no your right, but you do object when the animals in question have been inbred and hybridised to such an extent that it can no longer shut its mouth. this could kick up a real storm,but i kinda feel the same way about some dog breeds, despite them not being hybrids

Alex

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Fair enough but you said
So I just wondered what important purpose fish in a tank served. If they are there to give viewing or educational pleasure to their keepers then this can be fullfilled by any kind of fish, hybrid or otherwise.

eg zebra plecos. breeding for conservation.

food fishes for example are purpose fish. Hybrids are not educational as much as true species as they aren't a natural animal therefore the only education learned is the effect of hybridisation

another reason to avoid hybrid fish, is respect from other fishkeepers. Many hardcore fishnuts will not entertain any time for hybrid breeders/keepers. Myself included. That's not just fish hybrids, all intentional hybrids. If my fish were to hybridise then i would care for the babies. I can't justify killing hybrids, its not their fault. But doing it on purpose

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1.1 leos, 1.1 fat tails, 0.2 Beardies, 1 Whites, 2.0 Cresties, 4.1 Cats, Fish: 4.4 P. Dovii, 5.5.6 Peacock Bass (5 sp), 1.1 C 'Cobra', 1.1 festae, 1.1 green terror, 1.1 nics, 1.1 C. Marmorata, 1.1 C. Johani, 1.1 C. 'Strigata', 1.1 C. 'red tapojas'; 1.1 P. Friedrichsthalli, 1.1 Mots, 1.1 managuense, 1.1 H. Bocourti, 1.1 H. Pearsi, 1.1 H. Carpinte, 1.1 H. Cynoguttatum, 1.1 V. Argentea, 1.1 V. Zonatus, 1.1 N. Salvini, 2.2 Grammodes, 3.4 Hoplarchus Pssiticus, 2.2 Trimacs, 3.4 haitiensis, 1.1 tetracanthus, 3.2 Red tiger mots, 14 Uaru (2 sp) 1.1 Umbies, 2 Arapaima, 3 Red tail catfish, 1.1 P. Leopoldii, 1.1 P. Motoro, 3 Silver Arowana, Var. polypterus, var. Channa sp, M. wyckii, 3 siamese tigers, 2 jelly catfish, 1 Golden dorado
Member number 1717

would you keep a gecko that has been bred to have no eyes and three tails in a tank?

Just because it is a fish, does not make it any less significant then a reptile, or even a mammal.

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No and I'm not saying that I think it's acceptaple to breed hybrids.
I was just trying to establish exactly what it was that was being objected to since the original argument merely said that they are pointless and ugly. Now you are getting to the real problem which is the health of these fish and the dangers of selective breeding for specific traits.
I don't agree with breeding anything that looks different from the way it would look in its natural wild state. You would have thought we would have learned by looking at what we have done to dogs.

On the other hand, with hybrids like blood parrots, since they are mostly infertile, they aren't going to have any kind of real impact on diversity of breeds.

i'm not into hybrid fish...or hybrid anything for that matter. snake and lizard morphs are pretty and all but don't do a thing for me. i like real, natural occuring animals. why are people so compelled to change what millions of years of natural selection has produced?. you get a perfectly adapted, finely tuned animal and start tinkering with it's genes as if we could possibly improve on things. but i do see the profit potiential and peoples innate obssession with collecting odd things. i'm not knocking anyone from doing these things... to each his own. it all just seems like buying a beautiful, classic ferrari and then start pimping it out with all manner of things.... hey some curb feelers and maybe neon lights would be cool.... until you have just a hint of the classic car. i suppose that if we could do some of these things to trees we would.... soon you might be able to walk through a forest full of pink trees and red grass.... i for one think that backpacking in such a forest would.... well, you lose something. i just always think about what has been done to goldfish over all these years. i'll take a silver arrowana any day. maybe it's just me liking things wild and wooley. most of these hybrids and morphs just seem to lose a lot of their wild appeal to me. but if that's what turns you on.... many of these things do occur in nature from time to time but they are a fluke of the process of natural selection. and then some folks seem to just want to collect all the colors like kids collecting marbles instead of keeping herps purely for the love of these beasts. as i stated, they are pretty but after a while they cease to be what they were as a species in my eyes. they no longer represent the species. i do like bettas and their varieties but i consider them domestic fish. the more we tinker with things the closer we come to domesticating wild things. most morphs that are outragiously colored would not stand a chance in the wild. to me, that robs them of something of their heritage. a big problem in this world is how we humans feel compelled to bend nature to our wills. to change things to our liking. this is just my opinion. no big deal. we strive to change all things it seems be it mammals, birds, fish, herps or whatever. i'll take a classic burm over a morph or a classic fish anyday over a hybrid. these things are purely for our amusement and personal tastes.


