I very much need to know if poor water quality can cause short gill plates. I will cull the ones with the gill plates if y'all tell me that it's for sure a genetic thing. I spent a good bit on these fish. I wanted to use them as breeding stock. When they arrived from USPS I tanked the fish and saw that the best ones have short gill plates. I bought these fish to breed. Their genetics are so cool. I will only toss the best ones on the compost heap if you tell me that I should.