How are Short body or Balloon Belly fish made?

Rivers2k

Piranha
MFK Member
Dec 27, 2011
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Anyone know how these short bodied or balloon bodied fish are made? I am seeing SB Green Terror, SB Oscar, SB Texas both red and green. Even saw a pic of a SB red tail. I am not one for "man made" fish but I kind of the like the SB's. Anyone know how they do this. I don't want to get into anything that is unethical or inhumane to the fish. I don't like fish where they make the fish look crazy and the fish suffers at the expense of looks. I hate the gold fish who cant see because of the "caps" and struggle to swim and breath. But the SB's seem like they can still function normally.
 

thatrandomfishkeeper

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 26, 2012
294
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Dallas, Texas
As far as I know, sb fish are a result of so many years of captive breeding and on occassion, they have a gene combination which makes them much pudgier than a typical fish of that breed. I may not be correct so please someone enlighten me as well if that is the case.

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ReisAntonio

Gambusia
MFK Member
May 10, 2012
190
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Lisbon
In my opinion I think its simply selective reproduction. For example you get 2 adult RTC smaller than usual. Then you breed them. Then breed the smallest RTC from their fry and so on for many generations and they will start getting smaller.


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Rivers2k

Piranha
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Dec 27, 2011
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My first thought was selective breeding of smaller fish also. Problem with that is we aren't getting smaller versions like toy poodels or min pins. They are all as tall as there regular counterpart but they have the odd body shape. The shape seems to be the same across all the different types of fish just different patterns.

I wonder if it is some way of stunting the fry?
Could there be some sort of mutant gene that is in all types of fish that is exploited?
 

Crazy mike

Fire Eel
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Sep 22, 2012
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I was under the impression that they where selectively with shorter spines hence the balloon body. I could be wrong though

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Rivers2k

Piranha
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Dec 27, 2011
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I was under the impression that they where selectively with shorter spines hence the balloon body. I could be wrong though

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Could be I don't know for sure myself. I have been trying to find the answer on line and I see the question actually posed quiet a bit. Nobody seems to know for sure.
 

crush329

Feeder Fish
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Mar 12, 2008
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Could be I don't know for sure myself. I have been trying to find the answer on line and I see the question actually posed quiet a bit. Nobody seems to know for sure.
I know this much... It is a genetic mutation that occurs naturally. When you find the shape you want, you then line breed so the mutation occurs more often. I'm growing out 2 different short body shapes right now. Check out a thread of mine... http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?558638-My-Carpintis-pair. But don't take my thread as something to look for when breeding short bodies because I was told a "quality" short body would never look like mine and that they would have culled any fry that looked like that. Mine seem to be turning out quite well but who knows. I've asked to see short body "quality" fry but I guess that part is still a secret. So to sum it up it is just a genetic mutation that some fish are born with and has nothing to do with improper care.
 

Rivers2k

Piranha
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Dec 27, 2011
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Tank you that answers a big part of my question it is a natural mutation they aren't altered by man.

I was thinking maybe they put fry in test tubes to stunt them or something hahaha
 

crush329

Feeder Fish
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Mar 12, 2008
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Tank you that answers a big part of my question it is a natural mutation they aren't altered by man.

I was thinking maybe they put fry in test tubes to stunt them or something hahaha
No prob man. I'm still learning about them with my carpintis pair. I separated my pair about a month ago and just put them back together to give me another batch to sort through so I can learn more.
 

dougjeffries

Candiru
MFK Member
Feb 16, 2012
159
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St Louis
Just wanted to share my SB synspilum. He looked the same as the many others in the tank at the LFS, so it seems to be random genetics in this case.

The day I bought him. 9/11/12
Synspillum 1st Day 09.11.12.JPG


Here he is 6 months later. He is slightly bigger today, but still round. Great personality and very mild mannered.
Syn Great Color Crop.jpg

Synspillum 1st Day 09.11.12.JPG

Syn Great Color Crop.jpg
 
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