I recently asked for feedback and suggestions for topics to delve into in this series of articles. One of the requests I received was "how to put black or darker markings" in the albino tail patterns. "On no," I thought, "I don't know how to make that happen. It just happens." I racked my brain trying to remember if I had any generation .fsh files handy that would enable me to illustrate this phenomenon. I remembered a series of crosses I had performed to generate males to use for the tank shot used on the introduction page for the Guppy Gallery.
Searching through my zillion AZ folders I was relieved to find a folder labeled "gorgeous fire tux for tank pic". Taking a look at the .fsh files inside this folder revealed that I had pulled an F4 generation from some out cross as the starting point for that project. The males in that F4 file were grass multis, which triggered my memory of using two back crosses to produce the F3 and F4 generations. Recreating the F2 - F4 generations would be impossible as Mother AZ never shuffles the gene pool possibilities the same way twice in the early generations of an out cross. I decided that since this was an illustration of "what to look for" and not an illustration of "how to get there" then starting at the F4 generation would be acceptable.
I can tell you that the original strains used for this out-cross were "mosaic tiger canary" and "albino tux snakeskin Christmas red" (of which one F1 batch from that out cross eventually became Pool 17). Now,the important thing to remember is that I was not trying to produce an albino tiger with darker stripes. I was going for an "albino tux tiger multi burnt orange topaz" via a series of back crosses when Mother AZ produced something "new and wonderful".
Here are the "new and wonderful" males produced in this F4 generation.
As you can see, these guys are unusual and exceptional. The intensity of body and fin colors really caught my eye. The tangerine overlay seems to be poured on and the dorsal fin is also very eye-catching. Selecting one of these guys and mating him with one of his sisters produced this F5 generation.
Here we can see where this cross has been. The guys on the right represent the phenotype I was chasing. The F2 male used to father the F3 and the F4 generations looked just like these guys. However, we also see one male that has mahogany stripes instead of the pumpkin stripes we stabilized in pool 17. I have no clear idea how this happens, it just happens (though I have my suspicions). I have learned that when it does happen to jump on it like "white on rice". Yank that guy and all of his sisters right out of the tank, place them into their own file and nail that phenotype down at the first opportunity. (I have a folder labeled "check this out" for just such circumstances.) Mating Mr. Mahogany stripes with one of his sisters (we are still searching for a female that will produce 100% tux sons) we move on to the F6 generation.
Here are the males produced in the F6 generation.
We did not select a tuxedo female; however, you can see the "topaz with pumpkin" and the "topaz with mahogany" phenotypes "up close and personal" in this batch. Again selecting a tuxedo male and mating him with one of his sisters we produce the F7 generation.
Here are the F7 males.
Now we have all "topaz with mahogany" tails but we still have not found the right tuxedo sister. One more time we select a tuxedo male and one of his sisters to produce the F8 generation.
Here are the males in the F8 generation.
Well, finally a batch where everybody remembered to put on his tuxedo.
Is this strain stabilized yet? To test this strain for purity I selected random pairs from this group and ran them through TransWarp several times. AZ produced identical males each time. Not only do I "think" this strain is stabilized but Mother AZ is "convinced" that it is stabilized.
Here are the two phenotypes as seen in 9-month-old males.
If you look at the dorsal fins of both males you can see that each one has pale pumpkin markings. The enhanced mahogany stripes only appears in the tail.
This "enhanced" tail pattern in the albinos can and does occur in all colors. Take a look at these examples. Ain't they purdy!?
I do not recall ever setting up an out cross for the sole purpose of creating males that exhibit the darker stripes. This is one trait that I usually trip over when meandering through the early generations of an experimental out-cross. However, it only takes one strain with this trait to enable us to create more. Let's see what we can do with this "albino tux tiger topaz with mahogany" strain.
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