South American Cichlids • Electric Blue Acara

[ACC in NC]

I’ve hoped that the Electric Blue Acara has been bred for color and is not a hybrid. Over the years the regular Blue Acara that is known is considered Andinoacara/Aequidens pulcher, but I’ve also seen A. latifrons sold as Blue Acara. I found a picture that closely resembles the Electric version and it’s possibly A. latifrons. It comes from the Cauca River near Cali Colombia. Check out the info and photo by Rainer Stawikowski below.

This fish comes from higher up in the Rio Cauca near Cali. Rainer Stawikowski also says that this is probably Andinoacara (Aequidens) latifrons.
Photo: Rainer Stawikowski.
http://www.lem.net/alf/THU/And_latifrons_cali1.jpg

[Narwhal72]

Afraid that this is a genetically engineered fish. It's made by taking eggs or sperm from an Electric blue ram and then combining it with the opposite number from a blue acara. After that the fry are line bred until the color is stabilized. This process takes only a handful of generations whereas line breeding can take dozens or even hundreds of generations.

These fish came from the Asian farms originally where this process is pretty well established. I remember seeing them for the first time at Superzoo 2 years ago and talked to the importer.

There are a lot of hybrids made this way (Synodontis, RT shovelnose, Flowerhorns) where fish that have different breeding strategies such that they would never cross breed on their own are made to hybridize in the lab directly through human intervention.

Andy

[ACC in NC]

Afraid that this is a genetically engineered fish. It's made by taking eggs or sperm from an Electric blue ram and then combining it with the opposite number from a blue acara. After that the fry are line bred until the color is stabilized. This process takes only a handful of generations whereas line breeding can take dozens or even hundreds of generations.

These fish came from the Asian farms originally where this process is pretty well established. I remember seeing them for the first time at Superzoo 2 years ago and talked to the importer.

There are a lot of hybrids made this way (Synodontis, RT shovelnose, Flowerhorns) where fish that have different breeding strategies such that they would never cross breed on their own are made to hybridize in the lab directly through human intervention.

Andy

Thanks for the information Andy! I knew they were imported from Asia but haven’t been able to find out any information on how they were created anywhere on the net.

The genetically modified fish I’ve seen, they use a fluorescent protein gene derived from jellyfish or coral. When they inject it in the reproductive organs the fish will produce offspring that are fluorescent and glow under a black light and when those offspring breed they will keep passing it along.

Checkout these videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN6P6kFjrjM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08nIq_okmrU

[Narwhal72]

The genetically modified fish I’ve seen, they use a fluorescent protein gene derived from jellyfish or coral. When they inject it in the reproductive organs the fish will produce offspring that are fluorescent and glow under a black light and when those offspring breed they will keep passing it along.

Not quite. The creator of the Glofish actually did a talk at one of our club meetings a few months back and described how the process was done. Zebra danio eggs were taken immediately after being laid (there was only a few minutes before the membrane would harden) and the fluorescent protein creating DNA was injected into them which then combines with the zebra danio DNA. Then the fry were raised and out of many thousands of attempts they would get a few that exhibited the fluorescent protein. Then those were selectively bred to produce the modern day Glofish.

All of the glofish in the world come from just a handful of these creations. Love or hate these fish, you have to admire the technology and the difficulty it took to create them.

What created the Blue Acara was forced hybridization. A female fish is treated with a hormone (usually BCG) which causes eggs to ripen. Then the eggs are stripped from the female and mixed with the sperm stripped from a donor male. This is actually quite easy to do since the fish have external fertilization. Then they are hatched and raised in a lab. From there it's just line breeding to get the trait stabilized.

Fortunately Acara's and Rams aren't that far apart genetically and were able to breed true. It would be a lot different if it was tried with an Acara and a Red Zebra.

[ACC in NC]

The genetically modified fish I’ve seen, they use a fluorescent protein gene derived from jellyfish or coral. When they inject it in the reproductive organs the fish will produce offspring that are fluorescent and glow under a black light and when those offspring breed they will keep passing it along.

Not quite. The creator of the Glofish actually did a talk at one of our club meetings a few months back and described how the process was done. Zebra danio eggs were taken immediately after being laid (there was only a few minutes before the membrane would harden) and the fluorescent protein creating DNA was injected into them which then combines with the zebra danio DNA. Then the fry were raised and out of many thousands of attempts they would get a few that exhibited the fluorescent protein. Then those were selectively bred to produce the modern day Glofish.

All of the glofish in the world come from just a handful of these creations. Love or hate these fish, you have to admire the technology and the difficulty it took to create them.

What created the Blue Acara was forced hybridization. A female fish is treated with a hormone (usually BCG) which causes eggs to ripen. Then the eggs are stripped from the female and mixed with the sperm stripped from a donor male. This is actually quite easy to do since the fish have external fertilization. Then they are hatched and raised in a lab. From there it's just line breeding to get the trait stabilized.

Fortunately Acara's and Rams aren't that far apart genetically and were able to breed true. It would be a lot different if it was tried with an Acara and a Red Zebra.

Thanks for the information!

[Iggy Newcastle]

Thanks for the education narwhal

[Narwhal72]

Thanks. The speaker who gave the talk is Bill Shields. If you are a member of a local club I highly encourage getting him to speak about the Glofish history. It's really fascinating.

Andy

[Caryphotography]

I'm trying to determine the sex of my Electric Blue Acara and would anyone happen to know the tell tell differences between a male and a female.

[ACC in NC]

I'm trying to determine the sex of my Electric Blue Acara and would anyone happen to know the tell tell differences between a male and a female.

That’s a male! The males have longer dorsal and anal fins like yours and are larger and more full bodied. Males seem to have more of a hump on the forehead also. I’m thinking the males max out around 5 inches and the females 3.75 inches but males seem to be twice the body mass.

Female

[ACC in NC]

So far both batches of fry I pulled are all starting to show the blue coming in.


Another shot of one of the males.

[Jersey_cichlid_guy]

So far both batches of fry I pulled are all starting to show the blue coming in.


Another shot of one of the males.

Do you pull all of the fry? Would the parents eat them if they were left in the tank?

[Iggy Newcastle]

Awesome photos guys!

[ACC in NC]

Do you pull all of the fry? Would the parents eat them if they were left in the tank?

I pulled the first two batches just so I would have some fry. All three of the females have spawned two more times and I didn’t pull them and they disappeared. I have the EBA in with a school of large Gold Barbs that are about 3 inches long with a few Bushynose Pleco’s. The females have been spawning about every two to three weeks and usually right after a water change.

[ACC in NC]

Awesome photos guys!

Thanks Iggy!

[Jersey_cichlid_guy]

nice