# Yellow Lab - Pure or Hybrid?



## demillso (Feb 4, 2008)

I attached some pictures of a yellow lab I have. He looks nice and his shade of yellow is great but he shows very little black on his fins. I got him from a lfs that I am not sure always knows what they have. I have a group of known pure labs in another tank and I would like this guy (or gal) to join them but I would rather not if he has some Zebra in him or something. I don't plan on raising and selling the fry on a large scale basis but I would like the peace of mind of knowing that if I do give some away they are good ones. Let me know what you think. Thanks!


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## herny (Nov 30, 2007)

looks like a pure to me :fish:


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## khaki (Jan 12, 2008)

this lab is pure. the reason he has lil black is probably because it is a female.


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## tropheus duboisi breeder (Jan 31, 2007)

Its very hard to tell in it is pure or hybrid. A lot of the labs in the trade are hybrids, but it may not be seen in charactersistics of the fish. One of the Mods (name?) had a nice group, but fry ended up looking like red zebras I believe.


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

khaki said:


> this lab is pure. the reason he has lil black is probably because it is a female.


Big mis-nomer there. Females can and often do have just as much black as males, and males can have just as little black as this fish.


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## sickchild (Jan 17, 2006)

SinisterKisses said:


> khaki said:
> 
> 
> > this lab is pure. the reason he has lil black is probably because it is a female.
> ...


 SinisterKisses is right. Yellow Labs can show the same color scheme male or Female. Tipically Males are bigger with more black on pelvic and anal fins, But not always.


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## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

yeah listen to the quoted parts  look theres no way we can tell you 100% that its pure... it looks it and whatnot but you cant tell for sure... kim will chime in with her experience but untill then the only "real" way is to ask him who his daddy is!... jk the real way would be breed him/her and check the offspring at 2", then breed them and check there offspring...


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## Dave (Feb 9, 2003)

The fish looks pure. Only breeding will confirm the fact if you do not have the pedigree of this fish, which of course is difficult to know with this species.


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## dell88 (Feb 5, 2008)

IME i have found linebreeding may also contribute to this trait where there is little black shown, but still is pure.

hth


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## Dave (Feb 9, 2003)

dell88 said:


> IME i have found linebreeding may also contribute to this trait where there is little black shown, but still is pure.
> 
> hth


According to reports on the original export of yellow labs, there were only a couple of pairs from which nearly all the yellow labs that we have today were produced. Except for recent new exports this species has been bred continuously for many years. It isn't linebreeding, but irresponsible breeding, that impacts populations.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I'm the one who had the seemingly pure Yellow labs that weren't!

And I can't say whether this one is pure anymore than I could have told you that mine weren't, until they had the clutch of fry that were obviously throw backs from a red zebra somewhere along the line. (Keep in mind that half the fry looked just like Yellow lab fry should look. The other half were a funny deep yellow - almost orange - with no black anywhere.)

That's why I don't have any in my tanks right now and am waiting for some F1's to grow out from one of those wild groups recently exported that Dave mentioned!

No more LFS Yellow labs for me!

Kim


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## demillso (Feb 4, 2008)

Thanks for the input everyone! I decided to toss him in with the others. If I see any offspring with abnormal features I will take him back out then.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

With the ones I had, I could tell something was wrong by about 2 weeks. I first noticed the lack of black on the dorsal, but then they started going a deeper shade of yellow/orange than they should be.

The only thing that continues to bug me is that half the clutch looked totally normal...Had those been the only ones I would have given them away or sold them...

Kim


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## demillso (Feb 4, 2008)

Thanks for the advice Kim. If this one does breed I will put some pics up of the youngsters so you can tell me what you think.


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

I would take a bite out of it - if it tastes sour - it's probably a pure 'Lemon Yellow Lab'....

:lol:


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## demillso (Feb 4, 2008)

why_spyder said:


> I would take a bite out of it - if it tastes sour - it's probably a pure 'Lemon Yellow Lab'....
> 
> :lol:


But what if I bite into it and it turns out to be an 'Electric Yellow'? That might hurt a bit!


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

demillso said:


> why_spyder said:
> 
> 
> > I would take a bite out of it - if it tastes sour - it's probably a pure 'Lemon Yellow Lab'....
> ...


 :lol: Hopefully not worse than licking batteries....


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