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breeding melanistic and non-melanistic Fundulus chrysotus

Started by Guest_marcr_* , Oct 17 2014 02:21 PM

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4 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_marcr_*

Guests

Posted 17 October 2014 - 02:21 PM

Hi all!

first short intro: my name's Marc and I'm from Germany, I've been to the U.S. several times and was always looking for some of the native fish (especially Fundulus).
Unfortunately the regulations both for export from U.S. and import to Europe are not manageable for a "normal" person...
Luckily a german dealer was able to import a few fishes that are now looking for a hopefully happy future as aliens in europe :D/

...

the bad thing is now - I have a group of 8 male Fundulus chrysotus plus 4 female melanistic chrysotus. And there is no chance to get either melanistic or normally colored chrysotus males resp. females at the moment. I don't want to wait for the next import because it is not clear if it will happen next year.
I would really like to keep these fish for a longer time and try to the breeding.

So far I was not able to find any information about breeding chrysotus in this mixed setup.
I understand that the melanism is "just" some sort of minor genetical abberation - so the fish should reproduce without problems, correct??
What will happen if both color-forms are mixing - will the melanism get lost ?

I am looking forward to any hint or advice!!

best regards

Marc

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#2 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 17 October 2014 - 05:30 PM

So I can answer the one part form my experience. Yes, the normal coloration and the melanistic individuals will recognize each other and successfully breed.

I was not able to grow a population, so I cannot say about how much the melanistic trait will get "lost". I will leave that to others you have been more successful breeding successive generations.

The only thing that I will add, is that my experience with F. chysotus has been that the males are not tolerant of other males (depending on the size of the tank and the cover available). So I would be very careful about the male to female ration that you used when housing these fish together.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#3 Guest_don212_*

Guests

Posted 17 October 2014 - 08:37 PM

they will eat their eggs/fry use amop, switch out females in couple days fundulus love can be tough

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#4 Guest_marcr_*

Guests

Posted 18 October 2014 - 07:45 AM

thanks for the replies!

At the moment I'm keeping them all in one tank with lots of plants and there are just short huntings between the males.
For breeding I'm planning to give one male / two females a tank on its own, putting back the parents after spawning.
Hopefully I can establish a stable population and bring these beautiful fish to more attention here in Germany...

Marc

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#5 Guest_Sunfish catcher 321_*

Guests

Posted 21 October 2014 - 11:15 AM

I think melanistic color is a resesive trait so it will be carried on in the children and if they breed with a fish that also carries the gene can result in a melanistic fish