Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / November 2004

Chances are they are either dyed or cross-breeds.. In either case, avoid
like the plague.

Any colour mutation, is a one in countless millions shot., And its up to the
breeder to recognise them early, before there eaten, destroyed,
Then you have the problem of whether there fertile or barron,
Sexing such creatures is another nightmare, unless its possible to surgical
sex.
Then you have the problem of normal colour  fish /birds/animals
excepting the mutation. But after all the hurdles, you finally breed the
mutation, Then you have the problem of working out if the colour mutation is
sex linked. I.E. are male off-spring  split to the colour, are they sex
linked, are the females normal colour or carrying the colour gene.
If you put the male off-spring back to the mother, will it produce colour
mutations, or is the colour only carried by the male. Which is the normal
case.

I could write a couple of thousand words on the subject and still leave a
lot out.       "Snip,snip,snip"

Anyway back on track, if such a colour mutation was produced and it grew to
adult size, I really think the last place your going to find it , is your
friendly neighbourhood aquarium, for sale. Am I being cynical , Yep, I guess
I am.
 Then our friend reports that he has seen a number of them.  This tells me
that, it would be very doubtful, if they where the "Real McCoy"
Possible dyed, marinated in Blue Ink, or whatever, Go back and see if there
still there 6 months later
I'm sorry if I sound cynical, but when something's sound to good to be
true, Normally it is.
                                 Regards from OZ      bassett