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Strange fish on aquabid.


JSC

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Was just having a drooling session on aquabid, only to come upon this fish that someone is asking $500 for. Now not too sure if anyone has seen one before but i know i have not, is this person trying to flog off a deformed fish?

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Depends on your view haha, I think deformity is what is accepted and what is not. Im sure DT were once seen as deformed by some but since there more pleasing to the eye that they are now a accepted as a breed by most and not considered a deformity.

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Yeah, nah, looks like major deformity to me. Either that, or someone has been doing some serious genetic alterations to their breed stock.

This raises the issue, again, how far can this go, before what we as hobbyists/breeders are doing is considered inhumane? Wasn't there a similar AB posting recently, involving a fish minus a caudal fin? Surely this is pushing the boundries of decency? Consider the Ranchu or Lionhead Goldfish. Ranchu's have got to be one of the cutest little fishies around (IMO), but how many generations had to suffer, before the lack of dorsal fin and severely arched spine was bred into their genetic make-up?

I dunno, sometimes I have to stand back and ask a few questions. About society in general, as well as this fishkeeping game...

As for the $500 for that particular fish? As I said at the start...yeah, but, nah.

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Im guessing genetic abnormality.....which if a true freak of nature would be a curious fish for collectors of unusual specimens...thus the $500.00 may not be so unreasonable.

Dont we all manipulate nature when we breed fish.

We breed for colours which in nature would make the fish easy prey to see.

We breed for large fins which in nature would impair the fishs ability to outswim predators.

We pamper less hardy fry which in nature would die off as only the strongest would survive.

Its a controversail topic and i guess if the fish was not of value to someone out there then it would have been put to sleep so if it swims , eats and functions normally then why not sell it off.

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Wow, that is unusual. Quite unique.

It is not uncommon for cells to "drift" during the embryonic stage. Happens with humans a lot (we don't selectively breed and our gene pool is quite small) Often teeth will appear on the side of a foot, testicular cells in the chest etc

Would be interesting to see if the mutation could be fixed. How about a fish with this dorsal/anal configuration on both sides?

Hope the purchaser does some basic back crosses!

Cheers, J

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Sorry....just to get clear....I assume you are saying that with regard to auctions

positive comments are ok

negative comments are not permitted

What we mean is, imagine that you paid money to list a fish for sale, for example, and people started calling it deformed etc. We therefore ask that nobody critiques a fish where the critique is uninvited by the owner, whether the fish is listed for auction or otherwise.

Against that background, yes, positive comments are ok.

I think the fish is rather interesting!

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I noticed that this is not the only 'unusual' fish this breeder has listed either. The one under it is also unusual. It has a lumpy head but it doesn't look too bad. I also spotted a 'short bodied' giant somewhere on there as well.

There seems to be a few 'strange fish' listed lately. I saw a crowntail guppy on there a few weeks ago.

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So are we really seeing the dorsal base growing along the flank rather than on the fish's back?

I think that some of these cases are more likely to be due to developmental rather than genetic factors, but we can't really know for sure.

I personally am curious about the recent examples of phenotypic deviations on AQB, but I think there is something unethical about the actual sale of them. The sales of such fish could encourage more to appear. This is potentially dangerous for the hobby.

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I agree, however, it would only be a problem if the deviation from the 'norm' is genetic.

Just a quick explanation of terms here for the rest of us;

Phenotype is the outward appearance of the organism which can be influenced by environmental factors. Remember the discussions about ventral less fry? It was determined that this condition was caused by external factors and was not passed on to the offspring. They were not genetically ventral less.

Genotype is the actual blueprint for the organism. Deviations in the genetic makeup of an organism are caused by mutation which occurs in the space of one generation. Crowntails are a good example of genetic alteration. The first crowntail was a genetic mutation which was then enhanced by selective breeding. If the batch of fry that first exhibited the crowning trait had been discarded crowntails would not exist.

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  • 1 month later...

I don't think abnormailities necessarily bring the demise of a hobby. Just add some variety, a new challenge.

Take frizzle chickens for example, they are chooks that feathers grow backwards, they often cause debate amongst chicken breeders because straight feathered birds carrying the gene are often used as breeders to maintain the quality of the feathers.

A chook with two recessive frizzle genes has very brittle feathers that easily fray.

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