johnsmith Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 Can someone explain where albino fish come from? I realize it's genetic, but I read somewhere either on here or C-F that most albino fish are hybrids. I still don't get where the albino fish came from that are being breed with other species to get the hybrid albino version. Is my confusion clear? Maybe using an example would be helpful. Take an albino ruby red peacock. If it's likely that this is a hybrid what would a regular ruby red have been bred with to get an albino version? If a naturally albino _____ exists to breed with a ruby red peacock, why wouldn't a natural albino ruby red peacock exist? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted June 30, 2005 Report Share Posted June 30, 2005 An expert will probably answer this better, but i did take a biology course and it was explained a bit. It all has to do with genetics. Albino is a recessive gene, and when its paired up with a dominant gene, the dominant trait is the one we see. The only way you can see the albino trait is if you have 2 recessive genes together they will show the recessive traits i.e the albino color. Once you get an albino fish it take a lot of breeding (usually imbreeding) to isolate the recessive genes. Once isolated the fish are then a new species or their albino forms. This would always have just the albino genes, passing them on to their fry. Dominant and recessive is part of who we are as well. A good example with humans is our eye color. Blue eyes is a recessive gene while brown is dominant. My mom has blue eyes and my dad has brown. I was born with brown eyes as i took one of my dads dominant genes to give me my brown eyes. I have a recessive gene for the blue eyes and when my soon to be wife and I have children have kids in the future, there is a chance that i can pass on my dominant gene for my brown eyes or my recessive gene that i carry from my mom to my child thus giving them blue eyes or brown if they get the dominant. There is a way to work out the %'s of passing on the trait but, i do not remember that part of the class. this works for everything from hair color to the size of your nose... are you confused yet? I really enjoyed the biology course i took becuase we did a lot about genitcs. If i am wrong... please someone correct me! i hope this make sense! nev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsmith Posted July 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 (edited) What I don't get is why albinos are so often hybrids? Is it just b/c people don't want to find an albino of every species and line breed them when it's easier to create a hybrid and then get it to look like the real thing? Edited July 1, 2005 by johnsmith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted July 1, 2005 Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 What I don't get is why albinos are so often hybrids? They are not, actually....many albinos may be inbred, but not hybrid....most albinos are pure species strains...aside from a few Malawi cichlids, I know of only a couple of hybrid albino fish in the hobby.....which are you thinking of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsmith Posted July 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2005 The comment that was in my mind when I brought this up was from RD: I spoke with someone yesterday whom I consider an authority on this subject, his response, 99% of the albino Africans in the market are hybrids. in this thread. I don't want to rehash that topic, I was just assuming this comment was true and have been wondering why it would be this way? My assumption was the occurence of albino genes would be the same in different species so why do people "create" hybrids? I was wondering it's just b/c it's easier to use the albinos you already have rather than waiting for two pure albinos to show up or if there's some other reason. This isn't a pressing issue, just something I've been wondering since I read that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted July 2, 2005 Report Share Posted July 2, 2005 With the demand for albinos on the market today and ease with which almost all Malawian cichlids will hyrbridize, it's much easier to create albino hybrids rather than wait for the real thing. I've personally been breeding cichlids for over 12 years now (often with over 100 fry a month) and have yet to have a single albino appear in any of my spawns, and yet I've had 2 two-headed fry and a couple siamese twins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toirtis Posted July 3, 2005 Report Share Posted July 3, 2005 Ah, well I will agree that a large percentage of albino Malawi cichlids are hybrids....just done that way becuase it is easy and fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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