Should I Let These Fish Breed

[jrpatter]

These fish are picking at the intake on a sponge filter. One is a tangerine I picked up from dan_n_NC. The other is a wild brown i picked up at an auction. The brown has fin dmg i am assuming that is from the wild. What i am asking is this. Are these fish of a good enough quality to let em breed. WHat is wrong with em. I know they are good, but my eye is never good enough to catch the small things that make the differance between an A and an AAA fish.


thanks


john

[jrpatter]

pic2

[jrpatter]

pic3

[jrpatter]

Sorry for the quality of the pics, i had to pull plants to give em enough space to fit so i coudl take a pic. Also i dont have alot of patience so i only waited about 5 min.

thanks

john

[jrpatter]

Oh someone asked me where did i get that "natural" looking background. Well it looks so natural and textured cause it is :)
that is 100% slime, it hasnt been scraped off in oh 6 years?


john

[Francisco_Borrero]

Hi John :

As to the quality of the fish, they look nice to me, but I have 0 experience with domestics. Thus, somebody else may be able to advise on the quality of the Marlboro, and what to expect from the Marlboro X your wild cross.

Your wild does not look like a brown, but like a blue discus to me, and it is nice enough.
Despite the quality of the picture(s), I believe this fish has some active HITH, of the type that I call Type II. In my experience, this type of HITH is not due to Hexamita/nutrition/water quality, but to Capillaria/nutrition/water quality. I believe the Marlboro has it too, although the picture is less clear. I would definitely consider de-worming them, as this would be a problem to them as adults, and to any potential fry.

Nice fish. Hopefully others will comment with other opinnions. Good luck & cheers, Francisco.

[brewmaster15]

Hi John,
That Marlboro red is very nice looking fish.It has good shape and nice eyes. Heavy peppering but that not a quality issue --IMO.

The wild is an okay fish. I have one very similar to it, and when bred to some of my domestics it produced some fry that I was very happy with.

My opinion.. Breed them and enjoy them. I think you may wind up some very nice fry. I have fry on the backs of a wild greenX MR right now(day 2 free swimming)

I can't see the others to well butif they are similar to these , go for it! :)

-al

Ps.. I agree with Francisco on the Hole in the head.

[jrpatter]

Hmmm,

I noticed em when i first got the fish, it has been through 3 metro treatments and is on a 100% live food diet of black worms, mosquito larva, daphnia, and ghost shrimp. The holes arent changing i just figured it was permant dmg from when it was brought into the country. Whot other treatment would you suggest?

PH 6.2 planted tank
20% waterchange weekly (RO)
TDS of 320

As for the other it is just a bad pic, i cant see any holes at all. Suppose to be a tangerine, but you guys would know better than me, i will have to check with the breeder directly. I guess i will just have to get a better camera. Or i could always do the axel method of picture taking :)

john

P.S. Oh and be critical as much as you can you need to talk me outa letting em breed I REALLY hate hatching brine shrimp and growing micro worms.

[jrpatter]

doh correction, it is a marlboro the other fish i got (not shown) is a tangerine though i cant see a differance in the coloring, i will have to change the labels on the tanks :)

john

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi JOhn:
I don't know anything about wilds, so can't comment on that fish. The pigeon does have a really nice shape and eye, but too much pepper for me. IF the pigeon is a cross you may get some nicely shaped and colored discus. IF the pigeon is pure you will get 100% very heavily peppered pigeons. I have had three spawns from my almost spotless yellow male x RT or SS. All the babies were pigeons and all had more pepper than he did.