Varieties of a given African Rift Lake cichlid - subspecies or something else.

[Afri]

I had a friend who got heavily into cichlids, and got fast and loose with mixing fish from different lakes tell me "Species  are not real constructs for the African Rift Lake cichlids"  That sounds like fightin' words to me.
What do the experts here have to say?

[rasaqua]

The "experts" would think that species are not constructs. To imply construct would be to manipulate genes and hormones to 'construct' something that does not develop naturally. Not withstanding evolution, to 'construct' would be to scientifically create or speed up an evolvement that may or may not ever be possible in nature.

Did you mean 'conspecific'?  It was a little difficult interpreting your question.

[Afri]

This is the 2nd definition of "construct" from the Merream Webster ductionary, and I think it is in this sense in which she was using the word. 

[russ]

My wife asked me to take a look at this and all I can come up with is.....huh?

[Afri]

I can't say exactly what my friend meant in saying "species aren't a useful construct with the Rift Lake cichlids"  (It was a text msg and I didn't have a chance to get her to elaborate.)  Maybe she just meant that the "lines' between species there are a little more fuzzy than elsewhere.

[MRM]

A lot of fish stores even those that are not the big box stores will sell what they call African Cichlid Species. These come in two groups. A mixed bag that the distributor could not/would not identify, or mutts. A lot of times these are young fish that are a little harder to identify then their full grown counterparts. This is why when I have looked at getting into African Cichlids I have determined that I will use private breeders as my source rather than the LFS. It can be very confusing. A lot of people like the less expense route that the African Cichlid Species tank offer and are not interested in conservation of the pure strains like some hobbyists are.

HTH

[Afri]

How does one go about finding local breeders.  I have a very good LFS with very knowledgeable employees.  Unfortunately, the fish are very expensive.  They want $20 for juvenile T. duboisi, and I need to buy several that aren't too small to go with a fish being donated to me.  I also would like a few S. petricola.  Hopefully, cutting out the middle man could save me some money I shouldn't be spending on fish anyway, except it does keep me off the streets.   

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help out with this.

[Pat Mary]

I gave a suggestion in your other thread.  Here it is.             http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/forum/index.php?topic=35524.msg365438#msg365438