Incest

[James G]

Hello everyone, my 2 convict cichlids that are 5 months old, brother and sister have had babies and I'm wondering if all the babies will be deformed because of incest ive heard that you can inbreed fish is that true? if you can, how many generations can inbreed before babies start to become deformed?.

[coralbandit]

Some fry may be deformed .IMO most fish that everyone gets is brother sister. You really should not run into trouble at all.
Most issues will effect the whole hatch due the parents weakness. So if you loose whole batches then their is an issue and possibly those parents should not be used again .. If they live and grow they be should normal little convicts.

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by James G

Hello everyone, my 2 convict cichlids that are 5 months old, brother and sister have had babies and I'm wondering if all the babies will be deformed because of incest ive heard that you can inbreed fish is that true? if you can, how many generations can inbreed before babies start to become deformed?.

When line breeding, in the past, it usually took about 7 generations +/- before new blood was necessary to undo some of the line's deformities.
With today's fish, there is a very good chance that many have gone past that old 7th generation so your fry will tell the story. As CB stated, severe inbreeding issues should effect the entire spawn. If you are getting a high amount of deformed fry, I would suggest breaking up that pair and put them with other non related fish to help breed out issues. If your goal is not a lot of fry and this pair gives you that, then there is no reason to split them up.

[James G]

Ok thanks they're my 1st generation so then I should be good.