LInebred red agassizii

[GaryE]

The aquarium hobby is far behind other animal hobbies when it comes to keeping species, lines, locales, morphs, true.
First off you can throw out ball pythons. You would be lucky if you can find a wild type ball python now. Almost the same for kingsnakes and corn snakes.
Dart frog hobbyists are quick to squash someone who wants to hybriidize and I have seen people become completely ostracized because of their intentions or actions.
Tarantula keepers take it to another level. Say there was an importation from Brazil in 2020, and in that import came spiders of the species Grammostola pulchripes. Now say in 2024 there was another import from Brazil with the same species. Tarantula keepers will not even breed the two imports together. Read that again. Yep they will only breed 2020 imports together and 2024 imports together. Because they are unsure of the actual species so when in doubt they leave it out.
Sorry but the aquarium hobby is still in the uneducated dark ages.

I agree. If we know the provenance of fish we get, we should tag it. We are learning so much about the evolution of fishes, speciation, local forms, etc that the info could prove useful. That is, if we propagated our fish.

The killie hobby, a tiny corner, gets it.

Otherwise, this is a consumer hobby, and the progress made on fish breeding is falling back. Breeding fish as I do, I was an average "into it" keeper 20 years ago, but now in our club I get treated like a wizard. It really is high time we reinvented the wheel.

 

[Mr Limpet]

I will admit they look a little nicer than other 'linebred red agassizii' i've seen - the red is a bit more subtle and not as in your face. having said that i still prefer wild form

I’m usually against any line bred fish, but Blue Flame agassizii are amazingly beautiful. I’m very curious as to how this strain was developed.

 

[anewbie]

I’m usually against any line bred fish, but Blue Flame agassizii are amazingly beautiful. I’m very curious as to how this strain was developed.View attachment 372839

There are a lot of wild sp agassizii and some of them have amazing colours in nature.

 

[GaryE]

Agas are interesting as they have set locations, like killies. If you get a bag of wilds, they are consistent unless they've been mixed at the exporter's holding tubs. So the agassizii from one tributary creek will all look extremely similar, but in another biotope, have different markings/colours.
No one goes to collect them and document this, and we get them all as commercial imports. If a fisher finds a very nice one, he/she isn't going to share the location, or everyone will fish there. They sensibly lie, which makes the study of these fish close to impossible. As well, in a hobby that no longer breeds and distributes its own fish, the diversity is lost fast anyway.
You can, if you wish, start mixing local varieties and linebreeding for different traits. They seem to be the same species, and will cross between colour forms. Once you know how to breed agas (it's the water) they aren't hard, and the generations come quickly enough to make for a perfect linebreeding subject. I may be a wild type purist who wouldn't do that, but money's money.
I have a bunch of hybrid houseplants, and may never see the natural look of the plants I like. They're decorative, like these human modified agas.

I remember as a kid wondering how Betta splendens lived in nature, but I didn't see the real fish for 50 plus years, til I got drably coloured wilds caught by a friend. Now that was food for thought.