Marble motoro's.Interesting observation don't you think?

Hi fellow Marble enthusiasts out there.Not so long ago i mentioned in a thread that the recent wave of Marbles to come out of Colombia were very different to the ones in previous years gone by,they are indeed very different to my AAA strain most of you are familiar with.
What are the differences? Well for a start most if not all these Marbles are giving birth at no more than 30cm disc,sometimes even smaller,these pups are far smaller than say my Marbles when they are born,half the size from what iv'e seen,males have fully develpoed claspers at sizes betweem 20 and 23cm.We imported some of these rays a couple of years ago and a couple of the females arrived already gravid,infact due to give birth,as i remember there were 3 pups from one female,one was still born the other two thrived,they were fully developed at no more than 10cm disc,no yolk sac was present on either of them.
The patterns are completely different too,iv'e posted a few pics for comparisons,iv'e incorporated a pic of my AAA pups,the pups from my 12+ year old pair.
As with all Marbles theres some that have patterns better than others and these are no exception,these new Marbles pictured are fish iv'e collected over the last 3 years,they are what i would describe as top quality but to be fair iv'e seen examples on this forum that are equal to them.
The thing is,if these Marbles really are a smaller strain and it seems that way to me then more people will be able to provide them with what they require for a long and happy life in captivity.
It would be good to hear other peoples experiences on this matter,the last time i mentioned it i got a very possitive response from other members that had noticed these traits.
Here's my pair,checkout the very different patterns between my long standing Marbles and this current crop.
All the best to you all.

Richard.

Ade said:

is mine a mini marble or dwarf ???

it is 14 weeks old and exactly 5 inch disk. captive bred from Germany.

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Hi Ade.
Yours is typical of the new wave of rays i speak of,i would say 100% one of these smaller Marbles,its very similar to my male,that rays going to be a beauty.....very nice indeed!

DB junkie said:

Richard,

I think you're absolutely right. I've thought there's been "dwarfs" or mini marbles out there for a while. I have several that I believe will stay much smaller then the "typical" ones. One could argue possibly even another variation having a bit different shaped head, usually blonde, and a wider spacing between the eyes. Typically landing between the mini Marbles and what we know as standard Marbles in terms of max size.

I purchased a dark 7" male that was mature when I got him, over the last 2 years he's probobly only grown 2 inches. I also have a female that arrived to me gravid at only 8.5 inches across. She had one pup, born healthy and plump, but strangely the pup ended up passing after a couple months. Hoping it won't be long before she's a mom again as this smaller male has been chasing her a lot.

These smaller variations would definetly be much easier to care for in regards to housing.... I feel they could be viewed the same as Hystrix for size.

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Alan.
Your post backs up just about everything i said,your findings are the same as mine,there has to be something in this,time will be the factor,if say in 3 years time these rays haven't put on significant size then i reckon we are dealing with a much smaller strain of Marble.....exciting thought hey!

ajsmith235 said:

I 100% agree with u richard. my pair I got is not growing very fast either. i need to post an update on my rays for every1! ill post some pics tonight richard

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This thread is starting to get interesting.
Aj please post your pics it would be great to see your rays.Updates are the way forward,this way it will prove if my thoughts on this are true,i am quietly confident they are.
Cheers,
Richard.