- Messages
- 102
- Location
- Saint Paul, MN
Hi all,
Hoping to get some input from anyone with experience/knowledge of Dicrossus maculatus. I have a group of fry which I just seperated to their own growout tank a few days ago as the pair seem to be gearing up to spawn again. They are a bit over 1.5 months old now, and there's been one fry in particular that has caught my interest. I haven't been able to get a useable photo yet, but I will as soon as I'm able. The curiousity is this: I noticed fairly early on that one of the fry was a bit different from the others. It appeared noticeably paler than the other fry from the start. This has not changed, and over the last month this fish has been growing a small bit slower than the others. Right now it is about 15-20% smaller than its siblings and retains its light color. Now that they are a bit older the others are beginning to get their checkerboard pattern, but this one youngster has no patter of spots, though it is displaying some lighter, almost *shiny* (the word "hyaline" used to describe iridescence on some female fish like biotecus comes to mind)markings where the others have their lighter areas between spots. Hard to describe. Anyway, at first I thought that this might be an albino or something, but now that it's larger I can see it's not. It has black eyes like the others. Also curiously this one fry seems to be a loner. While the others tend to school tightly, this one tends to hang just off from the group-kinda on the fringes-and always has.
Anybody seen anything like this? Are their any reports of color morphs of maculatus, wild, tankbred or otherwise? These are from wild parents, so I'm not figuring on inbreeding issues, and the fry appears healthy in all respects and eats well. I was expecting it to color up at some point and disappear into the group, but so far it hasn't. I'm sure I'll be able to tell more as they grow up, but right now he/she certainly has me curious.
Hoping to get some input from anyone with experience/knowledge of Dicrossus maculatus. I have a group of fry which I just seperated to their own growout tank a few days ago as the pair seem to be gearing up to spawn again. They are a bit over 1.5 months old now, and there's been one fry in particular that has caught my interest. I haven't been able to get a useable photo yet, but I will as soon as I'm able. The curiousity is this: I noticed fairly early on that one of the fry was a bit different from the others. It appeared noticeably paler than the other fry from the start. This has not changed, and over the last month this fish has been growing a small bit slower than the others. Right now it is about 15-20% smaller than its siblings and retains its light color. Now that they are a bit older the others are beginning to get their checkerboard pattern, but this one youngster has no patter of spots, though it is displaying some lighter, almost *shiny* (the word "hyaline" used to describe iridescence on some female fish like biotecus comes to mind)markings where the others have their lighter areas between spots. Hard to describe. Anyway, at first I thought that this might be an albino or something, but now that it's larger I can see it's not. It has black eyes like the others. Also curiously this one fry seems to be a loner. While the others tend to school tightly, this one tends to hang just off from the group-kinda on the fringes-and always has.
Anybody seen anything like this? Are their any reports of color morphs of maculatus, wild, tankbred or otherwise? These are from wild parents, so I'm not figuring on inbreeding issues, and the fry appears healthy in all respects and eats well. I was expecting it to color up at some point and disappear into the group, but so far it hasn't. I'm sure I'll be able to tell more as they grow up, but right now he/she certainly has me curious.