New Red Tail Species (likely click bait...)

[coolcomfort]

Good morning people, I just saw a new Predatory Fins post claiming he has "Black Panda Red Tail Catifsh". I have never heard of this before, and the internet does not reveal much about this either. Does anyone know what this is?

 

[kno4te]

Maybe a cb black red tail. That’s what I thought when I saw the post by pred fins.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

It's a similar genetic hiccup to albino or some other color morph only in the opposite direction. Off the top of my head, I'd call it a "melanistic RTC", the antipode of the albino RTC, is all.

You can call it black panda or pink panther or tender-baby-salad-green-colored elephant, if it helps you sell it better. There will be those who will happily gobble it up and thank you for it.

Remember, genetic perversions do not occur one by one but in bunches and if a fish differs from the norm appearance-wise, it also differs from the norm in its internal built, organs, nervous system, etc. and can be guaranteed to not reach the growth rate, size, health, vigor, vitality, immune system strength, and longevity of the norm, and the said deviation can vary wildly but it will for certain fall short of the norm given the same adequate care.

So beware that you may pay $500-$1000 for your color morph or short-body or somehow else perverted RTC, or $60,000 for your albino RTC only for it to kick the bucket for no obvious reason 1, 2, 3, or 5 years later. Sometimes it happens in months from what I hear. Sometimes in years.

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

I don't even think that it is melanistic. Most probably from selective breeding all black redtail catfish but I could be wrong. For those who wonder how all black redtail would've looked like when adult

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I don't even think that it is melanistic. Most probably from selective breeding all black redtail catfish but I could be wrong. For those who wonder how all black redtail would've looked like when adult

What is the difference between melanistic and all black in your opinion?

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

What is the difference between melanistic and all black in your opinion?

Because this came in with all the "melanistic" redtail shipment in my country, it is also been labelled as such. I've seen redtail with few white pattern, it's just a matter of time before they breed all black type. But if it's were true they're melanistic, don't they get even darker than this?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Because this came in with all the "melanistic" redtail shipment in my country, it is also been labelled as such. I've seen redtail with few white pattern, it's just a matter of time before they breed all black type. But if it's were true they're melanistic, don't they get even darker than this?

I am no expert in coloration of fish. Oddball I think is. To my simplistic current perception, melanism means excess of melanin in the skin, the dark pigment. I assume it can have gradations just like xanthism, leucism, albinism, etc. can.

So until I am schooled more by someone, to me all black, half black, mostly black, all grey, mostly grey, soot-black, jet-black, raven-black, dirt black, etc. are all degrees of melanistic mutation.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Bump for our resident expert wednesday13

 

[wednesday13]

Because this came in with all the "melanistic" redtail shipment in my country, it is also been labelled as such. I've seen redtail with few white pattern, it's just a matter of time before they breed all black type. But if it's were true they're melanistic, don't they get even darker than this?

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Ive seen a few of these guys pop up over the years. Id say the older the reports are the more chances of them being “real” are. This is fairly recent so it may be a man made production or science experiment. Just can’t tell these days for sure unless it was wild caught that way. One good trait of a “true” melanistic would be completely black eyes which this specimen is lacking. I have seen degrees of completely black pigment but they still usually always have the black eyes.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thank you for this wednesday13 haven't you said in some thread recently that the dark babies lose the darkness and grow up into normal-looking RTCs, or am I recalling wrong?