What Can Convicts Hybridize With?

SINISTER

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What fish can Convicts breed with to make Hybrids? I want to try my luck with a Large Male Convict and maybe a Female of a different Cichlid? What would you guys recommend? I am thinking about picking out one of my Nicer colored Male Convicts and start doing some selective breeding..
 
Probably any number of other similar Cichlid.. I have heard of Firemouths being used. They make an interesting looking fish from what I have seen though.

Why would you do it though? Just creating problems for yourself, unless you want a whole batch of pretty feeders, or to keep them Isolated from any other Cichlids in a "species" tank?

Unless you enjoy euthanising fish, I would not bother!
 
Probably any number of other similar Cichlid.. I have heard of Firemouths being used. They make an interesting looking fish from what I have seen though.

Why would you do it though? Just creating problems for yourself, unless you want a whole batch of pretty feeders, or to keep them Isolated from any other Cichlids in a "species" tank?

Unless you enjoy euthanising fish, I would not bother!


Yeah they would most likely be put into my Turtle tank for feeders. I dont usually use Cichlids tho as feeders because 1. there sort of hard for turtles to catch and 2. There skin is pretty tough
 
you could try breeding ur male convict with a female convict?
 
I can't see what people have against hybrids... so long as it's a proven cross that produces healthy fry then the only thing to consider is re-homing in the future.

Not all shops will take hybrids and some people have a real dislike of hybrids.

I don't know what will cross with a convict. But just be aware that if you did hybridise that you could end up with deformed fish of unknown temprement and size. So long as you have the space and time I can't see why people would particularly object.
 
If you keep some in a tank to themselves you could observe for a while and get to grips with the temperament of them.

Once you know what kind of fish they are, you can try mixing them with other fish to see who they get on with and who they don't.

Have people got something against hybrids then? Sure they won't go in a true biotope, but most people mix fish from dif areas anyway. So as long as they are healthy and look nice what's the problem?
 
i agree with the above two posts. i dont see whats wrong with hybrids either, infact you can get some awesome looking fish.
 
Any other CA cichlids potentially...SA's don't mix well but CA's (from what I have read and been told) aren't all that fussy...

The only thing for me with hybrids, like mentioned above, is an inability to get fry/juvies passed on which means the tank owner has to either get more tanks for fish numbers or kill fish...the second of the two seems a bit unfair if a concious decision is made to go this route...that said if someone can breed something really nice I would be at least a bit interested :)

edit: Blue Convict / Yellow Convict might be cool...and wouldn't upset too many people. You may end up with a smaller multi-coloured convict of sorts...mixing any of the Archocentrus family might not be such a bad thing: www.aquahobby.com/zeco/genero.php?gen=Archocentrus
 
Any other CA cichlids potentially...SA's don't mix well but CA's (from what I have read and been told) aren't all that fussy...

The only thing for me with hybrids, like mentioned above, is an inability to get fry/juvies passed on which means the tank owner has to either get more tanks for fish numbers or kill fish...the second of the two seems a bit unfair if a concious decision is made to go this route...that said if someone can breed something really nice I would be at least a bit interested :)

edit: Blue Convict / Yellow Convict might be cool...and wouldn't upset too many people. You may end up with a smaller multi-coloured convict of sorts...mixing any of the Archocentrus family might not be such a bad thing: www.aquahobby.com/zeco/genero.php?gen=Archocentrus


female parrot fish .
 
female parrot fish .

It's already a seriously horrible hybrid IMHO...
sick.gif


And I thought they were sterile, or is that males only?
 
The reason people are against Hybrids?

Well, you have to house them all yourself, or euthanise them. Handing them on to other people is a bad idea, as you cannot guarentee they are not bred from. Its very hard to keep bloodlines clear, and fish genus properly defined as it is, without someone unwittingly (or on purposes!) diluting the line with hybrids.

The first generation are not really an issue. However if one of those hybrids is mated to another pure convict, then the fry might look very much like a convict, but actually be 1/4 something else. Which has implications in the future as you dilute the purity of convict lines if they are bred from again and again.

Its not the Hyridization thats bad, its what happens to the fish afterwards that upsets people.

Unfortunatley LFS do not help in this matter, as they often have a "mixed cichlid" tank. These might create hybrids if suitable mates are not available, and these offspring can then end up in the tank of one of the fish they were hybridized from, and then you have impure fish in non-hybrid stock.

Its not liked in the community as it can really damage the hobby for people who have a real love of the different genus.
 
Yep, I guess we should be thinking more about what happens in the long run to the pure breeds...an example of this is Convicts being breed with Honduran Red Points...I have a HRP, that's what it was labelled up as in the LFS anyway, but I doubt it is a pure breed and should probably take on the name "Blue Convict" instead...

If keep separate and not culled then I see no issue though, it's just when it muddies the water for everyone that it's an issue.
 
fish are not dogs. they are species not breeds.

and there are something like over 2000 described cichlid species. why do u need to create more?
 
fish are not dogs. they are species not breeds.

and there are something like over 2000 described cichlid species. why do u need to create more?


I apologise Meguro, sorry to rock the boat as it were. Obviously a bad choice of words when discussing hybrid breeding
laugh.gif


Out of curiousity though whilst on the topic of breed v's species - Are blood parrot cichlids / blue convicts a "species" or a "breed" then? I am sure there are lots of different fish that have come about through fish choosing to breed with other species naturally, and probably fairly recently too.....

Not that I am saying lets all go and inter breed different species...I won't be for example. However people do have the choice, and there are no laws stopping them. The only issue I really have is what happens to the off-spring...if they re-enter the general fish stocks available from LFS for example that obviously isn't any good. I do wonder though, how many recent species finds are merely newer fish from a natural pairing of 2 different species...mmmmm
 

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