Crimson and woofy, you guys have gone Midas crazy.
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You get that now?
*has crimson in head lock*
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Wild Midas Male From Rapps
- Thread starter aclockworkorange
- Start date
You get that now?
*has crimson in head lock*
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Theres a good chance theyre arent meant to be piebald and they are in the fading process still. Remember (and i might be talking out of my butt here so please feel free to call shenanigans) but the size of fish we got while 5-6" are probably a few months old and grow faster because theyre from the wild where as a f1 and so on at this age (not size) might still be 2" at this point in the peeling process. So while they look piebald they might very well lose all this black. Perfect example i have a male from dan at coa (wonderful guy and company!) and is 3-4" and looks very similar to the one belonging to the op.
also if you look at the samples of the larger ones jeff got they are already almost fully orange. Which is why i said the fish posted above would be awesome IF he kept all this black.
Again sorry if im not making as much sense in writing as i am in my head.
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It's rare to see F1 or later generations piebald so that's what gets collected. They sell better.
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You have to realize how many regular barred and colored ones get passed on to get the few piebalds they bring back
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Nice fish, Jeff. I think that you could probably bring the black color out even more if you fed it some DIY dog food. 
I suspect that Rapps realized over past imports that oddball colors sell better than barred, and in some cases even solid colors, hence the reason why one is probably seeing more piebalds in this shipment.
A post that I made a couple of years ago explains the fading process, and why some amphilophus remain partially black.
Amelanism is a pigmentation abnormality characterized by the lack of pigments called melanins (black pigment) and can affect reptiles, fish, amphibians, etc. The appearance of an amelanistic fish (such as a fader) depends entirely on the remaining non-melanin pigments. In some cases where a fish does not completely fade or finish peeling, with some black pigment remaining, the condition is known as hypomelanism.
As far as the fading process;
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=ichthynicar
There has been a lot of work done with the Amphilophus genus by George Barlow & others, and in the wild these genes only express themselves in approx 10% of the population.
The actual timing of de-pigmentation is determined by a different set of genes hence the reason why some fish seem to peel very early in life, while others are almost adult size before they begin to fade/peel. And of course in the wild fading/peeling at too early of an age/size makes the fish a much easier target for prey, so many wild morphs are late bloomers.
According to some of the earlier work peformed by George Barlow, gold morphs are most abundant at deeper depths, and in more turbid water. Lake Masaya has very turbid water, and gold morphs are very abundant in this body of water. Both Great Lakes are similar in that regard. On the other hand Lake Apoyo has quite clear water, and while the gold morph genes are present in the fish, no true gold morphs are found. The fish in this lake have the typical spotted & barred patterns.
I suspect that Rapps realized over past imports that oddball colors sell better than barred, and in some cases even solid colors, hence the reason why one is probably seeing more piebalds in this shipment.
A post that I made a couple of years ago explains the fading process, and why some amphilophus remain partially black.
Amelanism is a pigmentation abnormality characterized by the lack of pigments called melanins (black pigment) and can affect reptiles, fish, amphibians, etc. The appearance of an amelanistic fish (such as a fader) depends entirely on the remaining non-melanin pigments. In some cases where a fish does not completely fade or finish peeling, with some black pigment remaining, the condition is known as hypomelanism.
As far as the fading process;
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=ichthynicar
There has been a lot of work done with the Amphilophus genus by George Barlow & others, and in the wild these genes only express themselves in approx 10% of the population.
The actual timing of de-pigmentation is determined by a different set of genes hence the reason why some fish seem to peel very early in life, while others are almost adult size before they begin to fade/peel. And of course in the wild fading/peeling at too early of an age/size makes the fish a much easier target for prey, so many wild morphs are late bloomers.
According to some of the earlier work peformed by George Barlow, gold morphs are most abundant at deeper depths, and in more turbid water. Lake Masaya has very turbid water, and gold morphs are very abundant in this body of water. Both Great Lakes are similar in that regard. On the other hand Lake Apoyo has quite clear water, and while the gold morph genes are present in the fish, no true gold morphs are found. The fish in this lake have the typical spotted & barred patterns.
But what is the reason those 10-7% are so much more prevalent in the hobby.
One would expect to find many more barred and darker ones....
Why is the hobbly full of oranges, mostly?
One would expect to find many more barred and darker ones....
Why is the hobbly full of oranges, mostly?
Miguel, the answer to that is simple, because color sells. Approx 40 years ago when these amphs were first being imported the vendors were looking for color. Those fish were then line bred to fix certain traits, the most prominant or important one in those early breeding programs would have been the color. The gold morph, which covers all of the colored morphs, in midas is typically orange (a dominat gene), hence why you see more of that color than say yellow.
