Your experience with fish keeping and breeding

I would like everyone to share their experience with fish keeping. This is to get better idea who is an expert on what. So, that we can determine what we as a group can accomplish. I will update mine later

Experience breeding:

Cichlids - primarily mouth brooders, I have spawned Rainbows, but currently have them in a tank to deliberately prevent breeding
Currently raising Z rock fry
Working with a group of Soda Cichlids - from Lake Natron - Alcolapia alcalicus
Pundamilia sp. "red flank" - I think I have a female holding after months of the group doing nothing in that area

For mouthbrooders I have always had to strip females to get fry.

Catfish - bred a number of varieties of common BN plecos, currently have a breeding pair of super red BN plecos
Synodontis multipunctatus - aka cuckoo cat - got a big group of them from a Z rock(malawi cichlid) female, but only got cichlids after that
Cory - found 3 or 4 pepper cory in a tank with reverse trio and java moss

I always have red cherry shrimp breeding and am starting to get some breeding from my yellow shrimp.

livebearers, mostly guppies, platies, and endlers.
Mystery snails

Experience.
I have been around fish as long as  I can remember. My dad used to breed fancy goldfish and keep angels. He has kept common pleco but nothing too fancy. I think I'm obsessed with breeding aquatic creature. I'm trying to study genetic to further enhance my knowledge about breeding and share it with anyone who is interested in learning. My goal with breeding is to provide local lfs with good quality fish for good price and Off course I'm not forgetting my local hobbyist . Most of the time when I walk into a local fish store all I see is culls. Which makes me sad, a lot of the times people with untrained eyes purchase this fish and never really see a good quality of the same fish. When you see a fish that is suppose to look the way its suppose to; you will appreciate it more.

Guppies
My fascination started with guppies since I was 16, I'm 24 now. I have been breeding guppies for as long as I can remember. Most of my guppies came from random lfs. The quality wasn't even close to what I have now. I have done decent amount of research about guppies just never had a good strain to work with and space was always an issue. I finally acquired a decent strain that still needs a little more work but my space is still an issue. I'm very excited to breed live bearers its a lot easier them angels .

Angelfish
I got my first pair in 2012. My obsession began when they first laid eggs and I wasn't able to save any. Since then I have had done a little research on rearing and was successful to a certain extent. The key to being successful with breeding is monitoring your pairs and being consistent with everything else like water, food, temp and etc. I currently have numerous pairs most of them I'm sure none of you guys heard of before. To just name a few Albino koi, Platinum albino pearlscale, albino pinoy ghost(favorite), pinoy ghost, Electric blue marble, Smokey leopard, zebras, halfblack and many more. As you can tell I have tons of albino and its because I'm currently trying to make albino halfblack. Which according to my research is genetically possible but physically haven't been done. I want to create strains that don't exist and halfblack is my first big project you can say. My research is up there but I still lack experience. I have been into the hobby a little over then a year and still acquiring knowledge and experience.   

Betta
I have always had betta and even had some lay eggs but was never able to hatch any successfully. I do plan on messing around with some halfmoon plakat sometime in the near future. I have always loved bettas they are very hardy fish and very beautiful.

Swordtail
I have kept mollies before and had them breed but never sword tails. I love how big and vibrant they get when it comes to color. Once I get a little more stable with my breeding project I will go hardcore on breeding swordtails. Some of the hard to find strains are very beautiful. Look up sailfin swordtail very pretty fish but breeding it isn't that easy from what I have read. This is where a little knowledge of genetics help.

Goldfish
I have kept fancy goldfish but never for too long to breed but eventually I will try to get into breeding some. I love pearlscale and oranda goldfish. Hopefully my hard work with breeding pays off and I can start my own breeding company . Until then I can only keep.  

Pleco
I currently have some chocolate bristelnose longfin and shortfin variety. Trying to grow them out and mess around with breeding. I do plan on keeping more bristlenose like green dragon longfin, albino longfin, marble longfin, starlight pleco and few more. From what I know pleco breeding isn't too bad since males do most of the work. The problem is finding a good pair that I can mess with. I don't have any experience with breeding pleco but willing to learn and be patient.

Invertebrate
Shrimp-I got some cherry shrimp from a aquabid seller who sent me 4 cherry shrimp with some black guppies I purchased. The rest was pretty much history. At the same time I also started buying ghost shrimp but wasn't able to keep them since I had no clue what I was doing with shrimp. I kept moving the shrimp because I wasn't sure where to keep them and eventually put them into a tank that wasn't properly cycled. As you can tell that didn't end well and they all ended up dying. That is when I decided to get more shrimp. I came across sketch(sorry I keep mixing you with verbal) in the forum who was selling some cherry. I finally picked up some and decided to give them their own tank. Didn't really know much about shrimp but as usual I did my water change and kept feeding them algae wafers. In about 2 months they multiplied like crazy. I think I have sold more shrimp then anything during the last year. I hardly spent any money on the shrimp and made a few bucks . Since then I have learned a great deal about shrimp and have learned to cull for greater color. I'm starting to see the difference in color in my shrimp colony already.

Snails
I do plan on breeding assassin snails since I hate pest snails and maybe mystery snail in the near future.

