I was unsure where to post this topic so I decided to place it here in the breeders corner. Most importantly because this type of fish has been culled for way more years then you would believe. I have done some major research and talked to some very knowledgable people because of this fish. So I will start from day one. I had a wild caught breeding pair of Wild Caught Aulonocara Sp Chitande Type Masinje's, the species is not important for this topic. When the mother released her second batch of fry after being in my tank for 2 years. I noticed there was 2 completely black fry. I watched them closely and here is a summary of the outcome. After several weeks one turned normal color and had one eye that was shaped liked a bar not round. The other one turn colorless with the exception of its tail area, which stayed very dark. As they grew the one developed like the rest of the 48 babies. But the one with the dark tail was completely different then all the rest. I watched him very closely and at all times all 48 babies stayed together until they reached 2 inches. after a few months I noticed that the black tailed one had began to lose its color in its eye pupil. It was slowly turning silverish color instead of the dark near black shade of all the rest. Also I noticed the remainder of its body excluding the dark tail seemed almost color less or as I would find out later lacking of Melanine (This will get explained later). At about 4 months I noticed the growth rate of this guy had changed and he was developing much slower then the rest of the group. I ruled out any type of injury, disease or bacteria/fungal reasons for him to be losing the color in his pupils. After about 2 more months his pupils had decreased to the point of being very small dots. I ruled out him being blind with tests of food. While doing this I discovered he had a huge craving for crumbles, which I used to my advantage to get some really good pictures, but by this time he was about 6 months old. Here is a couple of pictures of him at this age and I will post one of each side so you can see both sides.
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Male1.jpg
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Male2.jpg
Well at this point is where things began to get interesting. I posted this guys picture on several sights asking for information about what could be the cause. It shocked me how many misinformed people there are out there and still believe they are correct. I was told it was anything and everything from, Albino, Runt, Freak, Luecistic, Hypomelanistic and a mutation. After huge fights broke out on several sights that I had just walked away from. I began to do my own research and found out that Albinoism has a multitude of variants and different classifications. Well as luck would have it I ran into a guy with a ton of information about Genetics and he had actually breed and raised 3 of these, 2 were from wild caught parents and the other was a hybrid. He also ran into the same bashings and harrassment that I myself had encountered. After a very long talk I learned this is a One Time Genetic Mutation, Yes it still could be luecistic or Hypomelanistic, but the only way to prove this would be to breed it and see what the offspring looks like. If it is a true Luecistic fish then 50% of its offspring will be Luecistic, 25% will be normal color that carry a recessive luecistic gene and the remaining 25% with be normal colors. If it is Hypomelanistic then 50% will be either Albino or Hypomelanistic, 25% will be normal but carry the recessive Hypomelanistic gene and the remaining 25% will favor a certain color typical to the species. If all babies turn out to be normal it is a One Time Genetic Mutation. Ok why is all this important, Well that 25% of Hypo color morphs are exactly what you need to enhance the colors in a species while you maintain the purity of the species. This is linebreeding, where you select the best male with all the traits you wish to have in your offspring and then breed it back to the mother. After several generations of doing this you will have offspring with an enhanced coloring while maintaining the purity of your fish (Not all will have markings you want either).
A few points to note. No one I have talked with that actually tried to raise one of these fish ever got them to breed, nor did they live past 3 years of age. Why is not known for sure but plenty of theories are there. How I ruled out Albinoism, the fish has dark eyes.....ALL albino's have pink eyes. The term Albino means NO pigment in thier cells causing a pinkish color. Luecistic, My fish has a dark tail, which is possible with luecistic. The term Luecistic means Lacking color in some or all of its cells. But a true luecistic comes from parents that either carry the gene or are luecistic and 25% of the babies will be Luecistic not one. Same is true with Hypomelanistic with the except that a hypo is a fish that lacks Melanine in its cells(That is the dark pigment in a fishes color, Mine has a dark tail). So now is when I am introduced to a college professor who has a doctorine in fish Taxonomy and one of the smartest people I have ever met. He told me it is classified as a One Time Genetic Mutation until I can breed it and prove it is a One Time Luecistic or Hypomelanistic fish. Which is possibe but going to be near impossible to prove. In all of his years he had only seen a handfull and never seen any of them in person. But would love to run tests on one and find out what causes this. I update him a couple times a month with this guys status and he thanks me everytime. I did promise if or when he dies I will send the remains to him. If I left anything out or you would like to know more I will tell you what I know. But honestly it is not allot more then I have summarized here. Hope this helps breeders should realize that culling (killing undesireable fish) is not always the best answer. But it is Your fish, Your House, Your tanks and I will never try to influence another fish keeper to do nothing less then what they want to do with their own tanks. I do ask when selling fish do not hide nothing. Let people know what they are getting. That will help the hobby and if they are looking for hybrids or pure lines then they will be happier knowing the truth. With todays popularity of hybrids there really is no reason to lie about your fish your selling. Many people want the unique colors of hybrids and do not care if the lines are true. Others like me chose to keep lines as pure to the wild strains as possible.
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