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Red texas cichlid

I've seen SRT that look just like those, locally, that is until the hormones wore off a few weeks later.

I never said that creating high quality SRT was easy, but I certainly don't think that it takes 10 yrs or more to selectivley breed them, and even more importantly specimens like the ones you just posted, even after 10 yrs of selective line breeding would only surface on a very rare occasion. That is exactly why fish such as those can cost $2K at 4". Even in the hands of the best of breeders, high quality SRT specimens are indeed a rare thing.

Getting a good overall strain is only part of the equation, whether you line breed for 5 yrs, 10 yrs, or 25 yrs, only a select few "red texas" are ever going to be blood red with snow white pearls such as the fish in your second pic. The rest are going to be orangish looking fish with so-so pearling (if that), with the majority of them being culled before they are even seen by the outside world.
 
So what are you trying to say? That fish is filled with hormones? lol...you haven't seen what overseas breeders are capable of yet then. I know who own that SRT, go onto Fish Hub(SE Asia version of MFK) and say that. That site is where a few breeders, almost all ornamental fish judge, and hardcore hobbyist are at. They'll elaborate it more to you from their experience since you only say that it has to be from my experience and not from what I hearsay. Don't get offended and try to disprove everyone against something they do for a living on Fish Hub. :)
 
I never said that those 2 fish were hormoned, you might want to go back & re-read what I actually stated, instead of making things up in your head.


Having said that, clearly hormones are in fact used by many Asian breeders, resellers, and many of these fish are awarded prizes by some of the top ornamental fish judges found in SE Asia. The use of hormones to enhance fish, especially red fish, certainly shouldn't come as any big surprise to anyone that knows anything about the SE Asian tropical fish scene.
 
So then why mention about the hormones...maybe you should re-read about me stating "high or top end quality" before trying to disprove me that it doesn't take a decade to create such fish? In terms of saying that it doesn't take a decade to create such fish, have you created one in your own experience within a decade? If you did, I give you mad props and say that your breeding skills is way beyond most of us and our knowledge about breeding in general.
 
...... because red texas bred in Asia, & hormones, go hand in hand.

If you have never seen an Asian bred fish, including SRT, that hasn't been juiced you haven't been in the tropical fish game too long. I don't need to breed SRT to know any of this, I've seen it with my own two eyes, on many occasions.

I wasn't pointing any fingers at those 2 specific fish, but that doesn't mean that the subject of hormones can't enter this discussion. If that offends you, or one of your pals on same Asian forum I honestly don't care.


The use of artificial color enhancement is very common in SE Asia, so much so that even world class judges give it the silent nod of approval. The quote below was taken from a well known British discus forum, and I'm sure that many people will recognize some of those judges names.


I was in Singapore two weeks ago to attend the Discus Judging course ofDiscus Club (Singapore) and for the Aquarama Fair. There were some heavily colour enhanced fish competing in the Show. All of them made it to the first three in their classes. Some of the fish were hormone fed and some were colour enhancer fed. After the competition, I had the opportunity to discuss this subject with Dr. Sun, Andrew Soh, Colin Hang, Brandon Wu and Ivan Seah. All of them agreed that excessive amount of colour enhancers and hormone should not be fed to the fish BUT, they all believe that both colour enhancers and hormones CAN be used to reveal the real colour potential of the fish. Of course, nobody can really tell to which extend. We all agreed that the fish should not be coloured to the point where it looks artificial. However, some fish who got rewards on the Aqurama Show were so much enhanced that they were looking like they were made of plastic, including the Grand Champion.
Click to expand...


At this years Aquarama show in Singapore I don't think that a single Super Red aro tank was lacking several red NAN lights to artificially enhance the color of their fish. They were nice fish, but hard to tell exactly how nice the color was due to the amount of NAN lighting in each tank. Again, common practice in SE Asia, where the end result apparently justifies the means.


Once again, I never said that creating high quality SRT was easy, but I certainly don't think that it takes 10 yrs or more to selectivley breed them, and even more importantly specimens like the ones you just posted, even after 10 yrs of selective line breeding would only surface on a very rare occasion. That is exactly why fish such as those can cost $2K at 4". Even in the hands of the best of breeders, high quality SRT specimens are indeed a rare thing.

Is that clear enough for you? The quality that you speak of is VERY rare, even if line bred by master breeders for 10+ yrs.

That was the point that I was attempting to make.
 
Well okay, now I can see your point of view here. The second fish is a very rare specimen like you said, yes. But the first fish is a high end class of SRT that doesn't contains hormones. I will agree that they use hormones for show, but I'm talking about non hormones fish and I didn't post fish that I am not sure if its roid up or not - I post fish that I know it isn't roid up. And to create something like the 1st picture without it being a "very rare specimen", it takes at least a decade or more. Red Texas has been around longer than flowerhorn has been, and look how long it takes for those fish just to surface out into the public in that kind of quality. I don't know whats your definition of of high quality, but the first picture is a high quality and the second picture is a head-free top class MP in my definition. I mean think about it, the specialist breed them for a living and so far that is where they have reached(and it's only a rare specimen - not something that is getting a little more common yet like the 1st pic). There is no way that they can keep all the fish in order to avoid the public seeing them and putting a value to them, absolutely no way. The only way is to cull them, but why cull them when they can make money off of it and continue with their project the same time? If they hold their fish against from the public, they go out of business. So either way, what they create is what will surface into the public at least within 2 years. Maybe our definition of high end or high quality SRT isn't on the same page...
 
were talking abot RT not SRT here?
 
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