Firemouth and Texas trying to pair off and spawn !?

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If you do breed them, just please don't distribute the fry to anyone. That's the actual problem with it imo, sure they may be ugly and aggressive usually, but the worst is purchasing a fish from a LFS thinking you've got one species, and it turns out to be a mutt.
 
Not a good comparison using dogs as a example. Cross bred dogs are now nearly as popular as pedigree in the UK. Far better dogs with a lot less health issues. The British bull dog is a good example, poor things can hardly breathe.
But I do agree most hydride fish are drab unattractive mutts, and are best culled.
I would agree, probably not the best comparison because cross breed dogs are usually healthier, and my example (probably lost in the semantics) was simply about looks
but....
breed (as you know) is not the same as species.
Breeds are all just variants of the same species Canis lupus familiars.
With fish, hybrids are crosses of two or more species, which often doesn't bode well for health.
When a true species develops, as it evolves and ends up as the fittest for its particular habitat.
e.g. Gymnogeophagus in temperate climate, or Alcolapia in a soda lake where temps reach height most other fish would die.
Hybridizing (choosing individuals) only for color or an enlarged hump, or short body, may overlook and compromise health genes.
But its interesting that variants (breeds) in fish health often mirror the same compromised health in dogs bred for a certain face shape, or bone structure.
EBJDs are generally found to be less healthy than normal JDs.
Just as ballon bodied fish, are often less robust and riddled with health issues, with their crammed together organs, than the normally shaped individuals
 
If you do breed them, just please don't distribute the fry to anyone. That's the actual problem with it imo, sure they may be ugly and aggressive usually, but the worst is purchasing a fish from a LFS thinking you've got one species, and it turns out to be a mutt.
Yep I've bought supposed rainbow that was actually a Jack and listed as salvini and if I did decide to bread and distribute them I won't do it under false pretenses
 
Yep I've bought supposed rainbow that was actually a Jack and listed as salvini and if I did decide to bread and distribute them I won't do it under false pretenses
But how do you know the guy you sell them to, under the "right pretenses", will do the same thing? Or that someone won't cross one back to say, a salvini, and make fry that look like salvini, but there is actually Jack DNA hidden inside. They keep getting bred to salvinis, and sold as such, but the fish aren't pure bred. This is how the species get watered down in the hobby. So, pretenses or not, the best thing to do is not to distribute random hybrids at all.
 
I can already tell this forum is full of purists that would rather keep it in the family so to speak .....you know what they say about opinions right
 
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