When it comes to selecting fish as potential breeders I find it really helps to look for negatives, "That ones got a misshapen fin", "I don't like the body shape of this one", and so on. I find taking this negative approach makes it easier to part with fish.
About a year ago I was sorting through some "Manu Nanus", my nickname for my silvers that have both Manacapuru and Rio Nanay fish in their their bloodline. There was one fish with a fair amount of glitter, but it was markedly smaller than most of it's siblings, so I took it to my shop and almost immediately regretted my decision. So instead of going on sale, it went into a display tank where he's been ever since. Over that time he's grown but is still very small for his age, but despite his size, or possibly because of it, he's a feisty and belligerent individual, not afraid to take on others much bigger than himself.
I took these photos of him a couple of days ago....
https://www.slickpic.com/pic/url/157...jhk/photo/1600
https://www.slickpic.com/pic/url/157...Ddj/photo/1600
...and have subsequently decided that with that much glitter, it's worth seeing if I can pair him up with a good sized female and hopefully get some better sized offspring which retain the colouration. So he got a reprieve and came home to a breeding tank.
Given his small size and aggressive attitude, I've named him Napoleon.
As an aside, has anyone else noticed a correlation between size (or at least growth rate) and guanine production? Paraibas for example, in my experience tend to be slower growing than their non paraiba siblings, and I get the impression that those with the best colouration tend to grow the slowest.
