What is a torture breed?

Introduction
What is a torture breed, because that phrase gets thrown around a lot. It’s more of a complex issue than most thing. It’s not simply a fish that has poor genetics. If that were the case, some fish that aren’t considered torture breeds would. Fish such as black chin live bearers are an endangered species is fish, as they are known for just suddenly dying without any cause. Now, why is this not a torture breed, while something like the disease Dwarf gouramis catch qualifies them as torture breeds?

What isn’t a torture breed
What generally constitutes a torture breed is a fish that has been massively impacted in a negative fashion by human intervention within the hobby of fish keeping. Neon tetras also can randomly die, due to the neon tetra disease, but they equally deal with this in the wild, so they’re well equipped for this. The Dwarf Gourami disease was directly caused by humans inbreeding them to the point where they have been directly harmed.

Types of torture breeds

Torture breeds based on genetic traits
These are fish that have been bred for a specific trait that humans found desirable, but directly harms them. Traits that follow these patterns are fish like the balloon trait, where fish are bred to carry scoliosis, which severely shortens their life. Similarly, the Lyretail swordtail has been bred for a longer top fin. Incidentally, this also led to them having massive anal fins, anal fins that are too long for them to actually breed.

Torture breeds based on inbreeding
These are fish that weren’t intentionally made to be torture breeds, but inevitably became them. Fish like these mainly include veiltail bettas, as of their very poor genetics, dwarf gourami, due to the development of their disease, and very common fish like guppies, that used to be much hardier, but have become pretty sensitive recently.

Torture breeds due to being hybrids
These are fish that humans found interesting because they are a mix of two or more other fish. The mixing of genetic material never really leaves a healthy result unless it’s done intelligently. A mix between a guppy and a platy will not be healthy. They’re just severely limited by the genetics provided to them. This applies to other fish, such as blood parrots, and African cichlid mixes. Fish that manage the hybrid aspect we’ll do exist, though. These fish work because they were created in a lab, are given a base fish, and have traits of other fish added. This includes fish such as cherry dragon flower horns, and dragon scale bettas.

Torture breed due to forced breeding
Forced breeding is a term used for when a fish that would typically not breed in aquaria is injected with hormones to do so. This leads to these fish can become hyper aggressive, and have their life spans shorter because of it. Fish in this bank are largely stuff like algae eaters, or fire eels, where they’re injected with hormones to breed.

Torture breeds due to treatment
This is a bit of a weirder one, but just as prevalent. This refers to how a fish is treated after the fry stage, and how that severely shortens their lifespans. Fish within this category are fish that are injected to get a strong color, such as flowerhorns, and African cichlids, leading them to be overly aggressive. Other fish that fall into this category are fish are fish labeled as feeders that really don’t work as feeders, such as feeder goldfish. They’re not nutritious or healthy for fish to eat, so they’ve been sentenced to a date that’s not becoming of them. Probably the worst example of this is in tattooed fish. By tattooed fish, I do not mean glofish. They’re some fish that are physically taken, and painted on, causing very much pain, generally ruining their color, and hurting them overall.

Should torture breeds be kept?
This is a bit of loaded question, as I don’t think there’s just a simple yes or no. For one, it varies from fish to fish, and is really up to someone’s individual opinions. For me, I think generally fish like flowerhorns are fine, as well as fish that have just been inbred. The alternative is not keeping this fish anymore, which is just ridiculous. Dwarf gourami are an important part of fish keeping, and I will never stop owning discus due to the loss of their lines. At the same time, balloon fish, bubble eye goldfish, and tattooed fish should not exist, in my opinion. It really comes down to personal preference, but I hope this article did a good job explaining the ins and outs of torture breeds.