Question about fish inbreeding?

[IShallNtEatFish]

Ok so I'm an experienced breeder of farm animals including, cattle, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, chickens, dogs cats rabbits and many other things... So I was wondering can fish be inbred like other animals? I know that eventually if animals are inbred enough malformations show up. Can it happen in fish as well?

 

[DragonFish71]

Yes it can. You will see it happen in both egg layers and live bearers. Live bearers you tend to see the deformities more rapidly than in egg layers though. I'm not quite sure why that happens. maybe because their fry are quicker to be free swimming where as egg layer fry take longer, which means the live baring females breed more often.

 

[IShallNtEatFish]

Ok thanks! That's what I figured.... Repro is my passion... How would I prevent it? Each generation take the males out and replace them? That's how I do it in cattle herds.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Ok thanks! That's what I figured.... Repro is my passion... How would I prevent it? Each generation take the males out and replace them? That's how I do it in cattle herds.

Yes, provided that you are not purchasing the new males from the same source/batch. Many LFS order their fish from the same suppliers, and the suppliers aquire their fish from the same breeders, so often replacing males alone won't totally solve the inbreeding problem, as the males from the same source will often be inbred to begin with. The best solution is to find a wild type male, which introduces all new genetics or find a male from another source/breeder.

 

[DragonFish71]

That could work. Just remember if you're breeding live bearers, the females can store the male's sperm for quite a while. I believe they can have something like 3-4 pregnancies from one male. Sorry, I haven't brushed up on my live bearers lately.

 

[IShallNtEatFish]

Ya I knew they could hold the sperm but if I removed all male babies that would leave me all females, and if I went with a different type of male that would allow the females that are on their fist pregnancy to be bred by new male genes correct?

And that brings me to another question,if the male is of a different type how would I know? I see on the online breeders they have them separated by color is that how the different types are labeled?

 

[DragonFish71]

Ya I knew they could hold the sperm but if I removed all male babies that would leave me all females, and if I went with a different type of male that would allow the females that are on their fist pregnancy to be bred by new male genes correct?

Yes, that should work. If you get the males out before they've had a chance to breed.

And that brings me to another question,if the male is of a different type how would I know? I see on the online breeders they have them separated by color is that how the different types are labeled?

I'm not sure what you mean here? Are you talking a different variety of a species, like say a marble molly compared to a black molly? Some might have them labeled by color, some by name and color variety.

 

[IShallNtEatFish]

Sorry, I'm not really good at putting what I'm thinking into words... And yes I mean are different colors considered different varieties? Say I'm looking at guppies and I have a fancy guppy female and I get one of these black Moscow guppies off line. Would those be considered different varieties?

 

[DragonFish71]

No worries. I wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

And yes, that would be a variety.

 

[IShallNtEatFish]

Ok awesome! Thanks! Now just gonna wait for my female to drop them add new males along with more females. I got some at the lfs a few weeks ago and thought I got all males but they accidentally gave me a female, she is fairly close to dropping I think.

 

[Cactuspixie]

I think the problem you may end up with by changing the variety of male you use with each subsequent generation, is that you will end up with so much genetic diversity that you will start too lose the distinct colour variations in successive offspring. Eventually they will all look more like plain guppies rather than fancies.

 

[IShallNtEatFish]

Well my plan isn't to breed them willy nilly I would be selectively breeding them. Like I said earlier repro is my passion and eventually I will go into reproduction science I'm just not sure which type of animals yet. So this would be kind of an experiment. And if I find some awesome looking crosses that would be just an added bonus.