... i'm done... let the games begin... i'm sure there are some seriously opposing views on this.

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Brilliant post! I completely agree with every word you have written.

*stands up and claps* nuff said

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1.1 leos, 1.1 fat tails, 0.2 Beardies, 1 Whites, 2.0 Cresties, 4.1 Cats, Fish: 4.4 P. Dovii, 5.5.6 Peacock Bass (5 sp), 1.1 C 'Cobra', 1.1 festae, 1.1 green terror, 1.1 nics, 1.1 C. Marmorata, 1.1 C. Johani, 1.1 C. 'Strigata', 1.1 C. 'red tapojas'; 1.1 P. Friedrichsthalli, 1.1 Mots, 1.1 managuense, 1.1 H. Bocourti, 1.1 H. Pearsi, 1.1 H. Carpinte, 1.1 H. Cynoguttatum, 1.1 V. Argentea, 1.1 V. Zonatus, 1.1 N. Salvini, 2.2 Grammodes, 3.4 Hoplarchus Pssiticus, 2.2 Trimacs, 3.4 haitiensis, 1.1 tetracanthus, 3.2 Red tiger mots, 14 Uaru (2 sp) 1.1 Umbies, 2 Arapaima, 3 Red tail catfish, 1.1 P. Leopoldii, 1.1 P. Motoro, 3 Silver Arowana, Var. polypterus, var. Channa sp, M. wyckii, 3 siamese tigers, 2 jelly catfish, 1 Golden dorado
Member number 1717

this is going to sound weird but i dont agree with hybrids, each half of a hybrid fish is lovely then you put them together and there yuck!! i hate parrot chiclids yuck. but sying that i DO have a tiger shovelnose x redtail and he's lovely see i said it would sound weird lol

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you hate BLOOD PARROTS. Actual parrot cichlids (hoplarchus pssiticus) are awesome fish. I've got 6 stunners and I wouldn't trade them for any other fish in the world (except maybe a 5foot red tail cat)

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1.1 leos, 1.1 fat tails, 0.2 Beardies, 1 Whites, 2.0 Cresties, 4.1 Cats, Fish: 4.4 P. Dovii, 5.5.6 Peacock Bass (5 sp), 1.1 C 'Cobra', 1.1 festae, 1.1 green terror, 1.1 nics, 1.1 C. Marmorata, 1.1 C. Johani, 1.1 C. 'Strigata', 1.1 C. 'red tapojas'; 1.1 P. Friedrichsthalli, 1.1 Mots, 1.1 managuense, 1.1 H. Bocourti, 1.1 H. Pearsi, 1.1 H. Carpinte, 1.1 H. Cynoguttatum, 1.1 V. Argentea, 1.1 V. Zonatus, 1.1 N. Salvini, 2.2 Grammodes, 3.4 Hoplarchus Pssiticus, 2.2 Trimacs, 3.4 haitiensis, 1.1 tetracanthus, 3.2 Red tiger mots, 14 Uaru (2 sp) 1.1 Umbies, 2 Arapaima, 3 Red tail catfish, 1.1 P. Leopoldii, 1.1 P. Motoro, 3 Silver Arowana, Var. polypterus, var. Channa sp, M. wyckii, 3 siamese tigers, 2 jelly catfish, 1 Golden dorado
Member number 1717