# Question concerning Yellow Lab coloring



## johns51 (Jun 6, 2010)

I just picked up 7 yellow lab Juvies, they are all about 1 inch.

I noticed that some of them do not have the black on fins. Is this normal or do I have something other then yellow labs?

John


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## justinf67 (Jul 19, 2009)

If there isnt ANY black in there fins, then its a red zebra, yellow lab cross...


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## Robchester_2000 (Nov 8, 2008)

hmmm not necessarily, i believe others way more experienced than me have said that sometimes you get young fish without clear black markings that are labs, and it just takes a while for them to color up. at 1 inch you can't say they are definitely hybrids. some pics would help.


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## justinf67 (Jul 19, 2009)

well, the quality isnt there... Good specimens have the black at a very YOUNG age... 1 inch there should be some there...


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

While some keepers report Yellow labs that get their black markings as they mature, I certainly wouldn't buy Yellow labs without the markings already present - there are so many poor quality labs and hybrids out there to count on yours growing up to be 'nice ones.'

kevin


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

Considering you have the same strain of yellow labs that I have, I'll tell you all that I know about them.

There certainly are a lot of poor-quality yellow lab strains around here. I had a hard time finding a decent one. I got the strain from a reputable breeder in the area and he got them from an apparently reputable breeder in the chicago area. Beyond that, I can't trace the lineage. At least at the last three places the strain went, their were no red zebras present.

Expect that the dominant male yellow lab will develop full black markings on its dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins - the textbook perfect yellow lab. This should occur around 1.5 inches. It's been my experience that the subdominant males and females develop black dorsals and some black, but not full, on the pelvic and anal fins. However, whenever I remove the dominant male from a tank, the next male will attain full black fins. And just recently, I removed all of the males from a tank and the females started getting more black on their fins as well.

It seems that they all have the potential to attain the full black markings on their fins, but this is definitely dependent upon their comfort and conspecific dominance level in the tank. For these reasons, I suspect that the strain is pure, but perhaps just a product of some less-than-stellar breeding. I also wonder if they might have a little bit of the Lion's Cove II variant mixed in - the (naturally occurring) strain that has a white belly - since up to about an inch and a quarter in size, they have some white on their bellies.

I believe this is a picture of the daddy of your fish. And the picture doesn't do him justice. Wish I had a better picture, but I recently sold the fish and can't find any other decent pictures.









Here's an example of either a female or one of the subdominant males at about 1.5 inches. Notice that the bottom fins have hardly any black. But if I removed the more dominant yellow labs in the tank, I'm betting they would get darker. Does this mean it's a hybrid? I guess that's up for debate.


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## mattsmommaashley (Apr 8, 2010)

IME they can turn the black on and off at 1in. I have a group of fry right now that all have the black on the dorsal fin, but they can turn it off when they are stressed. (like when my two year old wants to clean the glass with a baby wipe)

And before anyone starts questioning my labs, I know where mine came from and I know that they are pure labs. Mom and dad both have black on the dorsal and bottom fins. Plus, the fry came out the same color as momma.

I agree with robchester_2000, if you already purchased them, post a pic.

Someone can tell you by things other than the black markings if they are hybrids.


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## justinf67 (Jul 19, 2009)

Kanorin, but your pic they have a decent solid black like line in the dorsal, so by that alone, its less likely that they are a hybrid....OP says no black at all... Seriously people, with NO black in the dorsal, theres an issue... Hopefully OP is not confusing a lab coloring down and making the black in their dorsal less apparent with NO color...Labs have the ability to tone it down and make the black ALMOST go away, but it will still be there, even then...It just looks really w ashed out and gray... Pics would help solve this dilema....


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

justinf67 said:


> Kanorin, but your pic they have a decent solid black like line in the dorsal, so by that alone, its less likely that they are a hybrid....OP says no black at all... Seriously people, with NO black in the dorsal, theres an issue... Hopefully OP is not confusing a lab coloring down and making the black in their dorsal less apparent with NO color...Labs have the ability to tone it down and make the black ALMOST go away, but it will still be there, even then...It just looks really w ashed out and gray... Pics would help solve this dilema....


The pictures I posted are the Dad and an aunt/uncle of the OP's fish.


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## johns51 (Jun 6, 2010)

Well after reading the posts I went back and looked closer at these fish.

They were all purchased from a LFS here in Maryland.

They all do have some black in the dorsal fin, some of them the black is so faint that it is hard to pick up.

Impossible to get a pic of them because they are darting around the tank quickly

Thanks everyone.

John


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

Johns51, woops! I confused you with another John on these forums that I just sold yellow labs to last week. My mistake!
These are not the strain of yellow labs that you have. Sorry for the confusion!


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## justinf67 (Jul 19, 2009)

*johns51*
Thank you for the closer inspection....thats changes it all. To have very faint barring while young is normal... The more dominant ones will have darker lines, while sub doms will try to hide the black some... Since they have the black, its less likely they are hybrids...


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