Which cichlids do you prefer? Hybrids or purebred? Think again

[Aaronlee8647]

Nowadays when you enter the aquarium shop you can see many different kinds of Cichlid fish. Like other large Cichlids (Midas Cichlid and Red Devil), the Flowerhorn, or the Hua Lo Han ('Flower' Monk) also has a nuchal hump at its forehead. But the difference is that Flowerhorn is much more colourful if compared to the Midas or the Red Devil. Asian Chinese, especially the Malaysian Chinese believe that these fish bring luck to them. According to them if you have the patience to look at the marks along the lateral line of the fish and if you are lucky enough you will see numbers. If you can get the numbers correct you may win a lottery. *giggle giggle* I find it rather silly. Anyway, keeping this fish either for its beauty or getting rich does no harm to the owners. But do you know that this fish are not normal. Flowerhorn fish are hybrids of two or more different species of Cihlids. You may wonder what the big deal is for just keeping Hybrids. According to the biological context hybrids can hardly produce viable offspring, even if the eggs are viable, the offspring emerge are going to be sterile. Even if the offspring can breed among themselves the subsequent generations will be genetically weaker and weaker. Hybrid fish can only be kept for display for their striking colours but if you are the type of keeper whose main goal is to breed fish then Hybrids are not the fish you want to look for. Hybrids lead to pollution of the gene pool. Should one not be too careful, the original species will be wiped out. Thus, my advice is that it is better that we keep purebred fish. Try not to get Hybrids just because of wanting to get rich. Always keep in mind that Hybrids will pollute the gene pool and will lead to distruction if one is not too cautious.