At
Armke's Rare Aquarium Fish, all of the species/varieties
found at the bottom of this article were offered on our web site
as this was written. What prompted this dissertation was an exchange
of e-mails with one of our customers who maintains his own informational
cichlid web site. The exchange, which included a number of quotes
from guests to his site, indicated there is a basic misunderstanding
of what constitutes a "hybrid" in our hobby and what
constitutes a "line-bred" variety. To a lesser extent
there remains confusion about the meaning of the F0, F1, etc.,
designation of fish.
Before going
any further—and since we have the floor—let's
establish some basic premises here:
WHAT WE DO AND DO NOT
CONDONE.....
1. Armke's
Rare Aquarium Fish does NOT condone or support the
hybridization of cichlid species.
2. Armke's
Rare Aquarium Fish does NOT use or condone the use
of hormones or carotene-laced foods to achieve artificially bright
colors in any of the fish it sells. (Note: One of the quotes indicates
that "super red" Labidochromis, Protomelas, etc. and
"iceberg" Sciaenochromis have been artificially colored
in this manner. In fact, the "iceberg" is found in nature,
and the "super red" has been aquarium line-bred.)
3. Armke's
Rare Aquarium Fish DOES and has earned a widespread
reputation for making every effort possible to correctly identify
each variety it sells, often going to great extremes to determine
the exact location within the lakes where the variety was found
(originated).
4. Armke's
Rare Aquarium Fish DOES exercise great care in giving
F0 or F1 designations to the fish it offers. The F0 fish (wild-caught
in Africa) are obtained by direct importation by ourselves or
by purchases from other highly reliable professional importers.
The F1 fish are bred ourselves from wild-caught stock or are obtained
from breeders known to use wild-caught stock, some of whom breed
the fish especially for us. We seldom use designations below F1
(F2, F3, etc.) because these are too difficult to substantiate.
REPUTATION IS EVERYTHING.....
Can we make a mistake? Sure. But we try awfully hard not to, because
we know that most of our customers rely on the information we
give them. And because we want to maintain the reputation we've
earned for integrity and honesty in the business. We take great
pride in the fact that Armke's is often recommended and
used as a "mail-order" source for fine cichlids by some
of the leading authorities, breeders, scientists, researchers,
writers and personalities in the hobby. We have supplied fish
to several public aquariums in the United States and Canada. We
have also supplied fish to specialized research facilities, and
we have supplied fish for the Lake Victoria Species Survival Program.
RED PARROTS, GUPPIES,
AND ALBINOS.....
Back to
hybridization, which seems to be terribly confused with line breeding...
What is hybridization? What is line-breeding?
Have you
seen the "red parrot cichlids" offered in some pet shops?
It's a hybrid, CREATED BY CROSS-BREEDING TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
SPECIES OF CICHLIDS. Some people really seem to like this fish.
We think it is ghastly. In any case, hybridization is easy to
define. If one successfully breeds one species of cichlid with
a completely different species of cichlid, he gets "hybrids".
To explain
line breeding, we'll direct your attention to guppies,
or bettas, or discus. Guppies with extra bright
colors and exceedingly long finnage do not occur in nature. Neither
do long-finned bright red, or bright blue, or purple bettas. Neither
do the bright red, or green, or blue, or polka-dotted discus.
These varieties were line bred to achieve certain desirable characteristics.
Most likely nearly every winner at the last Westminster Dog Show
was line bred for certain show-quality characteristics.
Get the
picture? An aquarist raises a group of Aulonocara fry together
and perhaps notices that one of the emerging males seems to have
more and brighter red than the other little males. Perhaps there
is a female that hints at more than normal female coloration.
"Let's see what happens if I breed that male to that female,"
he might think. If the resulting fry look promising, the best
of the them may again be bred for enhanced red coloration. If
this "line breeding" is successfully, the aquarist might
say, "wow, I've just developed the first 'super red' peacock."
Okay, that was a little silly. But do you see the distinction:
NO HYBRIDIZATION occurred. All the work was with one species.
By the way,
to the best of our knowledge, all albino forms of African cichlid
species in quantity are the result of line breeding. Obviously,
individual albinos can and do occur in nature. And the "albino"
gene is required for the production of the line-bred specimens.
We continue to see albinos called "hybrids" by the uninformed.
Sometimes we are chastised for selling these "hybrids".
There's
no doubt that we deserve to be chastised from time to time. But
not for selling hybrids!
SOME EXAMPLES OF EXPLANATIONS
OF WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT.....
Altolamprologus
calvus Kipili “Zebra”—S F1.....(F1 means these fish are the offspring
of fish which were actually captured in Lake Tanganyika. The variety
occurs in the area of Kipili. It's been called "zebra"
due to its striped markings.)
Cyprichromis
leptosoma Congo “Speckleback Rainbow”—ML-L F0.....(F0 means these fish were captured
in Lake Tanganyika and have been imported into the U.S. The variety
occurs off the coastline of Congo, formerly Zaire. It's been called
"speckleback rainbow" by African Diving Ltd., which
disovered the fish, due to the distinctive coloration of this
geographical variety.)
Paracyprichromis
nigripinnis “Albino Blue Neon”—M.....(This albino variety has been produced
in domestic aquariums by selective line breeding for albino genes.
