ifixoldhouses

I was thinking about getting twelve, three week old Angel fish from LFS, he has two giant Black Angels, the fry are 1/2 white and 1/2 black. Now if I raised the twelve and they paired off, would that be bad genetics since their technically brother and sister? or does it work that way lol.

ifixoldhouses

bump

Regal

I'lll let the more experienced breeders answer your question about genetics but I wanted to mention that 3 week old angels are way to young to be sold.

dvc_r

First of all I agree with suemvb, they're too young to be sold and the probability of raising all 12 to adults is very slim. I would wait until they are at least 1 1/2 - 2 inches. Also find out if the two parents are "related". If they're not, your talking F1 generation which is fine. Most breeders use this method to bring out a characteristic they want but the more inline breeding, the worse the immune system will get. It gets very complicated but here is a good link to explain it better:
http://www.angelsplus.com/ArticleGenetics2.htm

ifixoldhouses

He doesnt realy have them for sale yet, I was just going to ask him about it,So it would be better just to buy a few dime sized from one store, and goto another for a few I guess.

btate617

It would depend on how long they have been breeding them to related fish, ie brother/sister. A lot of people get a pair of fish, they have fry then the parents breed with those fry as they grow and it continues in a circle. Ever notice how some guppies at LFS have very little color, they are a cool little fish, but have been interbreed for so long some of their appeal has been lost.

Just because fish are not related does not make their fry F1 generation.
Wild fish who have fry, those fry are F1.
Those F1 fish have fry, the new fry are F2.
And so on....

The problem with breeding fish back to their own fry is mainly cosmetic. The fish will begin to have their color washed out and things of that sort. Most people have seen a Convict cichlid at a LFS. Cool striped fish, mostly grey and black and the females have the orange belly. If you ever get a look at a wild convict you will be amazed, the yellows, blues, and reds are amazing. Most LFS fish are so far removed from their wild roots you get a less appealing fish.

I breed cichlids and try to only get wild and F1 fish for the fish I plan on breeding, some people don't like keeping wild fish for different reasons, I am one who prefers them. The color and overall appearence of the fry from these fish is the reason I do it. I can also get a better price for F1 and F2 fry then from a domestic pair of fish, then I can put that money back into my hobby.

Also like the others have said wait until the fish get a bit bigger before buying them. And if you get 12 when they do grow and you get a pair, unless in a bigger sized tank, plan on that pair killing off the others when they decide to spawn.

Brian

dvc_r

Technically F1 is defined as:
the heterozygous offspring produced by the crossing of a homozygous dominant strain with a homozygous recessive strain.

But that's what you need to find out from the LFS. If that's the case, there's nothing wrong with breeding an F1 generation. Problems arise when you continue to breed offspring with offspring. I made these mistakes when I was first breeding my guppies. So I think we're on the same page because I agree with everything you're saying.

If you want to purchase Angels, here is how I do it with my Discus. I deal with only one LFS that I trust and once I find the ones I like, I put a deposit on them and ask them to hold them for 3-4 weeks. (Sometimes I'll lie and tell them the tank isn't cycled yet) ...so it's a little "white" lie...XD This way I know they're gonna take good care of them because they don't want to give me back my money and it buys me time so they will grow and I know they're healthy.
Most LFS won't be so accommodating but you won't know unless you ask.

One more thing to re-emphasize: Like Brian said, if to pair up , I hope you have another tank!