Thoughts on breeding female Borelli w/her male offspring.

[Charles]

I am wondering what people's thoughts are on breeding a fish with its own offspring. My male Borelli died today, and it doesn't look like I'll be able to get another from the LFS for a few months. I have 4 fry that are 2 months old. Assuming at least one is male, will he spawn with the adult female when mature? Is this advisable? Will I get normal, healthy fry?

This is my first post on this forum, though I have been keeping dwarf Cichlids for about a year.

Thanks,
Charles

 

[aspen]

hi charles. breeding a fish with it's off-spring is called 'line breeding' and is done quite often. whether it is advisable, well, the fish that you have were most likely bred sister/brother, right? the only way to tell if the match is ok is to do it and see what the off-spring look like. if there is a high number that are obvious culls, then they are line bred too much. if not, then you should look for a wild fish or fish of different origin to 'out-cross' with yours when the next generation is ready to go. i would do it and see.

jmo, rick