INBREEDING & OUTCROSSING.....

[Troy Williams]

Hi all, I will be receiving a male cobalt from Darren Burgess in the morning. So my question is, I already have a female Cobalt & the male is one of her brothers. When they breed(optumist) will i be able to breed there prodginy back to the parents without seeing ant major defomities etc? And when will i need to introduce an outcross?

Cheers.

[Discus-Hans]

Hi Troy,

2 answers, 1 as a business man, to help Darren an extra sale, ohhhhhh YES you need an other man.

Now as hobbyist and (ex) breeder.
No as far as I heared you can get some problems in the 7th generation, but who ever tested that, I don't know. For "line" breeding you do that all the time breed best brother + sister, breed the fry back on pop-pop or mom-mom and keep on crossing the best ones.
I wouldn't worry about it all,

Hans

[Troy Williams]

Thanks Hans for the information. Darren doesn't need any help getting money out of me, i give it up NO WORRIES!!:D LOL!!!!

Thanks again.

Troy.

[Apistomaster]

I thank Hans for clarifying that inbreeding is not a problem unless carried to the extreme. Most aquarists and not just Discus keepers are unnecessarily worried about inbreeding. Many worry about breeding even the F1 or F2 siblings of say a fancy Pleco like a Hypancistrus species when they should just be glad they bred a wild caught fish and should just get on with producing enough to establish an aquarium strain. One can always introduce new stock from another source down the road to obtain greater genetic diversity.