Fry color variation

[chriscoli]

Ok, so I've got a few batches of Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (Maingano) fry that I've been raising and they've been developing a variety of color intensities. How do I judge what's "good" color on these guys? I noticed that one female produces much darker colored fry than the other female, but neither batch looks too weird to me, either. Am I just being obcessive over normal variation, or should I be keeping some and culling others?

 

[fischfan13]

Ok, so I've got a few batches of Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (Maingano) fry that I've been raising and they've been developing a variety of color intensities. How do I judge what's "good" color on these guys? I noticed that one female produces much darker colored fry than the other female, but neither batch looks too weird to me, either. Am I just being obcessive over normal variation, or should I be keeping some and culling others?

That all depends.
I like the females that are normally darker, but I have females that throw lighter and darker fry.
I guess the question would be this:
If you only kept the darkest fry would you have a mix of males and females?

 

[chriscoli]

That is exactly what I was wondering, too!

 

[verbal]

How you cull will depend on your breeding goals.

If your goal is to produce young that are like your original stock, then you only need to remove the deformed fry.

If you are trying to selectively breed you want to look at not only the breeders, but what their fry look like. You want to breed the parents that produce good fry a lot and the ones that don't not as much.

If you have a pair or female that produces a lot of deformed fry, you may need to at least switch up the pairing.

 

[Dragonkeeper]

Much like the adults, are the fry using color to decipher their pecking order?

I flooded the Chicago area with Mainganos (almost everyone selling them now got them from me) and noticed this too.

 

[chriscoli]

I'm glad to know you saw this, too! They all look physically fine to me so I haven't gotten rid of any at this point due to light vs. dark colors. I was also wondering if it was just a stress thing (i.e. top vs. bottom of the pecking order).

 

[UNCLERUCKUS]

I WOULDNT CULL THEM. I WOULD THINK IT DEPENDS ON ALOT OF VARIABLES AS TO WHY SOME ARE LIGHTER OR DARKER THEN OTHERS. STRESS, HIERARCHY, FOOD, ETC. THEY LOOK GOOD BY THE WAY. SOME OF MY FAV AFRICANS W/ THAT INTENSE ATTITUDE AND BLUE COLORATION. ALSO REMEMBER AS JUVIES THEY WILL COLOR UP CONSIDERABLY AS THEY MATURE. I BET YOU WILL HAVE A BUNCH OF STUNNERS THERE. NICE JOB.

 

[Tony]

+1 on the pecking order factor. I've noticed the same thing happens with my Ps. acei. You pull out the more aggressive guys and the lighter colored fry darken up.

Good looking fish, Chris.

 

[chriscoli]

Thanks! I've got a ton of them, by the way...I'll keep some, but if anybody wants some....