I'm not saying i'm planning on doing this *PEACE!* . But I was wondering what sorts of cichlids of a different species could interbreed. I don't find crossbreeding bad. I find the stuff that some breeders do as an act of cruelty trying to make a fish look nicer. I must admit the Parrot Cichlids are kinda gross!. But the flowerhorns are a neat crossbreed. Is it hard to interbreed two species?
Cichlid Interbreeding/Crossbreeding
- Thread starter fishydude22
- Start date
Some things cross breed pretty easily. Pretty much any 2 aulonacara will cross, pretty soon giving you a selecetion of mudbrown fish. Most the angels you see for sale are crossbreeds of a few similar wild species, and they seem ok. Apistos on the other hand do not crossbreed well, and the young are usually not very fertile and have noticable deformities, especially with bent fins and deformed scales.
I don't like crosbreeds, I like the original species, and the variety of diferent colours and behaviours different species have. I have yet to see a ¨cross species fish that is better than an original species. I'm not even very keen on crossing colour morphs of the same species as you usually end up with the lowest common denominator colour. I'm not sure where I'm at with discus - they're not really different species as everything I've seen on their dna indicates there's only one species, and frankly I normally prefer the more original colours to the man made pigeon bloods, whites and so on, though some of these are impressive.
I don't like crosbreeds, I like the original species, and the variety of diferent colours and behaviours different species have. I have yet to see a ¨cross species fish that is better than an original species. I'm not even very keen on crossing colour morphs of the same species as you usually end up with the lowest common denominator colour. I'm not sure where I'm at with discus - they're not really different species as everything I've seen on their dna indicates there's only one species, and frankly I normally prefer the more original colours to the man made pigeon bloods, whites and so on, though some of these are impressive.
Define Crossbreeding:
1) You can crossbreed "strains" or "breeds" within the same species. This type of breeding is where you get your widest variety of morphs from. All domestic dogs belong to the Genus/species ~Canis familiarist~, and yet we will all agree that a Standard Poodle and Labrador Retriver hardly look anything alike. They are two different morphs of the same species. You can crossbreed the two to produce a "Labra-doodle," aka a mutt, that is fertile. The way you produce a new "strain" or "breed" is by continuously back-crossing your line until a Labra-doodle bred to a Labra-doodle consistantly produces more Labra-doodles in every sucessive generation.
2) You can crossbreed within a genus two different speices, which usually will give you fertile offspring with a blending of behavior and physical that will either show hybrid vigor, or hybrid supression. This is the most common occurance in the wild, where you get overlapping habitats and species complexes at the fringes. Crossing ~Canis lupis~ (grey wolf) with ~Canis familiarist~ (domestic dog) gives you a "wolf-dog" mutt that is fertile.
3) You can crossbreed two different genuses together within the same family, but the outcome is usually infertile offspring, if the offspring survive at all. That would be like crossing a Red Fox ~Vulpes vulpes~ with a domestic dog ~Canis familiarist~. I don't know if that cross is viable or not. But let's take the Horse/Donkey cross, which most certainly is viable in the form of an infertile mule or hinny. Some "lower" animals, such as fish, amphibians, and reptiles, may actually get viable offspring out such a mating because their genetic code is not as complex as mammalian genetic code.
4) I have never heard of cross-family hybridization. Crossing a member of the Canidea (dog) family with a member of the Felidea (cat) family will not give you a "cat-dog" dispite what the cartoon tells you.
5) There have never been any occurances of cross-phylum hybridization, or cross-class hybridization that I am aware of. Ie, there will never be anything like a "bird-horse" type thing. Unless somehow technology finds a way. Cross-kingdom hybridization would be impossible, but there are a few "human-vegetables" that defy that statement.
A person really can't be against hybridization, because that would mean you'd have to go out into the wild and prevent blue tiger salamanders from breeding with red tiger salamanders to produce a purple color morph tiger salamander where their two particular streams meet. Or you'd have to go and cause the extinction of the whole Empidonax Flycatcher complex (for which many ornithologist would probably thank you for because identifying a true species from all the hybrids is definately the work of a field-pro). HYBRIDIZATION IS A NATURAL PROCESS TOWARDS THE FORMATION OF NEW SPECIES!!!! It is one of the theories of why life on this planet is so damn diverse.
But you can be against human-assisted hybridization if you'd like. Then you'd just be a hypocrite because pratically everything you eat was created by some form of human-assisted hybridization, unless you eat nothing but synthetic food. Then again, synthetic things are created by a hybridization of chemicals under percise human-controlled conditions. The dogs and cats you keep as pets were created from human-assisted hybridization. And of course you couldn't be friends with any mulatto people, or people of Italian-British ethnicity like myself, or any Americans.
~~Colesea
1) You can crossbreed "strains" or "breeds" within the same species. This type of breeding is where you get your widest variety of morphs from. All domestic dogs belong to the Genus/species ~Canis familiarist~, and yet we will all agree that a Standard Poodle and Labrador Retriver hardly look anything alike. They are two different morphs of the same species. You can crossbreed the two to produce a "Labra-doodle," aka a mutt, that is fertile. The way you produce a new "strain" or "breed" is by continuously back-crossing your line until a Labra-doodle bred to a Labra-doodle consistantly produces more Labra-doodles in every sucessive generation.
