[cichfeeble]

The title of this one is going to draw a lot of flaming, I expect, but I have a serious practical question - not intended to provoke big discussion about philosophy of keeping strains pure. And for purpose of this discussion, please assume that I am *not* referring to potential distribution of fish, but only to a tank kept for my own enjoyment.

I have two 55g tanks, both of which contain pairs of species that can cross-breed. As you can see from my signature, one tank has Saulosi and Zebras (note that I bought some of the hybrids, and others were result of me separating a holding female - they did not survive as fry in the main tank). The other has Labs and Zebras. But I have not experienced a single fry surviving beyond a day or so in either tank. Both tanks (as you can see from my tanks link) are heavily stocked with rocks, so it's not for lack of hiding places. It just seems that the adults are extremely efficient at wiping out any fry that are released.

So why are people so worried about the cross-breeding, given that these hybrids don't see the light of day, so long as you leave the holding females in with the other fish.

I should also note that most of the females in both of my tanks have held, at least once, and there are typically 2 or 3 females holding at a time, so it's not a case of nobody breeding.

Thanks!

 

[GTZ]

Personally I don't have anything against crossbreeding so long as the fish aren't being distributed.

 

[ridley25]

Same here. If the hybrids never leave the hobbyist's tanks (where their spread becomes uncontrollable) then I have absolutely no issue with hybrids.

kevin

 

[Kanorin]

The distribution part is really the only issue. Often times when people post a thread about potential stocklists, they don't say if they are interested in breeding their fish. And because many people don't know that the probability of two similar-looking species crossbreeding is quite high, I figure that it's best to let them know the facts. That way they can stock their tank appropriately just in case they want to breed their fish and sell some fry back to the LFS. Or if they don't want to accumulate unwanted fry, they can stock some catfish to help on that front.

So why are people so worried about the cross-breeding, given that these hybrids don't see the light of day, so long as you leave the holding females in with the other fish.

I think your situation where no fry survive is a rare one. I find a few survivors every couple of months (even with Syno. multis) and over several years they would certainly accumulate to overpopulate my tank if I didn't do something with them.

 

[DJRansome]

I think your situation where no fry survive is a rare one. I find a few survivors every couple of months (even with Syno. multis) and over several years they would certainly accumulate to overpopulate my tank if I didn't do something with them.

My experience exactly. The number of survivor fry that mature is the reason I am always having to remove sub-dom males from my tank.

 

[cichfeeble]

Interesting. I am guessing that the fry I've had in my Maingano tank (mostly Zebra and Lab fry) are getting decimated by the extremely efficient and aggressive Mainganos. But I don't know why I haven't had any survivors in the other tank.

 

[Number6]

cichfeeble

There is one potential issue with a crossbreed when keeping it for yourself. There is a trend for hybrids to be more aggressive than both parental species or at least as aggressive as the more aggressive parent. Often, this is unexpected and an adult hybrid can be challenging to find tank mates for. It's also not like you can get much help online if your crossbreed is not a common mix xo you will often find yourself figuring out what to do about your crossbreeds behavior on your own. Time only makes this worse as once the hybrid reaches sexual maturity, you now have a fish willing to breed with just about anything that is aggressive. End result, more hybrid fry or attacked tank mates.

Just something to consider! :thumb:

 

[Rhinox]

So why are people so worried about the cross-breeding, given that these hybrids don't see the light of day, so long as you leave the holding females in with the other fish.

Going in a different direction, species that are more prone to crossing are species that are more likely to show conspecific aggression towards each other, because males are fighting over the same groups of females.

 

[johnp]

I have a 55 with saulosi, red top zebras, and labeotropheus fuelleborni, and i would say that i have more fry survive than get eaten. The adults simply seem to have no intrest in the babies. Maybe they are spoiled pigs and would rarher not have to chase thier food. . Just my experience.