We now have on file strains of stabilized "Mosaic Tiger Canary" and "Tuxedo Christmas Red". Our goal is to combine the Tiger tail pattern from the Mosaic strain and the body type and tail color from the Tuxedo strain. If the two strains used for this out-cross are in fact stabilized all the males in the F1 should look alike. If the males are all different I will know one (or both) of the strains is not yet stabilized (or is heterozygous for two or more traits). I also expect to see Leopard Multi as the tail pattern. AZ often expresses this phenotype by the white rectangle AZ places in the dorsal fin. I have no idea what this white rectangle is supposed to signify. Drives me crazy.)
Let me ramble for a moment. AZ loves to throw the heterozygous "wild card" into the game. AZ defines heterozygous as "An individual having unlike genes at a given locus, thus producing unlike gametes for the characteristic in question. Non--purebreeding". Say what? Heterozygous simply means that where there is normally one gene at a certain spot (locus) on the DNA chain (for example, the color locus) there are two genes. This can happen at other places on the DNA chain, for example, the locus for tail pattern. The male (or female) can then pass on to the next generation, not one but two colors, a few red sons here, and a few yellow sons there. He/she could also pass on Tiger tail pattern or Leopard Multi, some Tigers here, and some Leopards there. Now, imagine that both parents are heterozygous for both color and tail pattern. Think about it. F1 generations can especially reveal multiple phenotypes when such a pair does the nasty. Working with heterozygous strains can be loads of fun, but you can also go nuts (and my wife already calls me crazy). A fixed heterozygous strain is impossible by definition but not in practice. I say, "On my computer, in my tank, if I can consistently produce the same two phenotypes with a random pair from the stock file then the strain is a "fixed heterozygous strain for two phenotypes". Happens all the time in the world of real guppies.
Now, back to our out-cross. Since we wish to create a Tuxedo Tiger we will use a female from the "Tuxedo Christmas Red" file and a male from the "Mosaic Tiger Canary" file.
Here are the males produced in the F1 generation.
How nice! All the males look just alike. As expected, all the males exhibit the Leopard Multi tail pattern (note the white rectangle in the dorsal fin). Let's select a pair to produce the F2 generation and see what AZ gives us to play with.
Here are the males from the F2.
OK. One red male to work with. If you want red, work with red. I have learned that the Leopard pattern will often "morph" (don't you just love that word ! It's inaccurate but I think it describes what happens quite well) into Tiger in a generation or two. Let's select the red Leopard male to father the F3 generation and see what happens.
Here are the males from the first F3 generations.
Wow, ain't they purdy? Two Tiger Multi and two Leopard Multi, each one gorgeous. But, we want red, Christmas Red, not orange red or red orange. I'll save this batch as F3a to work with later and try a few more females to see if AZ has any reds for us to play with. These are the males produced by the forth female tested with the red Leopard male. I label this strain F3b to help me keep track of what I have done.
Just two males in the batch, but one is red, just like dad. Let's see what he and his sisters can produce in the F4. Here are the males produced by the first female tested with the F3b red leopard dad.
See I told you the Leopard would eventually throw Tiger sons. Happens all the time. (Just try to stabilize a strain of Leopards. Now, that's a slippery trait to nail down. It can be done, sometimes quite easily, but you gotta get lucky finding the right females early on in the cross.) However, the color we want is still in the Leopard male. If I select one of the Tiger males as the next dad I will be moving away from my "goal color". Let's select the red Leopard male and mate him with some of his sisters and see if we can move closer to our goal. Here are the males finally produced by the fifth female tested from the F4.
At last, one Tuxedo Tiger Christmas Red male shows up. I knew he had to be in the mix somewhere. (I know my AZ software is alive. I guarantee AZ can sense what phenotype I am looking for and either make me work like a dog to get it or, on a good day, will give it to me on the first try.) We will, of course, use this male to father the F6 generation. Here are the males produced by the third female tested from the F5. The first two females produced red orange Tigers. AZ wants me to have red orange, but I want Christmas Red.
I know AZ is toying with me. Only two males in this batch, but, hey, they are both the phenotype I am looking for. Let's see what they and their sisters can produce in the F7. These are the males the first pair tested produced in the F7.
Looking good. Hopefully we are almost there. Now for the F8 generation.
Are we good or just lucky! AZ is being very kind today. Let's test random pairs for the next four generations. I save the arbitrarily selected pairs to a file labeled "temp pairs" so I can keep track of how many generations I test. (I found myself getting lost in the process and taking a strain out to the F18 before regaining control. Load a pair, warp 'em, mature fry, select another pair, save 'em to temp file, replace tank, load just saved pair, warp 'em, mature fry ................where am I? How many generations?) The generations themselves are not saved; just a random pair from the batch is saved to the "temp pairs" file to produce the next generation. (I hope this filing procedure makes sense.) Generations F9 through F11 produced identical Tuxedo Tiger Christmas Reds. I say this strain is stabilized. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
This F12 generation was saved as the "stock" file.
Before the evolution of TransWarp, I seldom tested a strain further than the F6 generation. I now find that many of the earlier strains I thought I had stabilized by taking out to the F6 are "almost stabilized" when I try to use them in an out-cross (I'll get one or two males that are different from the rest of the males in the F1). Using TransWarp, I can now test/prove strains for purity to the F12 in about 10 more minutes (yes, I am anal-retentive).
Here is a pic of my "Items" folder showing the records of the generations saved en-route to creating this strain.
I will save the F3b file to explore later and delete the F1 through F11. Wonder what this strain would look like if it were Albino ? To create an Albino strain of Tuxedo Tiger Christmas Red I need to stabilize a strain of Christmas Red Albinos. (I think this is the albino color with which several breeders have reported having trouble.) Let's check it out and see what the Albinos have to offer us. One strain of Albino Christmas Reds coming up.
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