Tag: inbreeding and fitness

Many aquarium hobbyists breed their fish with little concern about inbreeding’s negative effects on their fishes’ fitness (i.e., survival, reproduction, and disease resistance).  Most leaders in the aquarium hobby have dismissed or ignored inbreeding’s negative effects.  Inbreeding’s positive effects stemming from selective breeding for desirable traits have gotten all the attention.  My new article ‘Inbreeding and Fitness’ incorporates recent scientific discoveries that better document inbreeding’s negative effects and what factors make them worse.  As more fish species face extinction—a good part of it driven by inbreeding—I believe this subject will become increasingly relevant to fish-keeping in the aquarium hobby.