Can all cichlid species be shortbody.

[Cichlids keeper]

Do individuals in all species of Cichlids have the possibility of being short bodies? Like a Midas or a Synspilum? Also I know many people don't like short bodies but I don't want to start to a war in this thread, so please don't go after other people.

 

[duanes]

Short body is a mutation, there can be any number of these deformed individuals, and other types of deformities in a normal cichlid spawn. In nature survival of the fittest usually weeds them out.
But if two of these deformed individuals are bred together , more are produced, a mutated line can be "fixed".
Just like blood parrots were created by breeding together certain mutations together, they are not a real species.
Back in the old days, any of these would have been culled by responsible fish breeders. to keep the integrity of the species.

Can you tell by my response, I find this kind of mutant propensity abhorrent?
And makes the new cichlid fad no different than balloon goldfish.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

Short body is a mutation, there can be any number of these deformed individuals, and other types of deformities in a normal cichlid spawn. In nature survival of the fittest usually weeds them out.
But if two of these deformed individuals are bred together , more are produced, a mutated line can be "fixed".
Just like blood parrots were created by breeding together certain mutations together, they are not a real species.
Back in the old days, any of these would have been culled by responsible fish breeders. to keep the integrity of the species.

Can you tell by my response, I find this kind of mutant propensity abhorrent?
And makes the new cichlid fad no different than balloon goldfish.

I'd have to agree with ya on this one. Usually in the wild most of these fish are weeded out of the Gene pool usually thru predation or just pure competition for food, granted I have seen it were the odd mutant does actually survive to adult hood in the wild all be it very rarely. I've even personally witnessed wild hybrid fish being caught and even caught some myself, granted hybrids tend to have an easier time surviving vs a mutated fish. Personally I'm not a fan of most short body fish either as it does limit the over all health/life span of the fish. Will I condemn somebody for owning one? of course not. I personally view it this way, if you like something for how it looks, great more power to ya, do I like it? probably not but then again I'm not going to bash someone for liking something I don't. Same thing with glowfish, I personally don't like glowfish by how they were made but some ppl like em which is perfectly fine. I even had parrots and a glowfish, will I own them ever again? Ehhh probably not but then again I could always change my mind later on down the road for some reason or another.

 

[Cichlids keeper]

I also agree that most short body fish look weird but from time to time I get interested in them. I saw a picture of a short body Midas/Red Devil so it piqued my interest. It's strange how long blood parrots and strains of them can live though, even when most parrots are practically bonsai. It'd be interesting to know why they outlive so many other short body fish. Oh btw here's the picture I saw that piqued my interest.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

I also agree that most short body fish look weird but from time to time I get interested in them. I saw a picture of a short body Midas/Red Devil so it piqued my interest. It's strange how long blood parrots and strains of them can live though, even when most parrots are practically bonsai. It'd be interesting to know why they outlive so many other short body fish.

I personally found out that they actually have a very weird ribcage in them. No clue if it has any correlation to longevity or not but so far they are the only fish ik of that has a ribcage in the shape of a recurve bow. Personally I think that they live so long compaired to other shortbody species because they develope such a large stomach cavity while others tend to stay with the normal size and end up having the internal organs scrunch up inside.

 

[Cichlids keeper]

I personally found out that they actually have a very weird ribcage in them. No clue if it has any correlation to longevity or not but so far they are the only fish ik of that has a ribcage in the shape of a recurve bow. Personally I think that they live so long compaired to other shortbody species because they develope such a large stomach cavity while others tend to stay with the normal size and end up having the internal organs scrunch up inside.

Hmm, that's interesting, I guess if people start breeding short bodies with large stomach cavities that could solve some problems with them, although it'd be difficult to find a breeding pair of individuals like that for a lot of different short body species and hybrids.

 

[ryansmith83]

Short-bodied fish usually have a short spine. It’s a birth defect that appears occasionally in batches of fry. Because the body is shortened, all of the internal organs are crammed into an area that’s maybe 1/2 the normal body cavity size. This gives them the “balloon” shape.

IMO the responsible thing to do is cull them. Instead people are breeding for it and charging a mint for a fish with birth defects.