Re: inbreeding?(long)

["Colin Gorton" <colingorton@wanadoo.es>]

It would appear that most breeders don't pay much attention to this as
culling is commonly performed. Personally I take it much more seriously
and do, whereever possible, try to avoid matching two fish from the same
point of purchase ( or from two batches in the same shop). I believe
that I have to cull fewer fish and I get more healthy young. However, it
is more time consuming if I was to want to "improve" a colour strain.
My attitude to colour strains, though, is ambiguous as I first got into
this breeding lark in order to try to reduce pressure on natural stocks.
For this reason I'm not too worried about having vibrant colours in my
tanks but I do want healthy fish.
Obviously, with a rigorous culling programme, both things are possible,
but you then get fewer young.
Seeing as you mention inbreeding in dogs... Most of the commonly bred
dog breeds have terrible histories of genetic problems: early blindness,
dislocated hips,in-turned eyelids etc. Unfortunately The Kennel Club
(UK) still doesn't insist on genetic testing of registered animals and,
as far as I know, no dog club permits out-breeding to try to solve these
problems.
As Bob Dixon points out, some Killies have problems, but they also have
problems when you out-breed with the same breed (theoretically) but from
a different location. I think killies are very interesting genetically
and would love to have the resources and access to enough of them, to be
able to do some serious study. I suppose one day someone will...
Some food for thought...
C:-)lin
(I'm in the process of building a fish room at the moment, so if I'm
late in replying to a post, you know why)

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Martina <emartina@uiuc.edu>
To: Apisto Group <apisto@listbox.com>
Date: Sunday, December 17, 2000 11:29 PM
Subject: inbreeding?


>I was wondering if inbreeding is a problem with fish. I know with dogs,
>cats, livestock, stuff like that people are usually very careful to
avoid
>inbreeding. Especially for show quality animals their lineage is known
for
>several generations back. However I never really hear about that being
done
>with fish. Are fish just less susceptible to problems that arise from
>inbreeding? Just something I have been thinking about lately.
>
>Eric
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Eric Martina
>University of Illinois
>Electrical Engineering
>
>
>
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