Article on Hybrid Fish

[darth pike]

You left out the moral objections to them, but with many "morals" and "religion" are interchangable (which they are not) which could cause issues so I can understand being cautious about that. You might want to mention that many have moral objections without going into specifics though to avoid the religious arguement. It would be easy enough for a reader to research that on their own if they are aware that such objections exist.

 

[Freezekougra]

I'm against hybrids because there are always the few irresponsible people out there, who will eventually cause more situations like the 'red devil or midas?' situation mentioned. Sort of like why certain fish are considered illegal even though it is clear that *some* responsible fishkeepers will not release them into the wild.

But then I'd be a hypocrite if I said I didn't like some strains of flowerhorns

 

[south15]

if a fish gonna breed with a different species let it be its nature

 

[tr6]

But its not really its nature.

A leopard will be killed by a lion in nature, but in captivity they will breed.

Same with fish, a Red Devil would kill some of the fish it is being housed with, or at least ignore.

Man is changing its nature.

 

[hamfist]

Generally a really great article. THe only aspect I would personally like to see added is a short discussion on (in the words of Scatman) "the whole subjective process of defining a species should be addressed. where/how do you draw the line between species?"

For example, within certain genera (Heros and geophagus at least, that I know of) there is a lot of disagreement about whether different fish are actually different species or merely variants of the same species. Therefore breeding between these different fish could be classed as hybridisation by some, and not by others.
It seems to me that this has arisen due to the hobby having discovered new species and variants in greater numbers than the taxonomists can keep up with, in terms of classification.

 

[rED O]

Great read Matt!

 

[dogofwar]

if a fish gonna breed with a different species let it be its nature

it's also not natural for carp to be brightly colored or for bettas or guppies to have long fins... Or for angelfish to be black or for discus to be orange...Or for many of the fish that we keep in glass boxes to be the way that they have been bred to be... Fancy fish - and efforts to create new ones - have been the foundation of the hobby since like 200 ad.

That some people like fancy supernatural fish, some people like fish that are as authentic as possible to what is found in nature, and some like both (or neither) reflects the diversity of interests in the hobby...

For every flowerhorn passed off as a "pure" trimac, there's a f10 fish being sold as wild or f1. Should all fish trade cease because of irresponsibility and misrepresentstion by some?

A different Matt

 

[Aquanero]

I thought is was a good read not perfect as mentioned but OK. I am more in line with the purest but not a hybird hater. Nothing will change as long as human nature is what it is. Demand fules supply. Some hybirds are breed and raised responsably some are not, like anything else, It really comes down to the ethects of the individual ownes/breeders. Unfortunatly it is what it is so the debate lives on.

BTW the only hybird I ever really wanted was that Tri-snook that is one nice looking fish!

 

[driftwood]

Its a good read but this issue will never be resloved in my opinion. After running for a BOT position for the ACA and loosing badly I've kind of stopped making any comments on the Hybrid threads so this is probably the first time in a while that I've even bothered to do so. My opinions about Hybrids remains the same. If you want to keep Hybrids do it responsibly. Otherwise, I have no problem with them. We're all quilty to a degree just for keeping this fish in out home aquariums.

 

[dogofwar]

You got my vote, Mike

I appreciate the article because it seeks to bring some rationality to the argument and focus on the importance of education and responsibility, no matter what fish you keep.

Fancy fish have been the foundation of the hobby, including the cichlid hobby, since its inception. I've never understood all of the emotion "against" fancy cichlids since people have been developing and keeping fancy cichlids (livebearers, goldfish, barbs, etc, etc, etc.) for years.

Seems to me that all of the energy that's spent being "against" fancy cichlids could be better spent on getting new people involved in the hobby - no matter what kind of fish that excite them...

Matt

Its a good read but this issue will never be resloved in my opinion. After running for a BOT position for the ACA and loosing badly I've kind of stopped making any comments on the Hybrid threads so this is probably the first time in a while that I've even bothered to do so. My opinions about Hybrids remains the same. If you want to keep Hybrids do it responsibly. Otherwise, I have no problem with them. We're all quilty to a degree just for keeping this fish in out home aquariums.