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Hey everybody

im reasonably new to he hobby (kept fish for aprox 1 year), and when i set up my african tank i bought orange blotch peacocks. at the time i was not aware but they are in fact hybrids.

my question is what are they a hybrid of? and why do people look down on the practice of cross breeding?

if i had my time over i would probably refrain from buying seeing as there are so many bueatiful strains of naturaly occouring peacock, and because people regard these animals quite lowly

They're a hybrid of mbuna with OB females, and peacocks.

People look down on hybrids because:
A) with so many thousands of cichlid species available, what need is there for another?
B) it's all too easy for hybrids to be passed off, accidentally or on purpose, as real species. When these hybrids are, usually unknowingly, crossed with a related species, the gene pool is endangered. Sooner or later, potentially every member of a species not caught from the wild is not a true representative of the species. Basically, you can lose the species entirely.
C) Many hybrids have appalling physical characteristics that impede their ability to eat, swim, or defend themselves. This isn't true of OB peacocks but is often true of the various "Parrot" types - deformed mouths, no tails, misshapen bodies with twisted skeletons, etc.

There are a few others, but B is the primary reason. I'd like my future kids to be able to keep Trimacs, and Endler's, and all the other fish that are disappearing in the trade because of hybrids.

-Molly
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