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Would it be possible to crossbreed a smallmouth bass with a jack dempsey african cichlid fish?

Public Comments

1. Jack Dempsey's are American Cichlids, not African.

The Small Mouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieui) cannot hybridise with a Cichlid, it is not in the Cichlid family.

2. I agree with Catx, two fish from different families cannot interbreed.

3. Catx is right: the Jack Dempsey is not African.
Anyhow, I doubt that this is possible.
They belong to different families. The Jack Dempsey is a cichlid, and the smallmouth bass is a centrarchid (of the sunfish family).
It's hard to imagine that they would ever spawn together in nature (even if they lived in the same place), and if they were artificially bred the resulting fry, if any, would probably not be viable.
I know a researcher here in Texas who's involved in some experiments of this nature (test-tube breeding of unrelated fishes). They're trying to see how the genetic differences influence the embryonic development. They're making some interesting observations about genetics and embryology, but they almost never get anything that could work as a fish.

4. no you cannot cross bread fish