What annoys me the most about this post is that FM is encouraging people, indirectly, to experiment and see if they can make a fish as pretty as his. This, IMO, is irresponsible fish keeping.
I am in 100% agreement with this statement. Freshmike, as a cichlid owner & breeder I would think that you would understand the importance of this. I understand that you are not planning on distributing any of the offspring, however if you allow them to continue to breed eventually you will have to do something with them. At that point you are only going to have a few options either destroying the fry or to start supplying them to your LFS. This is the part that really scares me, I agree that these fish are asthetically pleasing to most people which creates an even bigger problem because that makes them desirable to people new to the cichlid hobby.
This post is not to try and bash you but to give you the opinion of a cichlid owner and breeder. Many people have worked years, some most of their adult lives to try to classify all of the Malawi species and it is our job (Responsible Cichlid Breeders) to keep those species pure.
And did you not see the posts he has saying this was accidental? It's not his fault his fish decided to breed with a different species. I'll bet it happens in the wild sometimes too. He's not supporting hybrids, purely showing people some of his own. They are pretty fish whether or not they're pure.
Sorry Julie, but NO this does not happen in the wild. These two fish are from completely different parts of Lake Malawi, and if not for aquariums would never see each other or have a chance to breed.
Anyway, This post is intended not as to bash anyone but to educate people about cichlids.
Freshmike I have only 2 requests of you.
1. That you do not EVER distribute these fish or the fry from these fish to anyone (LFS, Friend, etc.) As you stated in one of your earlier posts.
2. That when or if you post pics of Hybrid cichlids in the future you STRESS the problems that Hybrids can cause and the IMPORTANCE of not ever distributing them. So as not to encourage people to try and breed hybrids themselves.
Thanks for listening to my comments I invite all of you to PM me or reply. By the way I am new to the forum as of today, I am from several Cichlid forums and not using a made up or spoof name.