A. Cacatuoides Fry - Albino? White Gold?

[YoungClayB]

Hi Everyone,
I finally got my fry tank set up and was able to save a couple of fry from the last brood. Literally only a couple - 2 of them. LOL

They are 4-5 weeks old now and one of them looks like what you would expect but the other looks like an albino! Can anyone tell me more about what I've got here? How rare are these color variations? Sought after or not? Sorry for all the questions. Just very curious.

 

[YoungClayB]

Anyone?

 

[Melanochromis]

Hi. Strictly speaking, they are probably not true albino. Some people call them "white", some call them "gold". The white/gold fry may show up even though none of the parents is. I believe this is because it's a recessive trait. It's not common in the trade, but it's not impossible to find either. They show up in the list from time to time.

I personally love the white cacatuoides. I think they look adorable. Unfortunately, not everyone share the same view. You'll find some people discriminating against them.

Here's a picture of one of my recent batches. In my opinion, they are somewhat weaker and more sensitive than a normal cacatuoides. So, take care of them well !!

 

[Melanochromis]

More pics. These are the parents of the juveniles in my earlier post.

And the babies when they were still wrigglers. They were almost transparent when compared to normal wrigglers. But there were about 20 in this batch. Most of them grew up to be male.

 

[YoungClayB]

Very very cool. Thanks so much for the info. These are my first caca fry. I wish had more than 2 of them so that so many brine shrimp aren't wasted. Lol

Right around the time that the picture in my original post was taken, I put a batch of about a dozen wriggles in there with them and they all died - not sure if they were eaten by the slightly older fry or what.

How long until these guys can eat something other than BBS?

 

[Melanochromis]

For cacatuoides, I generally start to wean them to prepared food when they are about one centimeter long but it will take a while before I would fully stop feeding BBS.

 

[YoungClayB]

Just an update on these guys. Both fish are doing great. Is it too early to sex these fish? I believe the "normal" colored one is a male, but what about the white gold one? I initially thought it was a female, but now am not too sure.

 

[Mike Wise]

Both fish are males. If the bottom fish has red eyes, it's albino; if black eyes, it's a yellow/gold.