Thread: is inbreeding a plroblem with fish?

I'll let Darkside continue portions of our conversation in the Tang section...

Thanks I came across these. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?title=Cichlidae&title_type=tka&year _from=1998&year_to=2009&database=1&pageSize=20&index=7 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?title=Neolamprologus+pulcher&title_ type=tka&year_from=1998&year_to=2009&database=1&pageSize=20&index=3...

BioG wrote: I'm with number6 on the biological specifics. Bad genes collide at a greater chance rate when you double up on them but you should be ok as long as you watch for traits which are unnatural. I.E. spine twisting, mouth twists or deformities, gill plate deformities and fin deformities are most common. now that you say deformitives like mouth twists... i actually have a baby Boreyli that has a bit of a crooked mouth.. that a...

could be. Look closely to see if you can discern if it was an injury (there would be bulging or scarring where an injury was healed), if not there is a good chance inbreeding may have accelerated a bad gene.

I would be concerned about a mouth twist too. The other possibility is that somehow it was an injury sustained during mouthbrooding. If you continue to see deformities such as this in other fry, it should be a sign to cease breeding these fish.

Deformities of the mouth can be caused by injury during development, poor water quality, low mineral content in the water, or genetics. I personally avoid breeding fish that have mouths that are not formed properly, but I have done this in the past. In the one case where this occurred in my tank, the fry had perfectly formed mouths. This was a mating of siblings from the same spawn where the male's mouth was not shaped correctly and...

I had an electric blue ahli that i called rambo because his mouth was damaged while he was young and left cocked to one side a little. You couldnt see any scaring or any signs of damage after about a week of this happening. I think he thought he was bigger than he was and lip locked with a much bigger fish breaking his jaw a little. Didn't affect his eating or even eventual mating but if i bought him after that happened i would swear it...