# Albino/Hypo OB Red Zebra holding question



## csnake (Feb 22, 2009)

So one of my albino (or hypo) OB Metriaclima Estherae females was knocked up last night. My question is, what are my offspring going to be? Will they all be albino/hypo? Will 25, 50, or 75 percent of them be albino while the others are regular OB? How does this gene work? I'll be putting her in a holding tank tomorrow either way, but I'm just curious on what to expect. Thanks in advance.

Here are a few pics.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Did that male in pic 3 breed with her? I see 3 different albinos, I assume the first fish is the holding mother?


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## csnake (Feb 22, 2009)

yeah.... pic 3 is baby daddy. Pic 1 and 2 is mom. Pic 4 is dad and sub dominant male. Pic 5 is dad, mom, and random demasoni.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

What's "hypo?" Never heard of this gene/morph.

Albino is a recessive gene (it's actually the lack of or a disruption in the black pigment gene). This means that fry need copies of the albino gene from both mom and dad in order to show the albino phenotype.


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## davy jones (Feb 21, 2011)

just a tip aswell if she has only bin holding for a day its best not to move her untill at least 15 to 20 days the quicker you remove her from the main tank , the quicker the fish will forget her and more than likely bully her when shes reintroduced to the main tank :wink: she will be fine for the first 2,3 weeks in the main tank its only after the 3rd week you see the other fish bullying her than you know its time to move :thumb:


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Kanorin said:


> What's "hypo?" Never heard of this gene/morph.
> 
> Albino is a recessive gene (it's actually the lack of or a disruption in the black pigment gene). This means that fry need copies of the albino gene from both mom and dad in order to show the albino phenotype.


"Hypo" is slang for hypomelanistic... a mostly made up term to try to label partial albino animals to distinguish them from full (or complete) albinism.

Albinism is not automatically a recessive gene. That is an oversimplification that will only cause confusion IME. Albinism is usually recessive to normal pigmentation genes, but may not act recessive when paired up against other linebred traits. In this fish breeds case, both mom n dad appear to be of the same breed, so pulling out the crystal ball/ educated guess, most of the fry (or even all) will be that same breed.

This of course assumes that no demasoni (or other) male jumped in with some assistance! :lol:


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## csnake (Feb 22, 2009)

Hypo is short for Hypomelanistic. It basically means "decreased melanin". From the research I've done, it seems these animals lack an enzyme that helps produce melanin. It's not quite total albinism, where there is a total loss of black pigmentation. Hypomelanistic animals still retain some of their black pigmentation, but lose most of it (hence the deeper orange and brighter, more vivid blues with dark red eyes). It seems to be somewhat more common in reptiles.

I'm no Biologist, but this is what the internet has taught me, and we all know that the internet knows everything, unless its lying!

Thanks davy for the tip, but I've never had any issues with this, as I always re-introduce the females back into the tank in groups of 3 or more after they have spent at least 2-4 weeks in "rehab" (a 29 gallon tank only housing recent mothers getting nursed back to health before reintroduction).


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## dielikemoviestars (Oct 23, 2007)

I'd guess - oversimplifying genetics, as Number6 has stated - you'll get fry with the same phenotype as the parents. OB/albino/hypo. Make sure to keep us updated on them!

PS. Beautiful fish


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## davy jones (Feb 21, 2011)

no prob man :wink:


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## tirzo13 (May 26, 2004)

Beautiful fish.

If no other fish was involved, then you should get OB Albino fry.

By the way, the subdominant male is nice!

I'd have him as the dominant male in one tank, and use your current dominant male to run another line in another tank, since they are showing different coloration.

I been looking for OB albino Zebs for awhile, but when i find, i have no tank space.
When i have tank space, i don't see them for awhile!

just like everyone else.


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## davy jones (Feb 21, 2011)

tirzo13 said:


> Beautiful fish.
> 
> If no other fish was involved, then you should get OB Albino fry.
> 
> ...


Agreed :wink: :thumb:


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## KLGFCG (May 12, 2010)

So, I'm committing thread necromancy to see what color(s) the fry ended up being. What did they end up looking like?


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

KLGFCG said:


> So, I'm committing thread necromancy to see what color(s) the fry ended up being. What did they end up looking like?


+1


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## tirzo13 (May 26, 2004)

yeah, pix!


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## vinman63 (Apr 28, 2008)

It looks like both your OB male and your O morph female are both hypo so all the offspring will be hypo.

I'm the person that suspected it being Hypo and proved that this gene morph is in fact hypo and not albino. I wrote a artical on it a few years back call Hypo Red OB not Albino.

http://www.cichlidforums.com/showthread ... light=hypo


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## fourleafcloverstoo (Jan 8, 2013)

I have a tank full of albino red zebras that have produced a 'bright' white bunch of offspring as well as the 'pinkie' coloration.
The 'brights' are florescent under black lighting is this common or should I consider them rare enough to hold on to and try to develop into a separate sub breed ?
Also how do you post a picture here?
Tried drop box and copy paste without success.


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## vinman63 (Apr 28, 2008)

fourleafcloverstoo said:


> I have a tank full of albino red zebras that have produced a 'bright' white bunch of offspring as well as the 'pinkie' coloration.
> The 'brights' are florescent under black lighting is this common or should I consider them rare enough to hold on to and try to develop into a separate sub breed ?
> Also how do you post a picture here?
> Tried drop box and copy paste without success.


black lighting will alter the color, hypo's come in 2 colores a light morpm and a darker morph. Hypo's have a wine red colored eye and Albino's have a bright red eye. Hypos eyes in pics look like albino eyes


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=21085


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## Lono (Feb 14, 2014)

I know it's an old topic. But I have what I believe is a Hypo OB male zebra, he bred with a female tangerine and had 4 fry about a month old. Now that same female has been carrying for about 2 weeks. This morning I noticed another tangerine female holding...Hoping that I get more fry. 
When do the fry develop blotches? haven't seen any yet.
Thanks


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## vinman63 (Apr 28, 2008)

Give them a little time in the big block morph as the one you have I can see the blotching in the newly free swimming fry. In the mottled pattern as the true red zebras have you have to grow the fry a bit till you see the mottling in the dorsal fin. I have took the hypo gene and transferred it to the true mottled pattern. I had one female that was a true mottled Esthera and bred it to the big block hypo and kept the mottled offspring so I could transfer the Hypo gene to the correct pattern of the true Red OB


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