It appears to have gone from RT, to SRT. lol
Nothing wrong with that though.
Agreed, although I would lean more towards very high quality for the fish shown in the first pic, at least from what I can see from that photo. (looks like red base, not orangeish?)
But you are still missing my point, that being that even with a major increase of RT breeders in SE Asia today (compared to 10 yrs ago) no one is consistantly producing large numbers of these fish, at this level of quality. It would be like a FH breeder producing 75% or more MP out of every spawn, it just doesn't happen. I don't care if they have been selectively line breeding 5 yrs, or 15+ yrs, that quality of SRT's only surface once in a blue moon. (second pic) And that is precisely why SRT's of that grade & quality can cost $2K at 4".
Fish in the first pic, yes, more common today, but still I don't know of any breeders churning these fish out by the thousands. And you better believe that the first breeder that can, will, before the next guy down the road does.
If as you stated these breeders do this for a living, then they are in it for the money, which means they will keep & sell every high quality SRT that they produce. Every breeder worth their salt culls many dud fish each season, so I see no real difference with a SRT breeder. Those fish can begin the grading process at under 2", which is why as you stated at 4" they are already selling for premium $$$.
BTW - I do personally know a breeder that has spent a decade or more developing certain hybrid strains of cichlids, so it's not like I don't appreciate how long it can sometimes take to successfully develop certain strains of hybrids. But at the 10 yr stage 99.9% of the fry produced were exactly the same, with the exact traits that he was attempting to develop. In other words, they bred pure. He has also won breeder awards for some of these fish when the Florida Tropical Fish Farms Association competition was still active. And this is not just some guy that I have chatted with on a fish forum.
Nothing wrong with that though.
Agreed, although I would lean more towards very high quality for the fish shown in the first pic, at least from what I can see from that photo. (looks like red base, not orangeish?)
But you are still missing my point, that being that even with a major increase of RT breeders in SE Asia today (compared to 10 yrs ago) no one is consistantly producing large numbers of these fish, at this level of quality. It would be like a FH breeder producing 75% or more MP out of every spawn, it just doesn't happen. I don't care if they have been selectively line breeding 5 yrs, or 15+ yrs, that quality of SRT's only surface once in a blue moon. (second pic) And that is precisely why SRT's of that grade & quality can cost $2K at 4".
Fish in the first pic, yes, more common today, but still I don't know of any breeders churning these fish out by the thousands. And you better believe that the first breeder that can, will, before the next guy down the road does.
If as you stated these breeders do this for a living, then they are in it for the money, which means they will keep & sell every high quality SRT that they produce. Every breeder worth their salt culls many dud fish each season, so I see no real difference with a SRT breeder. Those fish can begin the grading process at under 2", which is why as you stated at 4" they are already selling for premium $$$.
BTW - I do personally know a breeder that has spent a decade or more developing certain hybrid strains of cichlids, so it's not like I don't appreciate how long it can sometimes take to successfully develop certain strains of hybrids. But at the 10 yr stage 99.9% of the fry produced were exactly the same, with the exact traits that he was attempting to develop. In other words, they bred pure. He has also won breeder awards for some of these fish when the Florida Tropical Fish Farms Association competition was still active. And this is not just some guy that I have chatted with on a fish forum.
