IF I HAVE AN ALBINO KOI SWORDTAIL MALE AND A NORMAL SWORDTAIL FEMALE, WOULD A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE OFFSPRING BE ALBINO KOI SWORDTAILS?????

IF NOT COULD ANYONE TELL ME WHERE A FEMALE (AND MALES) COULD BE PURCHASED FROM AND HOW MUCH

THANKS

IOU1

Where abouts do you live? I'd just look around at all the local fish shops ask them if they have any or ask them if they could get some in for me.

Opps and no none of the babies would be albino as it is ressive.They would carry the gene though.And if ya grow the fry up and breed them with mumor new albino swordtails you would get 25% change or something of getting albino swordtails.

My best suggestion will be to put the normal to the albino and then put the offspring back to the slbino and then don't cross them back. This way you should have albinos the 2nd generation. And the ones that don't have red eyes will be carriers.

Okay, this is the theory – unfortunately as albinism is not just recessive but also relatively fatal you will only get a small number of albinos at the end of this but this is how it’s meant to work. [Devon and I are both attempting to prove this with albino guppies.]

Key:

aa = Albino fish

NN = Normal fish

Na = Normal looking fish which carriers the albino gene.

aa x aa = 100% aa [all albino fish]

aa x NN = 100% Na [all fish look normal but all fish carry the albino gene]

aa x Na = Some aa & some Na [all fish carry albino gene – those that carry 2 of the gene are albino]

Na x Na = Some NN, a lot of Na & some aa [some normal fish, a lot of fish that look normal but carry the albino gene and some albinos] *please note that in this case there is NO was of telling NN and Na fish apart.

so you cannot say what 75% of the fish are, if they are albino carriers or normal in the Na x Na crossing.

25% will be albino but not sure if it will be albino 'koi' tho. You have to consider how the koi gene is carried aswell. It may not be recesive like the albino. Try to avoid crossing with dark pigmented fish as they are dominant/co-dominant over other colours (just from some reading i have done )

According to what I've read of that 25% albino you will lose most b4 the're even born. At least that's what they say about guppies and they're the same family.

According to Guppies Keeping and Breeding them in Captivity by Homer Mozart (pg 52)

While the 3:1 ratio is typical of such a mating when breeding two heterozygotes, this assumes that there are no secondary problems that affect the expectations. In the albino guppy there are such complications. The actual results are more likely to be on the order of 53:1 wild to albino. This is because the albino gene in these fish is linked to an inherent weakness, or lethal recessive gene, that results in a very high death rate of albino fry before they are born.

heterozygotes: Na x Na

I'd suspect it'd be realatively the same for albino swordtails, mollies or platties as they are of the same family. Great book BTW - well worth what I paid for it.

Thanks guys, sounds rather confusing. I have safeguarded all this gene stuff by finding some pure NZ bred Albino Koi swordtails. Once my tank is overpopulated I'll be selling some on here if anyone is interested.

how do you know it is NZ pure bred? or just by the breeder claiming it is. Most likely will be the breeder bought these imported KOI fish and breed them in NZ. this doesnt mean the strain is originally bred in NZ.

All I know is the new lot I have purchased were bred in New Zealand. I originally bought an imported alnino koi swordtail off him also so these offspring were bred by imported 'albino koi swordtails' to the best of my knowledge.

Anyway, I'm now confusing myself, I'm new to this strain off fish so just purchased some and took the information given that they were NZ bred (possibly not pure bred if that makes any difference)

Thanks

the fish were bred in NZ - tank bred and far stronger than imports. The original strain was imported. Imported fish - as we all know - can be a wee bit fickle - these were brd in NZ water in NZ tanks under NZ conditions (No hormones etc) Hope this clears things up

Matt