Short body Texas with Crooked Body

[fishblahblah]

I found this guy in a tank at a LFS. He was in there with some african cichlids and a couple of blood parrots. He has slightly frayed fins but I wrote that off to the africans he was housed with. The blood parrots’ fins were in the same condition. I’ve had him for a couple days and he is swimming, eating, and active. I got him home, released him into a tank, and checked him out a little better. While he swims pretty normally, I noticed that his body is bent to one side. I know that the short body gene is a type of deformity to begin with and I’m assuming that it can present in different ways. I’m also scared to death of fish tb. He doesn’t have any sores, missing scales, and his eyes look normal. Am I just being paranoid? Is he just a slightly more deformed short body or should I run for the hills??

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

IMO, your fish looks to be a hybrid. Maybe a failed Red Texas attempt. My guess is a deformity. It's true that fish TB can cause curvature of the spine, so can advanced intestinal bacterial infections. If your Texas is still eating normally, probably can rule out those possibilities.

 

[fishblahblah]

Ok thanks for the reply. I’ve read about it before and am a known worry wart. Lol. Bad combo.

 

[duanes]

As you know "short body" is already a deformity, and the spine curvature (a common)deformity probably didn't become obvious when it was young, when more obvious deformities were being culled out, or maybe the breeder didn't cull properly, or at all like he/she should have.
There is always a chance a disease could have caused it, but more than likely a simple birth defect.

 

[fishblahblah]

Ok. Whoo!!! That’s reassuring. I was pretty nervous. I’ll take the deformity over the illness any day.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Looks more deformity to me

 

[fishblahblah]

IMO, your fish looks to be a hybrid. Maybe a failed Red Texas attempt. My guess is a deformity. It's true that fish TB can cause curvature of the spine, so can advanced intestinal bacterial infections. If your Texas is still eating normally, probably can rule out those possibilities.

Yea, I think you’re right about the him being a hybrid. He looks pretty much identical to all the pictures I see of Texas/Flowerhorn hybrids. He’s still pretty shy but I’m sure he’ll warm up with time.

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

Don't be too disappointed with your Texas Hybrid. One of the best fish I have is a female unfaded Red Texas Cichlid.
Some would consider her a failure, but she turned out to be big, beautifully colored, and is docile enough to be kept in a semi-aggressive community tank.

 

[fishblahblah]

Yea, I don’t mind him at all. Even with his deformity. He’s not bad looking and I’m waiting to see what his personality will be.

 

[Birch]

Hi yeah I brought up about 60+severum and I had one the runt of the litter Wich I called her crooked tail and I told my wife if this one lived I'd keep her and till this day she is big and healthy so don't mind it if u like em keep em