would unless a solitary male or female of one species is placed in with the opposite gender of the other species. Ian has said that if the fish are kept in groups of the species, as they should always be, they will not hybridize with another species.

In nature, new species occur as a result of evolution, not as an hybridization for no critical reason. It takes thousands of years for a fish species to evolve into another distinct species. But it always (so far as I am aware) occurs due to some debilitating natural force or as a means of survival. Which may well explain why the two species of Corydoras will hybridize if there is a lone male or female of one of them. The greatest instinct every animal has is the need to reproduce to maintain the species.

 

[Colin_T]

pictures and video of the fish?

As a general rule, fish will try to breed with their own kind. If there is only one fish and it is with other similar fish that are a different species, it will try to breed but be unlikely to succeed.

Most Australian and New Guinea rainbowfish can hybridise successfully but they prefer to breed with their own kind and will breed with their own kind if given a choice.

Tropheus cichlids are mouth brooders. Julidochromis lay their eggs on rocks. The two species will not breed together. They might be showing off and displaying to each other but you will not get any babies from them. If you do, record the results using video and submit it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

 

[unapirocorn]

Many species will hybridize, because the barrier they face is geographic - they don't ever meet in nature.

Now, as a hobbyist, should we encourage this? Hybrids are big business, so if that's your approach, you argue that it's fine. If you are interested in natural fish, then you note which ones have a genetic history that says there were natural hybrids (it is a force in evolution) and you stick to producing fish as the species they are.

I've had accidental hybrids here, and have never distributed any of them. Fish have been made extinct by aquarists crossing their last populations. There's a good chance endler's are gone in nature, and they are pretty close to gone in the hobby - living in the soup pot of careless breeding. There's no going back there.

I actually thought that mosquito fish and Guppies were the same breed of fish I didn’t realize that they were separate breeds when I put them in my tank together that’s how I ended up getting the hybrid I didn’t know that they were two different kinds of fish I thought I was just buying Guppies they were in the Guppies team at the pet store but I ended up getting a hybrid from it I thought the Guppies email didn’t have color in the mail bin please that’s what the little itty-bitty pet store that I went to said