Frankenstein’s fish

[Guyb93]

For many years now I have focused on keeping South American cichlids as they are a major part of the passion I have for the hobby in particular the acara family.
Having great success in breeding electric blue acara and them cross breeding green terror with electric blue acara . After months of research on particularly the electric blue mutation which I do believe is a mutation rather than hybridisation I’m lead to believe that you can restore the electric blue on the third generation . For example I have dozens of GTXEBA juveniles which undoubtedly look like a standard blue acara, assuming they grow a little larger because of the hybridisation maybe 7inchs rather than 5-6 if I then bred those with a full electric blue acara I could bring back the electric blue trait and have a larger fish meaning over a few generations of breeding visually I would have a larger eba group . Any thoughts on the subject ? Do reckon it would go as planned or have a Frankenstein’s fish ..I do plan on doing this as it’s low hanging fruit for me and have all the means to try it obviously for personal never to be distributed

 

[Colin_T]

If you cross a blue acara with a green terror, the offspring could be agro fish like the green terror. They might be peaceful as well but there is no guarantee. You would end up with a fish that gets bigger than a blue acara but could kill everything in the tank. Jack Demspeys do that and they are available in an electric blue form.

I would just keep the species separate and try to produce nice quality electric blue acaras.

 

[Guyb93]

If you cross a blue acara with a green terror, the offspring could be agro fish like the green terror. They might be peaceful as well but there is no guarantee. You would end up with a fish that gets bigger than a blue acara but could kill everything in the tank. Jack Demspeys do that and they are available in an electric blue form.

I would just keep the species separate and try to produce nice quality electric blue acaras.

Iv already cross bred a green terror and eba and do plan on keeping a few just to see a fully mature one just as a personal interest if they do turn out to be unpredictable and hyper aggressive I would never get to go as far as breeding them back with an eba but by chance a third generation batch happens would you think they would get back there electric blue trait , I do plan on trying to breed them back with half sibling , all fish in the breeding process would have the same eba mom would that increase the odds of the electric blue trait returning I don’t know

 

[Colin_T]

Any offspring would carry the electric blue trait but might not show it well or at all. If you cross the offspring to other electric blues, that would increase the chances of some showing the eb trait.

Try to use unrelated fish when breeding so you don't weaken the fish. This will probably mean buying a few new eb acaras from a different supplier but you will have stronger healthier fish if you breed from unrelated stock.