Unique markings

wandj · Post by **wandj** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 11:52 pm

Hi. Here is what I think is a very young female. See the unique markings? I will post a second pic right away. Do you all agree it's a female? What about her spawning if she ever does? Would I have to worry about impure babies?

wandj · Post by **wandj** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 11:54 pm

Here is the other pic.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 11:59 pm

Is it just the picture, or does the fish have a "bulldog" nose...? I've seen pictures of that on tank raised fish, and it was considered a deformity. It was not recomended to breed them.

I trust it's just the angle the picture was taken, and that the fish's nose is normal

Tom2600 · Post by **Tom2600** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 12:23 am

A very interesting looking Zebra. Unfortunately I agree that it does at this stage look deformed so I would personally not breed from it if I had the chance. Nice pictures though, and if I had to guess from the pics, I would say female.

Cheers

Tom

du ma · Post by **du ma** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 7:29 am

deformity or not, i think this fish look pretty nice in my personal opinion.

wandj · Post by **wandj** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 7:49 am

Thanks for the info! BTW, these were not my spawning successes, I have not had a spawn yet. I purchased these sight unseen from a breeder. Not knocking him or anything, but I know I could not sell deformed fish. Aren't breeders told to destroy or not to sell their runts/deformed/inferiors? Zebras or not, if we only have captives to rely on from now on, it makes sense not to weaken the gene pool. But, like Barbie said, so long as it stemmed from an injury and is NOT a genetic defect, I suppose there should be no issue with breeding them. If I lost an arm in a farm auger, my kids would not be born with missing arms.
Thanks all, I am not worried about her spawning any time soon. And maybe that bulldog nose comes from hatching?

wandj · Post by **wandj** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 9:49 pm

Thank you all for the info. This is the first time I ever heard anything about the "bulldog" nose or crooked fins. Boy, do I feel robbed. I have decided to release the "special" fish into my community tank. They can live out their "special" lives as tank decor and not breeders. Too bad I didn't know this before. And yes, I think it is reprehensible for any breeder to sell "culls", no matter what the fish is or for what price. Shame. And let this be a warning to everyone, if you ever buy captive-bred stock, be warned he/she is just getting rid of thier culls! Be it deformed, barren, crooked fins, etc. I didn't know about the fin thing either till now, but that is genetic too? Damn.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 12:01 am

I'm so sorry wandj

But I'm very happy to see that you made a responsible decision regarding the bulldog faces. I'm sure they will live happily in your community tank

I'm sadden to hear that there are breeders that knowingly (?) sell these fish without a second thought to the buyer, or the fish.

I think I would have been reasonable PO'd had I paid a large amount of money and recieved a shipment of these fish though.

Again, I'm sorry to have brought the bad news to you

Did you inform the seller that you were aware of this deformity and ask them why they sell them?

wandj · Post by **wandj** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 12:31 am

I will be meeting him in person soon. He will be a guest at our Aquarium Club meeting. If I ask him "why are you selling defects?", I wonder if he'll say....they are not sold to be breeders...you had a chance to see them when they were being caught.

Breeders should never sell anything defective, breeding fish or not, no matter how cheap. When I bought them, they were cheaper than the going price, however, it did not mention on the website that they were cheaper because the were culls. I thought I was just getting a good price, I didn't want culls. But I have to admit, I could have not purchased them if I knew about the "bulldog" thing. I did get to watch as they were being netted. I did not know I should have to study every fish with a magnifying glass. I assumed they would be "perfect". My mistake, lesson learned. I just want to now raise awareness for everyone else to WATCH OUT if you buy captive-bred fish from a "breeder".

I put those 3 fish in my comm tank already.

Check back tomorrow to see the real ugly male. Pics should be done in the morning.

McEve · Post by **McEve** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 6:56 pm

Ok, I'll copy this over here then, and see where it takes us.

What might be happening here, is that all Zebra's might be carrying a recessive gene for a bulldog face, but then get naturally culled in nature if the fish gets this deformity. Maybe because the connection between the nostrils and the connection to the olfactory rosette (thanks for explaining that to me Adam

) is disrupted, and they therefor don't sense danger as they should, and get to escape in time.

If we do then breed the bulldogs, this gene will be reinforced, and we will end up with more fry with bull dog face.

How's that for a theory

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:23 pm

Ooops..sorry guys, one more move.

If you are searching for the continued discussion on BULLDOG fry please go here!

http://www.zebrapleco.com/forum/viewtop ... 3&start=30