I don't really keep monster fish anymore...not sure what I'm doing here of MFK
...and I have only seen baby RTC a few times...but frankly I can't see what makes those fish in the video "short-bodies"...or, as they would have been called throughout most of my time in the hobby, "culls".
Can it be we have come full-circle in this nonsense? A valuable and desirable fish species is in the hobby; eventually some enterprising shyster finds a deformed/distorted/misshapen cull (oops, sorry, "shortbody" ? ) in a batch of this species, and rather than destroying it he decides to do some marketing doublespeak and try to sell it for more than a healthy fish. Miracle of miracles...he succeeds! Somebody who absolutely must have the newest shiny thing buys the critter, and so dealers start seeking out the culls (shortbodies!) and marking them up to high prices rather than using them as feeders as they would have in the past.
A subculture of freak-keepers eventually arises; demand grows; there aren't enough culls around to satisfy the demand, so some other shyster says to himself "Hmmm...I wonder if I can just take regular, normal, healthy RTC's and
call them shortbodies? They're all pretty stubby at this size...who's gonna know?"
Is my cynicism reaching new heights, or is that what's happening here? Would some RTC expert look at those little guys and confirm or deny that they are what he says they are...i.e. culls...er, dang,
shortbodies???
