Yellow Lab Fry Coloration?

[jrthor_85]

I have my yellow lab pair's first batch of 14 fry in a breeder tank. I stripped the fry after almost 4 weeks of the FM holding, and that was 5 weeks ago. So I assume the fry are actually about 6.5 weeks old. I am wondering if it's normal for some of the clutch to show different coloration at this age. About half the fry have the normal yellow coloration and are just starting to show their black dorsal stripe. The other half of the fry are white. Not albino white as their eyes are normal, but almost an ivory color. Is this normal, or is it possible my FM has some muddy genetics?

The father shows the classic coloration. The mother is what I'm unsure about. She has the yellow and black markings, but from her gills to about midlength and from her lateral line to her belly she is whitish with a faint blue "glitter" in the scales. Is this normal for a FM yellow lab?

She's now holding her second clutch as of the 25th. I want to know if I'm wasting my time trying to grow out muddy gene fish that would be better served as food for other fish, or if this is normal.

 

[djlamonica]

Well from your description your female is a hybrid or mix of lab. In terms of wasting your time it would depend on what your goal is. If you like the look of the ish and want to keep them or givethemto friends then your not wasting your time. If your attempting to make money on them would say your wasting your time. Some of the lfs around me will give a cople bucks trade for larger hybrids that get put in large mixed Khalid's tanks tht they sell for 7 or so dollars.

I am no expert though so maybe someone else with more experience breedingy yellows can help.

 

[jrthor_85]

by wasting my time, i mean growing them larger than I can use for feeders if they aren't worth selling back. I have a lfs that'll buy labs for a buck each at 1.5-2" or so, and mine are almost there at only 6-7 weeks but are already too large for me to use as feeders.

I'll to get some pics in a bit, see what we come up with.

 

[jrthor_85]

You can see here a bit of the color difference in the "white" fry to the normal looking yellow fry. These were stripped 6/25/12.


Here's the FM that I'm unsure about. The pic isn't great and it washes her color out some, but you can easily see the lack of black markings on bottom fins, and general white-ness along her lower body.

 

[djlamonica]

Hmm I was picturing something a bit different. Id go ahead and destroy the mis colored fry and grow the yellow looking ones out to sell. Im not sure about the female I don't think it is a hybrid just a lighter color. I would definatly think about switching the female out with a normal looking female if you want to contiune breeding. Oh and not from the new batch of fry either. Even if they look right they will still carry that lighter color gene. Anyways Im speculating could be wrong. Anyone with more experience?

 

[ice blue]

She's maybe just a bad grade yellow lab or a white lab X yellow lab? I would keep her batch of fry and see how they turn out

 

[djlamonica]

Yup I just picked up a batch of yellows nd they look similar think it's just a color variation and not a hybrid I'd keep breeding them pick out the best colored and sell the rest your lfs will most likely take them. Or you could pick out the most whit ones and attempt to breed whites as they re tough o find in many areas, although this would surly be a long process.

 

[joe jaskot]

IMO, you have lousy breeding stock.

 

[DIDYSIS]

I have a batch of 43 at home I put the mom in a breeder and She had them then I took her out. They are all yellow and look great. Eating allot and growing fast. They are about 3/4 inch maybe 4 weeks old or a touch more.

Sent from my DROIDX using MonsterAquariaNetwork App