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is it possible to breed a neon to a cardinarl tetra.

I'll bet it is quite possible, as they are very closely related species; but do me a favor and don't try it.

Haha stripes would flip! red on top blue on bottom!! but as stated, don't try it

72 gallon bowfront:Tanganyikan Lake set up
75 gallon: A. Baenschi trio,Cyanotilapia Afra Cobwe(4), copadichromis trewavase, protomelas sp. tangerine tiger(breeding pair)

maybe possible but extremely hard

It may be possible, but only may.

Even though a revision of the Characoids moved the Cardinal, the Neon and the False Neon into the same Genus (they are now known as Paracheirodon axelrodi, Paracheirodon innesi and Paracheirodon simulans respectively) this in itself is not sufficient to guarantee that hybridisation will occur. First of all, the fishes have to be capable of mating with each other. Most fishes are pretty savvy with respect to species recognition, and while there do exist some fishes that will naturally hybridise (certain Centropyge marine Angelfishes have been documented as hybridising in the wild), for the vast majority of fish species, hybridisation is an 'alien' activity, as it were. Let's face it, would you mate with a gorilla?

As a consequence, a number of hybrids among fishes that do not naturally hybridise are produced (especially in the case of large fish species) by a process known as 'stripping'. This involves using manual pressure to expel eggs and milt. While this is normally done on Salmon farms, and may sometimes be practised by Koi breeders anxious to preserve a particularly valuable pedigree strain, it is woefully impractical to say the least to try this with a fish the size of a Neon Tetra.

While some hybrid fishes have become accepted in the hobby (various fancy livebearer strains, for example), partly because the hybrids were produced by something akin to 'natural' hybridisation (i.e., the fishes themselves mated), and partly because the species concerned have probably only recently diverged and thus still retain a good deal of genetic commonality, the consensus here is that the majority of hybrids are undesirable. Undesirable because producing them requires unnatural intervention, some of which may be stressful to the fishes concerned, and because careless hybridisation without a lot of forethought can produce teratogenic monsters destined for short and painful lives. In any cases, many hybrids are sterile, unable to reproduce, and in the case of those that can reproduce, problems will arise in future time because they have been derived from a very small number of matings, with a correspondingly restricted gene pool. Thus, inbreeding becomes a problem. Quite a few 'natural' species have suffered in the past from careless breeding programmes aimed at turning out fishes in quantity to take advantage of high prices, only to result in the fishes concerned being inbred to the point of self-destruction. If you want an example of just how bad the effects of inbreeding can be, there's a particularly harrowing human example - a genetic anomaly that causes a disease called Huntingdon's Chorea. Look it up and be very afraid, because this is a disease you do NOT want appearing in your family tree!

Even when two fishes are compatible from a hybridisation standpoint, and can produce robust, viable offspring, there are secondary ecological issues arising from the careless dumping of 'unfit' specimens (deemed 'unfit' because they fail to conform to some aesthetic specification on the part of the breeder) which turn out to be very fit indeed when out-competing native fishes for food and breeding space. Recently, the Thai government has implemented strict penalties upon people dumping unwanted Flowerhorns in native waters, because they have proven to be aggressive ecological competitors. This came about because one or more breeders tried to produce Flowerhorns with specific combinations of markings, mimicking certain Kanji characters in Chinese that were supposedly auspicious from a Feng Shui viewpoint, and ended up producing a range of teratogenic monsters. These were dumped in local watercourses, and now the Thai government is left with a mess to clean up.

Even worse than this, recently a hybrid has appeared that I can only consider to be the product of a deranged mind. Only a complete idiot could consider a hybrid between the Redtailed Catfish, Phractocephalus hemioliopterus, and the giant Piraba Catfish, Brachyplatystoma filamentosum, to be a good idea. Despite what it says about Redtails "only" reaching 44 inches on PlanetCatfish, Richard Hardwick of Practical Fishkeeping has seen a 6ft specimen during an Amazon collecting trip, and as for the Piraba, this reaches a whopping nine feet. Bad enough that someone thought it was a good idea to produce a giant hybrid as a food fish, but believe it or not, some of these are actually being supplied to the aquarium trade! And if that thought does not scare you to the marrow, then you're a lot thicker-skinned than I am

Hybridisation is now accompanied by a plethora of biological, ecological and ethical issues that make it a project you don't want to become involved in. And anyway, what's wrong with either the Neon or the Cardinal as they are?



Last edited by Calilasseia at 19-Mar-2005 15:56

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

wow Cali how can you actually be bothered to make such long threads Im far to lazy

The benefits of a Classical education dude_dude


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

i saw them on aquabid. i was als wondering that if i got the two specices together, they can live peacefuly?

Yes, the two species get along perfectly, but they will not school with each other.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

i tried it once didnt work for me
ive bred both thougth
they need bout the same requirements to breed
ive also bred both in the same tank n trust me the fry for the first month u cant tell them apart

but if ur going to try to creat a new strain neons n black phantoms wood b rather cool impossible but id b sweet to have a neon line on the sides of phantoms lol