MIXED Mbuna

[Zimm44]

I have a yellow lab female who just cross-bred with a half zebra and half
something else. I'm curious if anyone has had these cross breeding mbunas live?
are they worth separating out? the zebra is the reult of my saving another
brood.

[[email protected]]

On 31 Jul 2003 14:24:55 GMT, (Zimm44) wrote:

>I have a yellow lab female who just cross-bred with a half zebra and half
>something else. I'm curious if anyone has had these cross breeding mbunas live?
>are they worth separating out? the zebra is the reult of my saving another
>brood.

Yes, they will live and produce very dull hybrids. Not worth
propagating, stick to pure strains.


Steve

--
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Build networks from numeric, text and image files.
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[Rich Conley]

Yeah, They'll survive. Just please dont sell anything you have, or give it away
without knowing that the people arent going to sell the offspring.

Zimm44 wrote:

> I have a yellow lab female who just cross-bred with a half zebra and half
> something else. I'm curious if anyone has had these cross breeding mbunas live?
> are they worth separating out? the zebra is the reult of my saving another
> brood.

[[email protected]]

On 31 Jul 2003 10:07:32 -0700, (Rick Koch)
wrote:

>Can they even do this? At this point you're no longer crossing two
>different varieties of pseudotropheus -- now we're talking about a
>pseudotropheus and a labidochromis. Once you get to the genus level,
>aren't you pretty much doing the equivalent of crossing a Jack Dempsey
>with a discus?

Different Mbuna genera cross very often. They are all decendats of a
single Haplochromis species and have not diverged so much. Many Mbuna
species are separated geographically in Lake Malawi and so don't cross
but when we mix them in a tank they forget the rules. Mbuna are not as
different as the SA species you mention.


Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
Build networks from numeric, text and image files.
http://www.easynn.com

[Jim Brown]

Zimm44 > wrote in message
...
> I have a yellow lab female who just cross-bred with a half zebra and half
> something else. I'm curious if anyone has had these cross breeding mbunas
live?
> are they worth separating out? the zebra is the reult of my saving another
> brood.

While I have a distinct aversion to hybrids, I do not mind if others think
this is the way to go. Your aquarium is yours alone so you should be
allowed to keep what you want, within legal restrictions of course.
As hybrids, be sure they are not released to other hobbyists, as they could
contaminate other true breeding species. Should you want to dispose of them
for any reason, it is far better to kill them as humanely as possible.
Never take the easy way out by flushing them. Not only is it a slow painful
death, but survivors could spread in the wild, and expose native fishes to
tropical diseases that they have no immunity to.

Jim

[[email protected]]

On 01 Aug 2003 14:50:17 GMT, (Zimm44) wrote:

>they did it themsleves all you purists. I decided to leave them in the tank and
>let nature take its course for fear of attack of the aquarists in the
>newsgroup. LOL
>

They would cross naturally because the live in different parts of the
lake. It's nothing to with purists. It's just that we who have been
breeding Mbuna for decades know that hybrids look crap!


Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
Build networks from numeric, text and image files.
http://www.easynn.com

[Jim Brown]

Zimm44 > wrote in message
...
> they did it themsleves all you purists. I decided to leave them in the
tank and
> let nature take its course for fear of attack of the aquarists in the
> newsgroup. LOL
>
>

I don't think any of the readers presumed you did anything like artificial
insemination. Hybrids do occur given the right conditions, even in the
wild.
The concern is that someone who is trying to preserve a pure strain may end
up with a hybrid, that could ruin a lot of time, effort, and expense for a
hobbyist working with pure strains.
Let the fish do what they want. Just don't spread them around. If a hybrid
appeals to you, then fine.
Of course, the whole concept of hybrid fish affects each and every hobbyist
from one end of the spectrum to the other.

Jim

[Zimm44]

I know most hybrids look like crap. I've had Africans for about 8 years. The
only hybrid I've kept is the breeder of the cross but good news. I guess the
female agrees with you cause I think she spit em prematurely. So did a breeding
peacock that wasn't hybrid though. Any clue why this would happen? Can the
addition of rocks or re-arranging cause this? I was bummed. Love to have little
babies poking their heads out of the cracks and crevices. Any advice to promote
breeding?

The Evil Hybrider LOL