So just because they are in the same genus, they are the same fish? If the different "convict-type" cichlids have diverged enough to become geographically distinct populations and if they are found to be morphologically different enough to be classified as different species then any interbreeding would technically produce a hybrid. I wonder who is the one lacking common sense here... Are all Parachromis species the same in your book? Going by your logic, are Herichthys carpinte and Herichthys cyanoguttatus, closely related as they are, the same species?Its not rambling but more common sense. Maybe you should actually read the posts. Hrps may look different then cons but they are still of amatitlania genus. Witch makes them convict relitives one way or another. Like I said for all you know they could all be convicts but the separation to different regions cause the amatitlania ancestors to develope different traits in the fish we know and love today.
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Convict use to refer to one species but now refers to 4 species (and possibily one undescribed, as well). Convict is a common name. What is common aquarium strain in the hobby, and has always been refferred to as a convict, could just as easily be Amititlania siquia (Cryptoheros siquia), or a mix of 2-4 of these species. No reason to assume it is C. nigrofasciatus.....and no way of determining with out knowing where they were originally collected!'Convict' has always been one species and whilst the designation has changed over the years (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus, Cryptoheros nigrofasciatus, Claustroheros nigrofasciatus, etc. etc.) it still all pertains to one species, which right now is named Amatitlania nigrofasciata.
Sigh, more idiocy. I won't even bother.Hey hey don't diss the hybrids! ( They still have feelings and all that! (
but seriously, you talk as if hybrids in and of itself is a problem. Did you know genetics-wise, a hybrid is any offspring of two genetically different individuals? Unless your parents are twins, you yourself is a hybrid. Taxonomically speaking, hybrids can be at the sub-species level (i.e. dogs), so stuff like crosses between different Green Texas localities can count as hybrids actually.
But regardless there's nothing wrong with hybrids inherently. Issues that arise with hybrids are at large the same issues that plague the fish keepin industry as a whole, regardless of the fish in question. The only real issue is sterility, but that's not a stop-all issue.
Also we humans depend on hybrids to a great extent to survive. Many crops are hybrids of different species, and we eat them all the time. Without these hybrids there won't be (nearly as many) resilient, high production, tasty crops for us to eat. )