hybrids-crossbreeding-linebreeding

[kalebjarrod]

i am a little confused

what is the difference between hybrids and crossbreeds

how does this differ from line-breeding

I was hoping to get a clarification.

[sunshinediscus]

Hybrid is an animal that was the result of 2 animals of different race, varieties, species or genera that bred together. Basically a cross is the same thing.

Linebreeding is a form of inbreeding but instead of using very close relatives more distant relatives are used for instance cousin to cousin or uncle to neice . Linebreeding has absolutely nothing to do with weather a discus is a hybrid or a true natural form, both types of discus can be linebred.

Rod

[kalebjarrod]

so the strains of discus we breed are NOT hybrids?

[kevkoi]

Oh no... here we go again. :lol: Technicalities of science..

Depends on who u are asking....

[kalebjarrod]

yeah kev thats the answer i have seem to come accross

hence my confusion,

i understand it's a topic that gets the blood boiling in some people, it has been confusing me for some time.

i thought that discus strains were from a result of selective breeding from initial wild caught speciumums, hence line breeding

but how do you classify a mutantion from normal fish lines (pidgeon etc) that is then introduced into a family line for its specific caracteristics? does this then make the future offspring hybrid?

[mtchye]

Hi guys, this is a contentious issue as we all know.

First of all we should probably clarify that a hybrid is a mix between two different "species". The issue of whether or not a discus is then a hybrid would then boil down to whether or not you consider discus to have many different species, or are in general variants or sub species of the same species.. Its all very muddled up and there is a lot of grey area.

However, I would say since morphologically most discus seem to look the same except for colouration and pattern, that its not such a huge issue for discus. In the wild there seem to be so many different variations that classifying each as a subspecies would probably seem quite redundant to most.

As for breeding mutations back to the original species, I don't think that would constitute a hybrid as the genetic mutation by definition cannot be a different species from the original. I guess you would probably call it line breeding in that case.

Its probably the desire to hold 'pure' specimens of different variants that drives the debate of hybrids forwards. With african cichlids their speciation is in such a young stage that they hybridise freely and hence many ppl are afraid that theywill not have the indiividual species of a certain appearance for long if hybrids are condoned. This is the same with the flowerhorn due to its variability and similarity to its parent species. I can understand then the importance of recognising and not condoning hybrids.

Then there are the hybrids that fall under those banners that have become socially acceptable due to years of existence... I won't go into that..!

Its all very complicated. I myself am unsure on the issue. On the one hand we do want to preserve wild genetic species. On the other hand you could argue there are some hybrids that will stay in an aquarium and probably never threaten the dilution of the parent species..

I guess a little common sense and ethical behaviour by aquarists would be ideal. Don't sell hybrids as a known species, etc etc... I guess its also buyer beware if you are after a species, you have to be as certain as you can of its lineage, which can be hard.

Just my 2 cents
Vincent