All natural vs. selective bred phenotypes... do you have a preferece and why?

[Eoibio]

I like long finned fishes not so much short bodied and albinos but platniums are nice and so are the diff colour varietes. They are also better in captivity

 

[davcheng]

King-el, yes thats a point that I had not thought of, though in Anne's primer, she states that it wasn't until recently that polypterus' were farmed. You have to figure that these general trends would probably not show up as prolifically until a couple of generations in, and thats if we say that there were originally only one breeding pair, and all the farmed polys we see are from that breeding stock. If they had two or more breeding pairs and took offspring to mate from a general pool, it becomes less likely that the F1 generation's breeding pair came from the same parents, which would make it take longer for negative inbreeding traits to become a general trend in the captive bred population.

Of course this all depends on how long recently is, and if they do or don't import wild polys from time to time to refresh the gene pool.

As for the original question.... I really don't see too much wrong with selective bred phenotypes. Dogs were bred into existence this way, cows, etc.

 

[Cohazard]

King-el, yes thats a point that I had not thought of, though in Anne's primer, she states that it wasn't until recently that polypterus' were farmed. You have to figure that these general trends would probably not show up as prolifically until a couple of generations in, and thats if we say that there were originally only one breeding pair, and all the farmed polys we see are from that breeding stock. If they had two or more breeding pairs and took offspring to mate from a general pool, it becomes less likely that the F1 generation's breeding pair came from the same parents, which would make it take longer for negative inbreeding traits to become a general trend in the captive bred population.

Of course this all depends on how long recently is, and if they do or don't import wild polys from time to time to refresh the gene pool.

As for the original question.... I really don't see too much wrong with selective bred phenotypes. Dogs were bred into existence this way, cows, etc.

King-eL might have a better idea, but I know it's over a decade for some species.

We have to keep in mind that each farm may have slightly different practices as far as if and when they introduce new blood.

The point I was getting at with this discussion is that to me, those who dislike the selective bred traits are really discriminating against particular genes, which are just as natural as the dominantly expressed 'wild-type' phenotypes.

There is nothign man made behind them, however, it is only in man's care that they can survive outisde of natural selection.

 

[beblondie]

its still selective breeding for traits,its a form of genetic engineering just not invasive

 

[FSM]

long finned fish just look silly. Especially oscars...trying to make an ugly fish pretty doesn't work very well.

 

[Piscineidiot]

Well, I personally dislike 'ornamental' strains. Not for any moral reason, but mostly due to personal taste, and the fact that I like fish for the fact that they're the product of 170 million years of evolution. Fine if you like them, and I'll admit that I find platinum variants quite appealling, but the biologist in me objects to keeping variants that would not survive in their natural habitat. That, and some variants are just, well, shall we say a genetic travesty?

I'm with beblondie with the short-bodied morph...It's just aesthetically unpleasant in my mind. Why turn an elegant, functional animal into what is basically a swimming potato? Same reason why I don't generally enjoy ornamental goldfish. I mean, a fish that's so selectively bred for that it can't swim anymore? Really...

 

[Cohazard]

Well, I personally dislike 'ornamental' strains. Not for any moral reason, but mostly due to personal taste, and the fact that I like fish for the fact that they're the product of 170 million years of evolution. Fine if you like them, and I'll admit that I find platinum variants quite appealling, but the biologist in me objects to keeping variants that would not survive in their natural habitat. That, and some variants are just, well, shall we say a genetic travesty?

I'm with beblondie with the short-bodied morph...It's just aesthetically unpleasant in my mind. Why turn an elegant, functional animal into what is basically a swimming potato? Same reason why I don't generally enjoy ornamental goldfish. I mean, a fish that's so selectively bred for that it can't swim anymore? Really...

I agree with you about short-body, not really my thing, but I do like short body albinos.

Now, these rare natural color morphs aren't always dead in the water in the wild, but they are soooo rare that they are almost never seen.

Toyin imported a 12" xanthic polypterus mokelembembe. That is beyond rare, and it was produced by natures bio-engineering.

To me, it doesn't matter that man makes the rare color morphs more plentiful, it is ultimately produced by nature, inherent in the genetic code of the few lucky(?) individual fish that have the gene(s).

 

[King-eL]

Here I found this on a Japanese site. A Wild Leusistic Polypterus Ansorgii From Guinea.

Here is the link: http://www.rep-japan.co.jp/Fish/newpage1.html

1st pic White Polypterus Ansorgii
2nd pic Giant Polypterus Ansorgii
3rd pic Polypterus Ansorgii "Guinea"
4th pic Polypterus Bichir Bichir "Turkana"
5th pic Polypterus Bichir Katangae
6th pic Group of Polypterus Bichir Bichir "Turkana"
7th pic Group of Polypterus Bichir Lapradei "Nigerian"
8th pic Group of Polypterus Endlicheri Endlicheri "Nigerian"
9th pic Group of Guinea Lapradei and endlicheri

 

[Cholly]

Some I like, some I don't. As long as we have pure base stock in sufficient numbers for a healthy population, I really don't care. I just won't buy any I don't like, simple enough.

 

[jiapei]

WC are my favorite forever...