Inbreeding in Guppies

 Around 10 years ago, guppies were famous as beginner's fish. Their ability to tolerate high amount of nitrate and different water conditions made them ideal to keep for those who are still new to fishkeeping. However, things have changed. Many guppies that are sold in stores today are very delicate as the result of constant inbreeding. Many, if not, most farmers often ignore the consequence of inbreeding. To keep the price of the fish cheap enough, farmers do not have the time to sort the fish. With so little profit to be made for each guppy, farmers have to sell as many guppies as possible in the quickest possible time. The massive reduction of population leads to higher chance of inbreeding among the guppies in the farm. Furthermore, male guppies randomly impregnate every fertile female they can find so imagine the amount of fish that are born from the same fathers. 

It has been scientifically proven that inbred are less immune towards parasites (Source : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014489416300807?fbclid=IwAR1DGmBtzGs4U8SvQ---7pN526togPEtxFQUPQjx0XCgOZ3obnxzOmc7wEg). Don't be surprised if your healthy-looking guppies suddenly die. It can be because your guppies aren't immune enough against parasites. Parasites are transferred from guppies through their excrements. When the other guppies put their mouth on the excrements that carry the parasites, they can get infected and this is where their immunity is tested.

Inbreeding causes defective genes to become more common. Normally, the chance for the non-inbred offsprings to express defective genes is very low, but because inbred guppies have the same defective genes from both parents, the chance that the defective genes become expressed is much higher than non-inbred guppies. 

Some farmers like to sort out guppies with visible deformities such as deformed spine. However, there are many kinds of genetic deformities that cannot be seen directly like the lack of immunity towards parasites. 

Inbreeding among first generation cousins is actually not that dangerous. Infact, many guppy breeders do it in order to maintain the wanted traits. There is also a method called backcrossing where the guppies are mated with the parent to maintain the quality of the traits.

When considering to breed guppies, the danger of inbreeding should not be underestimated.

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