2) You can crossbreed within a genus two different speices, which usually will give you fertile offspring with a blending of behavior and physical that will either show hybrid vigor, or hybrid supression. This is the most common occurance in the wild, where you get overlapping habitats and species complexes at the fringes. Crossing ~Canis lupis~ (grey wolf) with ~Canis familiarist~ (domestic dog) gives you a "wolf-dog" mutt that is fertile.
3) You can crossbreed two different genuses together within the same family, but the outcome is usually infertile offspring, if the offspring survive at all. That would be like crossing a Red Fox ~Vulpes vulpes~ with a domestic dog ~Canis familiarist~. I don't know if that cross is viable or not. But let's take the Horse/Donkey cross, which most certainly is viable in the form of an infertile mule or hinny. Some "lower" animals, such as fish, amphibians, and reptiles, may actually get viable offspring out such a mating because their genetic code is not as complex as mammalian genetic code.
4) I have never heard of cross-family hybridization. Crossing a member of the Canidea (dog) family with a member of the Felidea (cat) family will not give you a "cat-dog" dispite what the cartoon tells you.
5) There have never been any occurances of cross-phylum hybridization, or cross-class hybridization that I am aware of. Ie, there will never be anything like a "bird-horse" type thing. Unless somehow technology finds a way. Cross-kingdom hybridization would be impossible, but there are a few "human-vegetables" that defy that statement.
A person really can't be against hybridization, because that would mean you'd have to go out into the wild and prevent blue tiger salamanders from breeding with red tiger salamanders to produce a purple color morph tiger salamander where their two particular streams meet. Or you'd have to go and cause the extinction of the whole Empidonax Flycatcher complex (for which many ornithologist would probably thank you for because identifying a true species from all the hybrids is definately the work of a field-pro). HYBRIDIZATION IS A NATURAL PROCESS TOWARDS THE FORMATION OF NEW SPECIES!!!! It is one of the theories of why life on this planet is so damn diverse.
But you can be against human-assisted hybridization if you'd like. Then you'd just be a hypocrite because pratically everything you eat was created by some form of human-assisted hybridization, unless you eat nothing but synthetic food. Then again, synthetic things are created by a hybridization of chemicals under percise human-controlled conditions. The dogs and cats you keep as pets were created from human-assisted hybridization. And of course you couldn't be friends with any mulatto people, or people of Italian-British ethnicity like myself, or any Americans.
~~Colesea
uh. . . thanks for the knowledge bomb
but like i said i was kidding about interbreeding. we were all joking. talk to me about mutts, im like the ultimate mutt-human hehehe
my dad had a wolf dog named Barney, he was a really cool dog Husky/Wolf, and all of my dogs have been mutts. i cant really afford to have a pure breed dog, because they seem to get sicker more often( well, inbred ones anyway,plus they dont really run cheap) if i ever got a pure breed id get an english bulldog or a pug. dogs that look like they chase parked cars
but like i said i was kidding about interbreeding. we were all joking. talk to me about mutts, im like the ultimate mutt-human hehehemy dad had a wolf dog named Barney, he was a really cool dog Husky/Wolf, and all of my dogs have been mutts. i cant really afford to have a pure breed dog, because they seem to get sicker more often( well, inbred ones anyway,plus they dont really run cheap) if i ever got a pure breed id get an english bulldog or a pug. dogs that look like they chase parked cars
Loach, some people are actually very serious about standing up on the anti-hybridization soapbox, it wasn't my intent to direct my reply at you. It was just to get up on my own soapbox and be just as loud at playing devil's advocate.
English Bulldogs and pugs, while very cute critters (I'm a pug fancier myself), have quite a heck of a lot of medical problems because of that "chased parked cars" face. If you want one of these breeds, be prepared to shell out money for a quality dog, or else you'll be paying the vet bills later.
Thus far, the best mutt I've met is my boyfriend's dog, Jack. He's very hansome, and only 40lbs (although should be on a diet!). He's got the black and tan pattern of a rottie, but his personallity and energy is mostly terrier-like, and his body conformation is cattle-dogish. We've no idea what his breed origens are, Chris picked him up as a stray in the Island of St. Kitts. There are lots of strays like him there, seeing as how wild dogs run around the island in maruding packs and all. But if you raise one up from a puppy, they are the most intelligent and loyal dogs I've ever met, and certainly smarter than some black Lab! Beyond an occassional stomach upset (Because he eats like a pig), he's been healthy his whole life, and acts as a blood doner at the hospital.
~~Colesea
English Bulldogs and pugs, while very cute critters (I'm a pug fancier myself), have quite a heck of a lot of medical problems because of that "chased parked cars" face. If you want one of these breeds, be prepared to shell out money for a quality dog, or else you'll be paying the vet bills later.
Thus far, the best mutt I've met is my boyfriend's dog, Jack. He's very hansome, and only 40lbs (although should be on a diet!). He's got the black and tan pattern of a rottie, but his personallity and energy is mostly terrier-like, and his body conformation is cattle-dogish. We've no idea what his breed origens are, Chris picked him up as a stray in the Island of St. Kitts. There are lots of strays like him there, seeing as how wild dogs run around the island in maruding packs and all. But if you raise one up from a puppy, they are the most intelligent and loyal dogs I've ever met, and certainly smarter than some black Lab! Beyond an occassional stomach upset (Because he eats like a pig), he's been healthy his whole life, and acts as a blood doner at the hospital.
~~Colesea