View Full Version : What is a normal cull rate?
jbangelfish
10-08-2019, 01:10 PM
Just looking for some opinions on what is accepted as a rate of culls for a given pair to produce. It would be great to have none but this seems unlikely. I have several pairs together and notice certain traits among them. My platinum pearlscales produce maybe 20 to 25% fin deformities, with the rest being normal. Very few were missing the ventral fins but a few with one and too many with bent ones. I put the male on a different female this time to see if I can improve on it. None had gill issues but it seems to me that short gill plates are more prevalent in the blushers. I have too many there in my first koi, nearly half with short gill plates. No longer have that pair which was dark gold marble but produced some koi. Nearly all the non blushers had normal gill plates but 50% among the blushers with one or both short. Too many, I think. Just wondering how other breeders approach these types of things. When is it time to split a pair or eliminate them from a breeding program altogether? Thanks for any input.
Bill
Mugwump
10-09-2019, 02:08 PM
...blushers have clear gill plates which appear as red, showing from beneath.....look closely before culling....it can happen, but I haven't seen it happen en masse........?.....but ??......
jbangelfish
10-09-2019, 05:14 PM
Again, thanks for the response. I'm aware of the difficulty in spotting clear gill plates from the short ones. I haven't culled any, just put them into a tank to keep an eye on them. Do you find that blushers are more likely to produce gill plate deformities? I have zero in my other varieties that I've found anyway. I'm not a big fan of blushing angelfish other than koi so I don't breed for blushing other than them. I know there are some interesting things with the greens and blues but I still prefer the normal gill plates to blush. Just how I feel about it. I know many of the blushing types are very popular today.
By the way, I moved here to MO from Roscoe IL, north of Rockford. Had a guy in Dekalb who I did fish business with, all African cichlids but I can't remember his name. He was a nice young guy who had nice fish and fishroom. I got out of the Africans many years ago. Just couldn't compete with my old buddy, Rick Boester. He had the market wrapped up in the area. I still talk with Rick now and then. Thanks again for your replies. Much appreciated.
Also wondering where everyone is. The site seems to move very slowly, wondering if everyone is hanging out somewhere else these days, like facebook or something. Just wondering. Take care,
Bill
Mugwump
10-15-2019, 03:27 AM
..the African cichlid guy may have been Bob Hirst..?....Bob was about 3 blocks from me and had a fishroom in his garage off the alley near 9th street..
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