Trying again

Smashing image

Thats really good to see Rob

Well, I've been getting rather despondent about the babies I seperated out into the 35 litre tank, in the last couple of days, at best I've been able to spot 3 or 4 of them, but this evening I've seen a least a dozen probably more, all clearly feeding and growing, there are also a few in with the parents who seem to be doing far better than last time. I think the improved approach to baby brine shrimp may be helping!

Nice one Rob it looks like there could be a lesson to be learnt here.I will look forward to hearing how you get on with these.

A quick update, it looks like I've got 5 survivors in the 35 litre and at least a couple of albinos in with the parents still. Managed to get a couple of photos of those in the 35 litre, nothing special, but the best I could manage with the little blighters spending most of their time at the back....


but this fellow did venture forward briefly....




Here are a couple of photos of their non albino older siblings....

OOOOOoo , you can send the youngster in the middle image of the older siblings to me , love the red spots!
Lisa

love the red spots!

The flash has all but washed them all out, but it also has quite a few on the body under the dorsal fin, so for the moment at least it stays here!
That said, It's worth noting that as the father was S/Z and the mother S/S, any fish that isn't blushing must be a clown S/Z, I think the zebra gene is an important factor in the way both the golds, and the platinums are expressing (look closely at the anal fin of the platinum in the photo above; and you'll see that it too has red spots!)

Oh yes , well very nice, red spot Plats!

Friday 13th

I had 5 albinos in the 35 litre doing well, came down to them this morning and they were all dead!
There's 1 or 2 doing well in the other tank with their non albino siblings, but that's my lot.
I'm sure the problem was overfeeding, the challenge was to put sufficient food in a 35 litre tank for 5 babies to find what they needed, but not so much that they over indulged and died, looks like I misjudged it.
Oh well it solves one problem for me, this was one pair I was going to let go, now it looks like I'm going to have to hold on to them for another try!

Nasty. Fingers crossed for next time.
Lisa

Never mind Rob, two is better than none!

Just one survivor, but (s)he seems to be holding his/her own alongside it's larger siblings...

Aww, just one lone albino. Very cute, and so much smaller than his/her brother/sister. Bless. Fantastic pic btw.

Brief update
The sole surviving albino is still surviving, but growing, as albinos do, very slowly. I've moved him in with some other youngsters who are about 3 weeks younger, and size wise there's very little difference.

The older siblings are now just about 5 months old, and coming on nicely....

Like mother like son(?)


Like father like son(?)


The gold one, I love his(?) fins!


The platinums seem whiter, with better lustre than any I've previously bred

Now he/she is in a tank with some smaller angels, the sole surviving albino is boss of the tank and coming on nicely...

It's a very special fish by virtue of being the only survivor, and very cute.

A couple more photos of the surviving albino, I know it must be an albino leopard ghost and I know it carries at least one pb gene and at least one gold gene, my guess is it's g/g - S/Z - Sm/+ - a/a - +/pb.


I'm disappointed about the kinked anal fin and the poor ventrals, but I love his(?) dorsal!

Thats quite a wide dorsal Rob & looks to be branching already do any of its siblings have wide dorsals?

do any of its siblings have wide dorsals?

That's an interesting question, and the answer appears to be no!
What's even more interesting is that it's housed with some fish from a different batch which are only distantly related to it; many of these do seem to have broader dorsals, which makes me wonder if there is an enviromental component to the wifi look.
Another factor may be that this fish seems to have suffered a degree of fin damage, it may be that the apparent wide fin is actually a longer, more slender dorsal that has effectively been cut short.

[quote="Pterophyllum"]

do any of its siblings have wide dorsals?

That's an interesting question, and the answer appears to be no!
What's even more interesting is that it's housed with some fish from a different batch which are only distantly related to it; many of these do seem to have broader dorsals, which makes me wonder if there is an enviromental component to the wifi look.
Another factor may be that this fish seems to have suffered a degree of fin damage, it may be that the apparent wide fin is actually a longer, more slender dorsal that has effectively been cut short. [/quote

That makes a lot of sense. In view of the curve in the anal fin it could be environmental fin damage.

Well two and a bit months later, and my sole surviving albino seems to be blossoming, despite my concerns for his fins earlier in his development, they seem to have come good



Meanwhile I've been keeping my eye on one of his siblings, to be honest I nearly culled this one on a couple of occations, its been growing slowly, he's significantly smaller than his albino brother, and for a lot of his development has had a terrible shape, and grotty fins. He's also almost impossible to get an accurate photo of.
Now I'm glad I kept him, in recent weeks his growth has improved and although small he's not shy, in fact whilst trying to photograph him tonight he was flying round the tank bullying fish twice his size!

From this side he looks like a quite reasonable paraiba, with a well defined paraiba patch below his dorsal



It's when he turns around that you see something, in my opinion, quite special....






That paraiba patch wraps from dorsal to anal fin and coves over half his flank, it's nigh on impossible to get a photo where the blue is reflecting off all of it, but it does!

This final photo gives a size comparison between the two of them....

WOW, the colours on the both of them are stunning

That Albino now looks stunning Rob & the patch on the Paraiba is huge,could this be the start of you getting the patch to cover the whole body? Dito Lisa the colours are great on both.

could this be the start of you getting the patch to cover the whole body?

That's what I'm hoping!