As you can see I do have a lot of big goals for myself. I was once told the higher your goal is the harder you need to work. I will be honest I will put a lot of work into the things I like but with this hobby I don't feel like I'm putting in any work. Because I enjoy it so much. That is enough of my ranting
:Penjoy the wall of text.

Ps-verbal do you have some yellow shrimp for sale??? pm me

I am prefacing this with I am the type that questions everything - take it as a thought challenge etc.

"My goal with breeding is to provide local lfs with good quality fish for good price and Off course I'm not forgetting my local hobbyist Smile. Most of the time when I walk into a local fish store all I see is culls. Which makes me sad, a lot of the times people with untrained eyes purchase this fish and never really see a good quality of the same fish. When you see a fish that is suppose to look the way its suppose to; you will appreciate it more. "

what is counted as good quality? Is it the show desired (usually unnatural) fin type etc? Is it longer lifespans? More resistance to health issues? Less sensitive to slight changes in water quality? I have been told before that the reason for longer tail fins on a show guppy is because it is more aesthetically pleasing, that it doesn't need to be beneficial for the fish because we put them in tanks where there are no dangers to them. In different animals I have seen a lot of people breeding for the rare (usually recessive) traits, and wanting to produce the version of the animal that is most unique, often with little knowledge or consideration for what health/temperment, etc issues come with the genes they care pulling to the surface.

Kat, an interesting observation and a pretty good topic for debate! Perhaps even it's own thread eventually..
I know that in the canine world, the Irish Setter was heavily subjected to selective breeding to the point, there are now two distinct lines of them. One being the typical show dog the other a field dog. The difference between the two dogs is amazing. The show dog with it's beautiful color, long silky hair and gorgeous feathers has delved into a hyper active, somewhat dumbed down dog. I've owned one of those...The field dog, with more wired hair, less striking color is an excellent hunter, calm and known to be very teachable. Point being, selective breeding can have negative consequences I'd guess. Mother nature has done the job pretty well to this point....
Let the flaming begin!

Bill....YOU, my friend...are a genius! Many downplay the environmental factors and actual effects of rearing style! Point...You and I can take eggs from the SAME spawn, raise them in different settings and one of us will produce superior fish!! They will look better, grow out better, carry better coloring and body conformation..and personalities will reflect very little neurotic or aggressive behavior. On the flip side...I could be given the spawn of two "blue ribbon" show fish..and raise them to look like pet store crap! I could write a book on this...(but I WONT, BILL!! lol). There are certain practices that are "tried & true" for creating excellent stock.
As you mentioned, certain mutations or hidden traits are highly sought after in the world of innovation. One of my absolute favorites...the pearlscale gene is one of those!! Success depends on what mutations catch on! A few years back, i remember someone trying to breed and sell Angels with WAVY DORSALS!! Needless to say, THAT was an EPIC FAIL!! GREAT TOPIC, Kat!!  

Most of my genetics knowledge is rat based. I have looked at show quality requirements and first, there is no set consensus. For rat breeders the top 2 goals are health and temperament, and they say color, confirmation, markings etc should all not matter as much but yet I see every new breeder starting with a color/coat type/marking they "specialize in". It just strikes me that maybe messing with mother nature is causing us to hurt the animal. More inbreeding or line breeding to bring out more recessive traits, life spans are shortening, new odd health issues popping up, and some of the things some breeders are willing to breed for is very controversial (in rats the top 2 are probably tailess, and dwarf)

SO - a possibly challenge for you guys. and maybe this answers my direction in the other thread also, and something I have found myself swaying toward a bit more with my fish keeping - Are the wild types at a bigger advantage? Does it allow for more of the genetic health issues to not be doubled and thus not present themself as often? I know for humans line/inbreeding can cause some big health issues, because the genetic issues that most the time would be rare to obtain 2 copies, it's a lot easier (example, Romanov and Anistacia's brother being hemophiliac. Going along with royal blood had to be kept pure.

I've known of rat breeders who SHOULD know what is in their established line, and ends up with health issues early or end up with rats that don't live to 2.
I've personally had "feeder" tank rats - read as same animal, but no attention to breeding - no health issues for 34 months, lived to 35 months old - wild type ears, wild type color....
I get flukes, I get that genetics, nature, and nurture all play rolls.
BUT I'm still not sure I understand "Playing god" for lack of better terms....

I guess I need more explanation of how some of the breeding practices HELP the animals. And are not just to help humans get what they want. Even though rat breeders do act as humans, and there will be errors etc, I do feel working first and foremost for health and temperament is important when breeding ANY animal. To have been told in the past by a guppy breeder that the only goal of the line they had made was for it to be aesthetically pleasing, made me stick to my stomach. If those are the goals they can go paint a picture etc - It seems some of them get to the point of the cooler it looks the more people will pay them etc.....

I think each of us should post a list of fish that we have had spawn for us so people who want to spawn them can ask us about them .

Ok, Ira..IF I can remember all of them!!
Angelfish....TOO MANY strains to list!
Albino Bristlenose Plecos
Guppies-various strains
Platies
Swords -various strains
Mollies
Bettas- Bred them ONLY ONCE!! TOO MUCH WORK but an amazing experience!!
Red Capped Lionhead Oranda's (cutest fish face i've ever seen!)
Long Finned Comets (goldfish)
Neon Tetras
Cardinal tetras
GLOfish Danios
Long finned Zebra Danios
Oscars
Jack Dempseys
I think that's all