Platinum? Redtail/Tiger Hybrid and some recent catfish additions

[koltsixx]

Dude how are you getting these super rare cats?! THET ARE AMAZING!

Thank you very much. The RTC/TSN hybrid I actually found on Ebay. Guy had 2, a 14" and 7-8" I bought the fourteen and was considering getting the smaller but it got sold while I procrastinated. The Albino Yarrelli I got from Wes/ fugupuff and I think he still has some, but they are pricey, so was the RTC/TSN but not as much as the Yarrelli. The Rhamdia Quelen and Redtail/Black Ear's are from Predatory fins. The Quelen was $75 for a 8" but are sold out now, the Redtail/Black Ear's are $45 and around 2.5" and Rob still has them listed.

 

[AR1]

Thank you very much. The RTC/TSN hybrid I actually found on Ebay. Guy had 2, a 14" and 7-8" I bought the fourteen and was considering getting the smaller but it got sold while I procrastinated. The Albino Yarrelli I got from Wes/ fugupuff and I think he still has some, but they are pricey, so was the RTC/TSN but not as much as the Yarrelli. The Rhamdia Quelen and Redtail/Black Ear's are from Predatory fins. The Quelen was $75 for a 8" but are sold out now, the Redtail/Black Ear's are $45 and around 2.5" and Rob still has them listed.

Thanks a lot. However i doubt that i would be able to pay huge amounts of shipping charges.
I also wanted to ask you how to defferntiate between a melanistic and regular RTC. i recently bought a pure black 3 inch RTC, with a black body and black tail. However, it turned like a regular RTC only after a month, except for the tail part, which is still kind of dark.

 

[koltsixx]

Thanks a lot. However i doubt that i would be able to pay huge amounts of shipping charges.
I also wanted to ask you how to defferntiate between a melanistic and regular RTC. i recently bought a pure black 3 inch RTC, with a black body and black tail. However, it turned like a regular RTC only after a month, except for the tail part, which is still kind of dark.

Yeah, I imagine it wouldn't be easy to do on your own on many levels. I had looked into it in the very distant past and I'm unsure of actual shipping costs but there were requirements such as permits etc. and going through customs to check for invasive species, possible taxes, etc. It must be profitable if you import in decent numbers as there are people who act as transhippers at least in the U.S. But if you know of a local pet store you may be able to get them to bring in fish for you. I know both fugupuff Wes/Rare Fish and Rod/Predatory sell internationally and you can give your local LFS their contact info so you can special order.

As for melanism unfortunately many fish have the ability to adapt their coloration to match their environment to a degree and coloration can also be affected by stress so a unscrupulous seller can manipulate a fish's coloration. There are also unknown to me until as of recently other things sellers can do to induce unnatural coloration that may not last and often shortens a fish's life. You're kind of at the mercy of the seller which is why it pays to do you due diligence in looking into those you want to buy color morphs from. You're best bet is to try and source wild caught color morphs to hopefully get an actual legit heritable color expression. Melanism also doesn't have any distinctive traits like abinism other than the darkening of the animal. Most color morphs can only be proven out in time or by breeding and even the breeding may take more than one generation as the traits that determine color can be Dominant, Co-Dominant or Recessive. For instance Albinism is recessive so both parents must have the necessary gene to produce offspring that express albinism. So, say you breed an albino Rhamdia Quelen to a normal colored Quelen all the resultant offspring will be visually normal colored however they will be genetically heterozygous for albinism. So, if you breed the resultant offspring to each other their offspring will be visually albinos. You can determine offspring percentages by using Punnett squares as long as you know if the trait is Dominant, Co-Dominant or Recessive.

 

[koltsixx]

Another older pick up from Wes/ Rare Fish

Trying to see when Wes will get these guys in again