Why are hybrids hated so much? I have many posts regarding this and still don't quite understand. I get the anger towards people selling hybrids without identifying them as such, but if you know what they are what is the problem?
Here is one of the best articles on the topic:
http://cichlidresearch.com/hybrids.htmlHere are some excerpts that I believe resonate the strongest with those of us who speak out against hybrids:
At a philosophical level, many people, myself included, dislike hybrids because the creation of hybrids is a kind of arrogance on behalf of people, namely some sort of deep-rooted feeling that we as humans can improve upon nature. I feel that with 2300+ species of cichlids in the wild, we don't need to go creating yet another kind just because we can. Furthermore, the ability to create "designer" organisms has a way of cheapening the beauty and wonder of real organisms.
^ This extends beyond hybrids IMO to include fish which are dyed, genetically modified, purposely malformed, etc.
Here is the #1 reason that most of us are so vocal against hybrids (bold added by myself for emphasis):
In addition, on a very practical level, hybrids create enormous problems for fellow fish-keepers, problems that may last for a long time and become intractable. Imagine you cross (make a hybrid) between two species of Central American cichlid, e.g., a convict and a texas cichlid. You know that they are hybrids and you keep them in a tank separate from other cichlids. But over time, events cause this tightly controlled situation to get out of hand.
One of the hybrids may jump into another tank (this happens quite often; ask anyone who maintains a large fish room).
You might sell or give away some of the hybrids and the recipient may not know or remember that the fish is in fact a hybrid. People often bring fish back to pet stores or sell them at auctions and so the hybrid nature of the fish can easily get lost along the way.
The first generation of hybrids (called F1 hybrids) are often easy to spot; they look like a mixture of the two parent species. If two of these F1 hybrids go on to mate, or if one of them is mated to either of the parent species, the offspring (F2 hybrids) create the real problems. Why? Because F2 individuals may look like almost anything in between the two parent species, up to and including looking like either of the parent species. This is a disaster waiting to happen because it means that now you have a fish that looks like a certain species but does not have all the right genes for that species.
Now imagine what happens when these offspring grow up and get back into the mainstream of the hobby. A person (potentially you) buys what looks like a convict cichlid at your local pet store. You are unaware that the fish is actually an F2 convict x texas cross brought in a week ago by someone else. The person who sold the fish to the store forgot to mention that point (we will assume they forgot accidentally, but since most reputable pet stores will not knowingly carry hybrids, some people "forget" to mention that the fish they are selling are hybrids).
Now you put your new convict in with your other convict and for some strange reason, they never reproduce successfully. Or they do reproduce and the kids look kind of strange. Now you have a bunch more hybrids that you have to deal with.
You have probably already witnessed this phenomenon without even knowing it. Many times in fish stores I see a tank labeled "Mixed African cichlids". What exactly does that mean? In some cases it means that the fish store had a few of this and a few of that and they put them together. More typically it means that they do not know what genes are in there. The fish are just colorful, so who cares? Well, many people care. I often get emails from people who buy fish from those tanks and then try to figure out which fish they have. The sad answer is that we can never know. Just because a fish superficially looks like species X does not mean that it is that species.
Once you've crossed out a species with another, there is no means to clean up the mistake. The accident is now forever among that lineage of fish. With so many fish becoming endangered in the wild and in some cases, captive stock being the main method for trying to recover and replenish native populations someday, it's critical that we take great care to preserve the great diversity of species that exists.
Many people do not realize that all breeds of dogs are just different forms of the same species. The situation with cichlids is completely different. The different kinds of cichlids are completely different species of animals, so crossing two species of cichlids is not like mating a German Shepherd with a poodle, it is more like mating a German Shepherd with a cat.
From "Dealing with hybrids":
The solution here is simple. Destroy them immediately. If you have a difficult time killing a bunch of hybrid eggs, imagine how difficult it will be for you to kill them when they are cute little fry or even young adults. This is a responsibility you take on when you keep fish and you should take it seriously.
Under absolutely no circumstances should you pass hybrids on to someone else unless they are to be used as feeder fish.
The best method is to just avoid hybridizing in the first place. Short of species-only tanks, it may not be 100% possible, but there are plenty of steps which can be taken to lower the chances of such an issue occurring.
The real problem is over fishing.. If people were not interested in paying 2-3x the price for WC fish, cichlid levels would not be critical in the rift lakes.
If you think over fishing for the aquarium trade is the problem? Perhaps you should look into why the nile perch was introduced to lake victoria.
The problem is overfishing, but not due to the aquarium trade.
The real topic was focused on why people are opposed to hybrids. Bremmon is trying to interject a red herring and should just start a new thread if he'd like to argue the merits of buying WC verses tank-raised fish.
