Hybrid Cichlids

[Eleni]

I am new to keeping cichlids and do not know any of their scientific names, so please bear with me... We have two cichlids that keep spawning and we now have an excess of fish in our tank. We tried to take them to a local fish store but they would not take them because they were hybrid (which I completely understand). They said they could take them and put them down, but I dont have the heart. These fish range anywhere from 1cm to 2 inches in length and are adorable, charismatic little guys. Their father was a vertical blue stripped african cichlid and the mother is a brownish-tinted african cichlid. So, the question is... what are we supposed to do with all of these fry and how can we prevent this from happening again (she is holding right now). Thanks!

[angel]

You can prevent it by getting mates of the same kind for these fish, or separating them. As for the hybrid fry, you can give them away. There surely would be people who would just like to have them and I'm sure they'll be nice to look at. Could you post pictures of the parents so we could tell what they've been mixed with?

[angel]

I entirely understand the difficulty with putting them down . I am unable to do that as well, and it's why I have a lot of bettas and had a zillion red jewels at one time.

[Eleni]

Oh, I would love to give them away. Finding someone who wants them is the problem. I guess I will just post an add on craigslist. I don't have any pics right now, but will try to get some posted this evening or tomorrow. They are adorable... Thanks for the advice! I added three more cichlids to my tank so hopefully the new environment will deter future babies.

[angel]

CraigsList is great for giving pets away. Just indicate that they are pet fish. Someone will call.
How many do you have to place?
If you don't want your fish to breed, buy all males. If you do want them to breed, have females for each type of male so they gravitate toward their own kind.

[angel]

And welcome to the fish addicts forum!

[Eleni]

Yeah, I suppose we should try to give away our female... :(
I have about 7 to give away, but like I said she has eggs now too.
I am super excited to have found this forum.. thanks for all of the help!

[angel]

If you don't pull her out of the tank, with the new fish she may spit before they hatch. Then you wouldn't have to place a second set. Once you see the babies it's too late--you want to save them! LOL
Looking forward to seeing your fish. Hope you can post pics

[jgentry]

Just make sure that if you give any of them away that the new owner knows that they are hybrids. Make sure that they understand that they should not pass them on to other people or breed them without informing people exactly what they are.

Good luck finding them a new home, try craigslist like angel suggested.

[sirknight]

I for one believe that hybrids should not be sold or given away, they should be used as fish food. Here is the reason, if you give them away to someone and they are capable of reproducing they will at some point be sold to a local fish store or to someone else as a purebred. The best thing to do is let the other fish in the tank eat them and if you still have one or two I am sure someone on this board with big cichlids can use them for food.

sorry this sounds harsh but to many times I go into LPS and see fish that are being sold as one thing and with a little experience you can see they are hybrid. One example that comes to mind is the electric yellows without a black line around the dorsal fin.

Just my 2 cents.

Joe

[angel]

It drives me insane too, I just haven't developed the hardness to do the right thing. Fortunately I haven't had any hybrid things going on but have been careful because I didn't want to face having to do something about it. I just can't be the cull advisor here when I didn't cull what I was supposed to. It's hard. I did put one kenyi fry out of its misery when it could no longer swim, and then I forgot it was in the freezer. Dennis came along, pulled it out and said Whats this? And I got the huge guilt feeling having seen the dead fish I left there. Also put two weak bettas in with the jacks and watched them chase them around for a bit, looked at how stressed they were, and ran upstairs to do the emotional woman thing for being a murderer. So I've got all the healthy ones and a huge job of placing them all in homes. yay me. Never gonna breed bettas again. Enjoying them though. They're just so much work.

[jody]

hey if you want to get rid of them i am willing to take some of the fry.

[jtrotter77]

Yea I see hybrids all the time at crappy lfs in the mixed cichlid tanks.

however the yellow labs with out the black outline (or sometimes partial outline) is not hybrids. (they are worse) they are a product of multiple generation inbreeding.) Lots of breeders dont even cull anymore. I have no problem culling fish. They get culled naturally in the wild.

[jtrotter77]

Oh yea on a side note. Hybrids are not all bad. look at flowerhorns,tsnxrtc ,tsnxniger,Dragonbloods,firefish,strawberry peacocks,Most albino peacocks ect.. you get the picture..

Its the accidental hybrids that cause trouble. Usually trying to pawn them off as what ever the best of the two parents are.

[sirknight]

I will agree that some are not that bad.

Here is an example. Way back when, all betta splendens had short fins and were multi colored, but by selective breeding of the same species they started to produce longer fins, and some have to an extent solid colors. Another example would be discus which now has may different colors a a few different body forms, again done by selective breeding. Last example would be guppies same thing long fins and solid colors and different patterns.

However crossing different fish to produce a fish to me is garbage (mules). Albinos can be produced naturally if someone takes the time but, mixing species to produce them just does an injustice to the hobby. I'll let this discussion and debate go to the ACA, which in most cases is being talked about all the time