It does not occur naturally in nature, though latent albino genes
were needed to produce the variety.)
Paracyprichromis
nigripinnis “Blue Neon”—L F0.....(The F0, wild-caught form of the albino
variety above. It is called "blue neon" due to its distinctive
coloration in the wild.)
Lamprologus
ocellatus “Gold"—S.....(This is the variety of L. ocellatus called
the "gold", as opposed to the "black" form
or the "yellow" form collected in other areas. The lack
of an F1 designation indicates that these fish are at least two
generations removed from wild-caught parentage.)
Eretmodus
cyanostictus Mtoto “Blue Dot Yellow"—L F0.....(F0 means these fish were captured
in Lake Tanganyika and have been imported into the U.S. The variety
occurs near the Mtoto area of Congo, formerly Zaire. It's been
called "blue dot yellow" due to the distinctive coloration
of this geographical variety.)
Neolamprologus
crassus Kekese—L F0.....(The F0, wild-caught form of the fish. The location
by itself, Kekese, you may note, gives no hint of the coloration
of the fish.)
Neolamprologus
leleupi “Super Orange"—S.....(This is the variety of N. leleupi called the
"super orange". It could be line bred or a naturally
occurring color form of the N. leleupi.)
Neolamprologus
pulcher “Daffodil”—L F0.....(The F0, wild-caught fish as imported from Lake Tanganyika.
Long ago it was dubbed "daffodil" due to its distinctive
coloration, and the name has stuck.)
Xenotilapia
flavipinnis Katoto “Bright Yellow”—L F0.....(The F0, wild-caught fish as imported
from the Katoto area of Lake Tanganyika. One might think that
"bright yellow" would indicate a "line-bred"
form. Not so.)
Tropheus
moorii Ikola “Kaiser Yellow”—S F1.....(F1 means these fish are the offspring
of fish which were actually captured in Lake Tanganyika. The variety
occurs in the area of Ikola. It was long ago given the name "kaiser
yellow" due to its special markings.)
Aulonocara
jacobfreibergi “Albino Eureka Red”—S.....(This albino variety has been produced
in domestic aquariums by selective line breeding for albino genes.
It does not occur naturally in nature, though latent albino genes
were needed to produce the variety.)
Aulonocara
saulosi “Green Face”—MS F1.....(F1 means these fish are the offspring
of fish which were actually captured in Lake Malawi. The descriptive
name "green face" does not indicate line breeding.)
Aulonocara
sp. “German Red”—ML.....(This variety was developed via line breeding darker
specimens of Aulonocara sp. Chipoka in Germany, where much
of the line breeding with African cichlids seems to originate.
By comparing "german red" here with the "green
face" above, one can see that the common name itself offers
little clue to the origin. On the other hand, the F0 and F1 designation
by reliable sources is telling.)
Aulonocara
sp. “Rubescens”—MS (Europe,Real).....(This variety was developed via line
breeding Aulonocara sp. Maleri in Germany, where much of
the line breeding with African cichlids seems to originate.)
Aulonocara
sp. “Turkis”—ML (Europe).....(The story--personally told to us in Germany by
a respected authority and colleague of Ad Konings and the source
of our original specimens--is that this form was produced in Germany
from an actual "mutant" specimen of a wild-caught Aulonocara
stuartgranti Chilumba. Mutant forms can be produced in nature,
and they need not be hybrids.)
Aulonocara
stuartgranti Maulana “Bi-Color 500”—ML F0.....(Though the "bi-color 500"
name might lead one to believe otherwise, this variety does occur
naturally in Lake Malawi. The F0 designation here indicates imported,
wild-caught specimens.)
Copadichromis
sp. “Mloto Fluorescent”—L F0.....(Though the "mloto fluorescent"
name might lead one to believe otherwise, this variety does occur
naturally in Lake Malawi. The F0 designation here indicates imported,
wild-caught specimens.)
Labeotropheus
trewavasae “Albino Red”—M.....(Though albino fish have been found
in nature, they certainly do not occur in quantity. The fish offered
here have been line bred in an aquarium environment. Note the
absence of an F0 or F1 designation.)
Labidochromis
caeruleus Lion's Cove “Yellow”—M.....(This fish is found naturally in Lake
Malawi, but because of the restricted area where the fish occurs,
adult wild-caught specimens are relatively nonexistent in the
hobby. There is a report of young specimens being produced from
wild-caught stock in Africa, however.)
Labidochromis
sp. Red Top Kimpuma “Super Red”—M.....(The "super red" form of
this fish is reportedly line bred by selectively breeding to achieve
the superior coloration.)
Sciaenochromis
fryeri Maleri "Iceberg”—ML.....(The "iceberg" form of this
fish, contrary to some bad information, does occur naturally in
Lake Malawi in the area of Maleri Island. It has a more prominent
white blaze than the "normal" S. fryeri.)
Haplochromis
sp. “Salmon” Hippo Point—M.....(This fish occurs naturally in Lake
Victoria. Hippo Point is the general location of the Lake where
the yet-unnamed species was found.)
Haplochromis
sp. “Albino Ruby Green”—M(-).....(Another albino form. Another fish
produced in the aquarium by selective breeding, or line breeding.)
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