Hybreed synos ?

[Vargur]

I have been reading lot on hybreed Synodontis catfishes and was just wondering why they are so common. How come ? Are they so easy to make or what ?

[Marc van Arc]

Hi,
I'm not being lazy but I should hit the sack. So here's a DIY tip: click the search button (top menu bar) and search for hybrids. Plenty of hits

[Richard B]

Hi there

Hybrids come into being in one of three ways...

1 - there is a remote possibility it occurrs naturally, there are examples in Corydoras & it may be a possibility but it's not the stuff we're generally on about in these forums.

2 - commercial breeders try to create something a bit different. Fine if that's your thing & fish are clearly labelled as such

3 - commercial breeders create cross bred fish where they get many young from difficult to breed species & they enter the trade as the genuine thing, fooling unsuspecting purchasers. Typically this has happened to the Tanganyikan species; granulosus, multipunctatus & petricola. Granulosus are expensive & only produce a few eggs so a tidy profit can be made by selling easy to produce hybrids as the genuine article.

The above is a quick generalisation as petricolas (now Lucipinnis) & multipunctatus are fairly easy to breed if you know what you're doing.

All the best

Richard B

[MatsP]

I think Richard hits the nail on the head with the reason for their existance being either "Something different" or "Lookalike to an expensive/hard-to-breed" species.

They are not really easy to create (as far as I understand), as it takes having access to certain hormones and injecting those into the fish, which of course isn't necessarily something you can achieve "at home". But professional breeders with low-levels of scruples can certainly achieve this.

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Mats