kuba1992

hey everyone, why is a hybrid so bad? what is it? how can u prevent from getting one and how can u tell if it is a hydrid or not? thanks in advance.

CHoffman

Hybrids aren't necessarily bad. the Blood Red Parrot is a hybrid and so is the flowerhorn. Some people look down on it because it's not keeping the blood lines pure. As for your other questions is really depends on what kind of fish your talking about. Cichlids hybrids would be different then guppy hybrids. Basically if you don't want hybrids then don't house two species that can interbreed in the same tank.

Butterfly

Some fish like Endlers are going extinct in the wild but people who don't know/care put them in tanks with guppys which they will interbreed with. The results are hybrid Endler/guppy, beautiful but still hybrids. This is an extreme case but is a good example. There are lots of fish that wil interbreed and you can't tell they are hybrids then the stores sell them as one or the other.
Just some examples.
Carol

kuba1992

can african cichlids interbreed? i have like 4 different species in a 60 gallon tank

agabr123

definitely, but it depends on the type do you know what kinds you have? if not you can post pictures and someone (angela is your best bet) can identify them for you

sirdarksol

Actually, the breeding of blood parrots is generally frowned upon because the fish has deformities that make its life very difficult. The most prominent deformity is the parrot's inability to open its mouth very far. Malformed swim bladders, spines, and eyes are other common deformities.

Not all hybrids are bad, however. Mules, for example, are hardy, intelligent, curious creatures (though they generally are infertile).

Angela_96

Malawi mbuna hybrids, are bad to me for the simple reason of conservation of the species.
Keeping groups of cichlids together of the same species (2 psuedo or 2 met species or 2 labs species) is not recomended.

Hybrid africans are hard to sell also. Hybrids are unpredictable, etc.

There are 2 types of "hybrids" when it comes to malawi, their is hybrids between mbuna, then there are some hybrids that were purposly bred that way to create a fish that looks a certain way with certain traits (like the ob peacock, strawberry peacock, rubenesns peacock). The ob is a hybrid line bred from a type of mbuna and peacock.

josmoloco

"definitely, but it depends on the type"

any mouthbrooder from lake malwi can produce offspring together, an interesting and less common example of a large hap hybrid

Ob eye biter
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/...002196.jpg?v=0

Shawnie

I think the BR are becoming an amazing fun fish....the more bred, the more they seem healthy..although they do have a funny look about them, i dont think mine have a difficult life and they hold their own and eat like kings or queens (not sure how to sex them hahaha) never seen an issue with them as far as swimming, seeing, or even bending like a gymnast to get where they want to be for food LOL ....maybe they have been bred for so long that most of the issues have been bred out of them? but I do know, mine are happy, fun fish for the aquarium and id have a ton more if i had the room

sirdarksol

It's quite possible. The ones that can open their mouths further are more likely to survive long enough to breed. I'm just going by what Wikipedia and a few cichlid sites had to say about them (I looked it up due to a past question about blood parrots).

Shawnie

the breeding of them, from what ive read, is becoming easier as the sterilization of the males, is becoming less...who knows...but I do know from my experience, they dont suffer from being who they are and they are just an amazing fun fish for all kinds of tank mates....but a buddy of mine has one hes had for 5 years..and I swear his is about 8 inches big!! so im concerned with how big they really do get...

Angela_96

I would say the improvement in quality of the fish actually would be the same as the different breeds of dogs. Where they line breed to get certain traits into one animal.

kuba1992

What's a br?

namehater

i think shawnie was talking about the Blood Red (parrot)

Shawnie

Yep I was

kuba1992

oh ok can they go with africans? and how many africans can i fit in a 70 gallon tank?

Angela_96

No blood reds do not go with africans.
Cichlid forum would help with stocking, go to the cichlid-forum website and search for the cookie cutters.
I am guessing around 16 africans in a 70g.

cichlidsmad

looks more like a peacock

josmoloco

Well, it is half ob peacock and half Dimidiochromis compressiceps, Which might as well make it 1/4mbuna, 1/4 Aulonocara and 1/2 eye biter because ob peacocks are already a mbuna peacock hybrid. Definatly not a pure aulonocara, body and head shape is way off.....