Re: Albinos

[Beverly Erlebacher <bae@cs.toronto.edu>]

> Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 14:10:41 -0400
> From: Doug Brown <debrown@kodak.com>
> 
> I had mentioned albino apistos before and apparently no one has seen any?
> Just got back from an LFS and they had a tank full of albino kribs. I don't
> know if this is newsworthy but I haven't seen them before. Red eyes and
> white of course but with pretty normal looking fin coloration. I don't know
> who would want to breed these much less buy them!

Albino kribs have been around for at least 20 years.  An interesting thing
about them is that males of either color prefer albino females, but females
of either color prefer normal color males.  The theory is that the red belly
patch is powerfully attractive to a male looking for a mate, and it shows
up much better on an albino female.  I don't think anyone has determined
which aspect of the male's appearance looks good to a female, but this suggests
that it is something that is more visible in the normal coloration.

I have yet to see an albino fish that looked better to me than a normal 
wild-type form, but someone must like them, because a lot are being produced.  
I even saw some albino neon tetras last year.  Of course, albinos are more
amenable to being dyed in lurid colors... :-(


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