Cross breeding information

[discusdude]

Hey does anyone know where i can find an article on X breeding discus strains? Alternatively if someone could explain some basics to me here that would be great.

I would pretty much like to know about how different strains are developed and how strains can be improved through selective breeding and crossing back and forth through various strains.

Cheers
Alistair

[kevkoi]

Waves....

DISCUS CATALOGUE!!! Comes with all the details!!

[discusdude]

Hmmm, I shall take that into consideration.

Thanks

[DiscusMan]

Mate,

Penang discus by Mr Yeng ( hard to first name ). There is a section in his book where he covers this very well and explains all about cross breeding etc.

I am sure there are other sources etc so this is the one i have and i am not saying it is better or worse than any other.

I think that discus cross breeding is something that many breeders will try to keep to themselves so finding a lot of info may be hard unless you get to know some breeders who have done some good stuff.

Let me know if you want to know where you can get Penang discus as i can get them for a good price or show you one if you wish to see it.

Wayne

[rytis]

i think the idea (secret) is to breed as different to each other as possible and see what comes out, i think breeders try to lecture us about not breeding different types coz they know this way we may get something interesting...

anyway, i was wondering at what age do they start showing beauty so i can determine keepers or not?

i figured 125g planted tank will be home of 2week+ fry or different kinds, and once they get like 1.5 months onwards, ill keep 2-5 of each combination,

[goldenpigeon]

no we tell beginners to only breed discus of the same kind so that they dont come out with something ugly and cant sell it. also because a lot of people buying fish want a nice clean fish and if they decide to breed they dont want pigeon, red melon, blue diamond and snow white genes in the fish. makes things very complicated.

the secret is not to throw any discus togeather. different colours come out over time. it is near impossible to make a new strain using 1 pair of fish. say you breed 2 fish togeather. you are looking for a clean red fish without peppering to be the end result. if one of the parents were a nice red fish you would get one of the offspring and breed it with the parent to keep the nice red gene. then you could breed the offspring with the second generation. i am not near an expert on the subject and im not saying what i have just said is correct. but you cant just throw 2 fish togeather and hope for something. there is more skill and knowledge involved with making a new strain.

[G-1000]

Junior mate,

Agree with most of the stuff you said but I have to add:

Pigeon genes and white/ghost genes are dominant and will occur in every generation, so that breeding with these fish will be "ugly" if they are crossed with other types.

However, a recessive gene such as albino will be difficult to breed - purely because the albino gene will skip a generation, so you will need to breed an albino to a say BD

then they have 100% BD fry with recessive albino gene

then those BD fry need to be bred to each other and 25% of the offspirng from them is albino BD

OR - one of the BD fry can be bred back to it's albino parent and I think that gives 50% albino fry or something


Anyway - point is that crossing of genes is discouraged because beginners will get discouraged by their firt generation of fry and not breed them further - meaning these "ugly" or "cross-breed" ones are not desirable since their genes arent pure.

Just a minor side point.

G

[goldenpigeon]

cheers G np mate. as i said i am nowhere near an expert on this lol. i have a book on cross breeding.... maybe i should have a look at it hahaha thanks for clearing that up

[rytis]

ok golden pigeon, we will se what i raise when i raise it... my blue turq and yellow whatever just laid eggs last night...

[goldenpigeon]

ok. you will most likely get offspring that look like the parent fish. wouldnt mind seeing the results thoagh.