Genetic Diversity?

[Avid Outdoorsman]

I have been keeping and breeding fish for around 25 years now. I am however fairly new to keeping and breeding apistos. I have always tried to buy wild caught fish if possible. If not I would make sure that I bought the males and females from different sources to maintain genetic diversity. I am seeing more and more people breeding siblings and other such practices. Am I taking this too far? I always felt I was doing the responsible thing, but I have been told on several occasions lately that it doesn't matter. That it takes many generations of inbreeding before any problems occur. I am just wondering on what every ones take on the subject is.

 

[tjudy]

It is best to avoid breeding siblings from the start, if the goal is to prevent genetic erosion. It is a real problem with dwarf cichlids, and deformities often show up after only a few generations if inbreeding. Another problem is that outcrossing a highly inbred line may not solve the problem. Once the genetic diversity is lost, it cannot be 100% regained.