Re: Albinos

[Michael Meyer <mikeymeyer@sprintmail.com>]

Beverly Erlebacher wrote:
> 
> > 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... :-(
> 

One other interesting thing about albino kribs is that the gene that
carries the albino trait is what they call an "incomplete
dominant"(Langhammer 1982).  When you cross the albino fish with the
normal variety you get a different ratio of albino than if it were a
recessive gene.  There is also a difference in color between a krib that
gets two doses of the albino gene (homozygous) vs one dose of the albino
gene (heterozygous). The heterozygous fish will actually have pigment in
the fins and possibly in the eye as well.  
I have also noticed that they sometimes do not see very well.  My
current fish will run from an oncoming net, but my previous albinos
didn't see the net till they were in it!
I have dabbled around crossing these in the past and it is a fun
experiment.  I have recently picked up 5 fairly large males.  I wish
there were some females but I'll get some sometime.  The irridescence on
these males is more noticable than most I've seen.  

Michael


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