Somewhat Albino Cacatuoide?

[RHS788]

I had about 100 triple red caca fry. For reasons in other posts I had to sell them.

I did have 5 that were white except for black eyes (and yellow around the eye). I simply had to keep them. They are now about a quarter-inch long, and I can't detect any other color other than mentioned above.

I have heard the term albino, such that true albinos regardless of fish/animal will have red/pink eyes. I have also heard that with the fish they may have black eyes and be termed albino. Regardless I hope to raise these and see the results. If I can develop a way to post pictures later I will.

Questions:
Has anyone reproduced the ones with black eyes?
Do those with black eyes tend to develop any color in their finnage?

I could care less about "shows" but wonder what the "officials" would call these fish.

The bad news is the parents were sold to the LFS, so...my source for any future "white" fish are gone.

Thanks for any replies.


Randy

 

[Lisachromis]

They sound like they are leucistic to me.

Albino - white fish/red eyes
Leucistic - white (or light yellow) fish/black eyes {Incomplete leucistic is commonly known as PIED}
Lutino - yellow fish/red eyes (aka xanthic)
Rubino - red fish/red eyes
Melanino - black fish/red eyes
Phaemelanino - brown fish/red eyes

 

[Apistomaster]

There is a very good chance the parents descended from a cross between normal and the leucistic/xanthanistic morph. I have a group of adults from a cross between a normal triple red and a gold and these fish produce 75% normal phenotype and 25% Gold phenotype.

 

[RHS788]

Thanks, they are about a 1/2" inch long now, and I can't detect any color in them. I can't wait until they mature, and hopefully reproduce.

Considering I have 6, would you breed them with siblings to try and increase the albino factor, or breed them with other triple reds or orange blaze?

I hate the thought of "inbreeding" but am anxious to try and repeat this pattern.

Randy

 

[Apistomaster]

Definitely breed the siblings. It is how you "fix' the strain. They are a very beautiful gold/white morph which typically develops a great deal of yellow in the unpaired fins with probably some red.

I deliberately crossed one with triple red and plan to breed them together.
This cross seemed to bestow on the resulting fry "Hybrid Vigor". This is a phenomenon often observed when two highly inbred strains are crossed.
It is the preferred way to invigorate any strain. My purposes were two fold. I only had one gold female to work with. The only way to recover the gold strain was to out cross with a normal colored strain then breed the siblings together.
They should produce about 25% white/Golds. In my crosses, the normal appearing phenotypes gained more yellow in their unpaired fins yet retained most of the triple Red's characteristic reds. My expectation is that the final white/Golds are going to gain additional red in their unpaired fins along with their yellow. I have sold many pairs and have some set up for spawning but due to the hybrid vigor effect, they are very large for their age and are only now beginning to reach their normal age of sexual maturity. The first few reported spawns from my fish have been infertile but these were only hatched in early March and mainly sold this June. Future spawns will come from fully mature fish and there is every reason to expect plenty of health fry.
Many aquarists worry too much about inbreeding. This has to be done for many generations before any adverse effects are noted.
It is these same techniques which allowed so many varieties of fancy domestic strains of Discus to be developed. I have seen five successive generations of inbreeding produce no more defective fish than I have seen from the first breeding of unrelated wild Discus. Eventually it is wise to out cross with another separate line of the same variety to increase the vitality of the strain. The concerns about inbreeding a few generations are just not supported by the results of rel life commercial production of fancy domestic Discus. I see no reason to believe that Apistogramma are particularly adverse to the type of line and inbreeding I have described. In fact, there is more concern about breeding different populations of the same species as having a greater chance of problems when bred further down the line a few generations. Based on the well documented experiences with some different geographical races of the same species of African Killiefish, Aphyosemion spp and Nothobranchius, for example, the 3rd to 4th generation becomes almost inviable. This is one of the reasons why keeping separate populations well identified when distributing them within the hobby is so important among Killiefish breeders. I have been interested in Killies and SA Dwarf Cichlids for 4 decades. I just no longer breed as many Killies as I would like because my fishroom Summer time temperatures are above those which most killies prefer.
Hence my emphasis on Discus, SA Dwarf Cichlids and small L-number pleco breeding. All of these can tolerate or require water 80 to 86*F vs many Killies which prefer low 70's *F.