Hypancistrus SP. L333

[-jeff-]

So hopefully somebody can chime in on how many collection points of L 333 are there. I currently have belo monte and gurupa how many more are there?

[bekateen]

Funny you should ask this question. Dr. Leandro Sousa just gave a talk on this at the All-Aquarium Catfish Convention. Here's your answer:

Cheers, Eric

[-jeff-]

Thanks for the response Eric. So according to the chart you posted what's stopping these fish from naturally cross breeding In the wild?

[Jools]

The suggestion is that they are naturally hybridising in the wild.

Jools

[bekateen]

Thanks for the response Eric. So according to the chart you posted what's stopping these fish from naturally cross breeding In the wild?

The suggestion is that they are naturally hybridising in the wild.

Jools

Hi -jeff-,

What Jools said. Leandro says they are.

Cheers, Eric

[-jeff-]

Thanks for the responses so why is it frowned upon to cross breed in the aquarium industry when it's naturally happening in the wild

[bekateen]

Fair question.

In my mind, the answer is this: Currently, although it appears that wild hybrids do form, there's no data on exactly what the hybrids are (Zebra x L333? Zebra x L174? L174 x L333? Zebra x L174 x L333?) , and there's no data on how frequently wild hybrids occur (is it real common or super rare?) or how reproductively healthy the hybrids are. And, if someone makes a hybrid in the aquarium and sells the fry, how do they market them? Do they tell buyers these are hybrids? Or do they sell them as L333 or L174 or H. zebra?

But most importantly, just because we discover one example where natural hybrids occur, it doesn't open a carte blanche permission for hobbyists to hybridize species randomly, especially species that would NOT co-occur in nature and would not hybridize naturally.

If we really believe Hypancistrus zebra is endangered by habitat loss and pollution, shouldn't we be trying to keep captive lines of H. zebra alive and breeding and pure-bred, rather than mixing them with other species, and in the process destroying zebras as a thing, only to be replaced by chimeras that don't look like zebras anymore?

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

All that Eric said, plus, they could have hybridized hundreds if not thousands of years ago and now form populations.

In my view, there is enough "chaos in black and white" without aquarists adding to it.

Jools