Balloons

[Melody]

There's Balloon Mollies that most of us are aware of. Now there's also Balloon Guppies, Balloon Platy's and even Balloon German Rams!

My Son always loved the Balloon Mollies so I used to have them breeding here. I found out how exactly they came to be and on closer inspection I had to admit that their spine looks downright painful, some more than others. Balloons are basically bred out from deformed fish, largely spinal deformaties. I stopped breeding them and no longer have any.

I'm not sure if Balloon Rams are obtained through deformaties or if they are just a related species that's shaped differently - I'll have to look into that.

What do you think of all of these balloon morphs? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Had no idea how they came to be? Its one of those personal ethics things and not exactly a serious issue that I'm picking a fight over...lol...I'm just curious.:GEEK:

[blainep]

I've never been keen on the Balloon Mollies, they just don't look good to me.
After finding out what made them balloon, I couldn't see any appeal to them.
Making a 'species designation' ( for lack of a better word) out of a spinal deformity doesn't seem right. :nah:

[Melody]

What bothered me most about them was the pregnant females. The most 'prized' Balloons are those with the most extreme balloon shape, which exploits the most serious deformaties. Seeing them heavily pregnant was almost sad. They can't swim very fast and the males would drive them mercilessly.

I've seen some beautiful Sailfin Lyretail Balloons and I can see their appeal, especially to kids, they're just not for Melody, aka bleeding heart, aka conscience the size of a major city....lol.:Blush:

[hp10BII]

I've seen balloon rams. Too weird for my taste, as cute as they looked. The spines did look kinda deformed so I didn't want any part of that.

[CACAdmin]

I don't know... they never really appealed to me... always looked a little unnatural.

[fishenthusiast]

I know nothing of how balloon mollies came to be, but I never liked the way they looked. They remind me of the strange looking goldfish you see all over the place. It looks like they have such a hard time swimming that I could never own one.

As for balloon guppies etc...I would never own one of those either, for the same reason I don't own balloon mollies.

[Melody]

I was completely oblivious....lol....never even occured to me that there might be something up. The kid liked them, we bought them. I thought they were more like dwarf forms. It wasn't until I spoke to a another breeder that the lightbulb came on. I guess the thought of someone exploiting a deformity was just beyond my realm of thinking. Once I did know, I watched them closer for signs of pain or struggle.

If anything, they should probably be in a species tank. I can't imagine a deformed (if that's the case) Ram trying to make it in a semi-aggressive tank of 'normal' fish. Even the Mollies had a hard time with normal fish.