[Ulfhethnar]

Hi everyone,

New to tanganyikan and just setting up new tank.
I was going to buy few small (1/2 inch maybe) Julies. marlieris from my LFS but been told it's not a good idea because they are all siblings so they won't pair up. And if they somehow will all they fry from them later on will be unhealthy fish... Because of them being siblings!
Sorry maybe stupid question for some but is that all true?
Thanks

 

[DJRansome]

Not true.

 

[Ulfhethnar]

Not true.

So would you say that is perfectly fine to buy them even if they are siblings.
And they should pair Ok?
And if they breed one day fry will be good and healthy?

Thanks

 

[Deeda]

Yes it is fine to buy them even if they are siblings.

You should see at least a couple of them pair up as they start to mature assuming you have multiple males and females.

Any fry should be healthy as long as the parents are healthy.

Most of the young fish I buy are usually related and I have never experienced defective fry from them though I do buy my fish from local hobbyists that seem to care about the fish that they breed and distribute to other hobbyists.

 

[Halfcopy]

Yep absolutely not true. Probably 90% of the juvenile fish you buy are siblings. The fish don't know any better I have three pairs of julidochromis that are siblings. In fact all my pairs but one are siblings. Having said that it can be beneficial after a time to diversify your stock. I've read that color sometimes washes after several generations. However that's only read info not first hand experience.

 

[wryan]

Have two pairs of J. transcriptus (actually one might be a trio, 2M/1F) that are all from the same family, same generation even.

The one pair has been fairly prolific - producing probably over 50 fry thus far. The other pair/trio - which didn't actually pair up until much later - less so ... probably have gotten less than 10 fry from them thus far.

No abnormalities noted thus far.

Also have a pair of J. regani that have spawned (twice) ... the first spawn was small ... only saw a couple of fry. The second spawn was larger ... maybe a dozen ?

The fry at this point are all really too small to note anything being off.

Also have a pair of J.transcriptus "Zambia" which appear to be pairing up and hopefully will spawn for the first time soon.

The J. ornatus (3) and J. dickfeldi (6) are still growing out ... although the J. dickfeldi have formed two groups on either end of a 20G Long tank, with 6 N. multifasciatus claiming the middle ground.

 

[Mcdaphnia]

Your source is overgeneralizing. In many species of animals and even plants, inbreeding can cause weakness and reveal genetic faults concealed by a larger gene pool.

However freshwater fish, especially ones from riverine habitats, are unusually resistant to the problems caused by inbreeding. This may be because frequent isolation can reduce potential mates to those trapped with you during a dry season or because suitable habitats are small. Fish have had to evolve to deal with the problem.

That does not mean every fry will be perfect. You will want to remove from your breeding program any fry with bad finnage, abnormal color patterns, or odd body shape. On the other hand, some breeders probably save and breed some of these fish together to create an aquarium strain that would not often show up in nature even though the genes for it are very likely present in the wild population.