Leucistic or white Fishers Woodcat

[mkinsella]

I've bred some Fishers Woodcats and this is my first attempt. I have 7 fry survived and looking healthy. My heater stopped working in the fry tank when they were hatching and I think that affected the hatch rate. Anyway, I have one that is white, not albino as it has black eyes and 2 or 3 tiny black spots on it's back but the rest is pure white and stands out vividly compared to the others, even the lighter colored ones. Has anyone seen this before? I know in most other species it's a common color morph but I've searched a lot and can't find any mention or photos online of this color or type in Fishers Woodcat. If it's super rare I'll work on the strain.

[Catfish-ologist]

Color forms of wood-cats are rare I might have seen 6 images in my life never fishers. May I ask how old these fry are because sometimes I have Tatia intermedia in a batch that stays clear/white until it is a month old while its siblings gain color in a week. By the way albino specimens in other species are quite rare and can sometimes take expert breeders decades to do enough selective breeding to produce them in mass quantities. Woodcats have been imported thousand's of times and very few albino/color-morph specimens have ever come in and they have sold for hundreds!

[mkinsella]

They are about a month old now. Just went and checked my notes in my calendar, it's 4 weeks exactly since hatching.

[mkinsella]

I'm having trouble uploading photos here from my phone but I have a couple of photos and a video on my insta
http://instagram.com/hilltopaquariumfish

[Catfish-ologist]

Interesting! I can't tell you exactly for sure and I am no expert, but the fish sure dosen't look like its siblings. Only time will tell. Fingers crossed that this is a unique fish and that you can work with the strain.

[mkinsella]

Thanks for your replies. If they'd bred in another tank with other fish or I'd mixed fry for rearing, I'd be convinced it wasn't a Fishers Woodcat but I placed the female alone in this tank to lay her eggs and removed her after they were layed. So I know 100% what it is and hopefully it will keep it's color and survive. So far it looks one of the largest and healthiest from the batch, so I'm hopeful.

[bekateen]

I'm having trouble uploading photos here from my phone but I have a couple of photos and a video on my insta
http://instagram.com/hilltopaquariumfish

Looking at this photo, I suspect the fish will color up normally over time, or close to it. A few years ago I started keeping Trachelyichthys exilis. One was almost yellow (
here), but with a few black accent spots on the body. As it grew, I couldn't tell it apart from the others.

Good luck with yours.

Cheers, Eric

[mkinsella]

It will be interesting to see how it develops. I've seen in other fish I've spawned what seems like a different pattern or color just disappears over time. This time it seems so very different though. It's not easy to see from my photos but it's pure white and even translucent or devoid of any color in places, like a completely different fish to it's siblings, which is what got me excited. I will wait a few more weeks to see how it develops.

[Jools]

I thought it might help if I added the image.

Jools

[mkinsella]

Thanks Jools. I should dig my laptop out so I can upload more photos here but I rarely use it these days, I just use my phone. I have just posted some more photos on Instagram now that I took today and there's another video I posted a couple of days ago. It's been about a week since I first posted about this and she/he is still looking as white and growing nicely.

[mkinsella]

Update: Almost 2 weeks since last update and she/he has almost doubled in size and is still looking just as white. I've posted some more photos on my insta. I've tried again to upload photos here but I just can't get it to work on my phone. I'm gradually feeling more confident it will stay white.
http://instagram.com/hilltopaquariumfish

[bekateen]

Hi @mkinsella.

Any more recent updates?

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

I hope it's OK, but I uploaded the new picture here for you. You can upload from a phone, but if it's an iPhone the process is a little complicated. I too would be interested in an update and also pics of the parents?

Cheers,


Jools

[mkinsella]

Sorry it's been a while but just wanted to update and let everyone know she didn't grow out of her white colour as some predicted.

I think I've managed to figure out attaching images now, so you'll be able to see below. The pictures don't do her justice, she's stunning and when the light catches her she also has a kind of green/blue shimmer in places.

She's also the largest from that batch of fry and super friendly and always at the front of the glass, unlike her parents who are shy, unless it's feeding time.

I'm trying to breed her now and I have collected eggs twice but not managed to get fry yet. I'm going to have another go when I return from a trip at the end of this month.

[bekateen]

Very interesting! Good luck!

Cheers, Eric

[Catfish-ologist]

Beautiful fish! Hopefully you can set the strain. I have a handful of Duringlanis romani that are leucistic as well and look almost identical in coloration to this fish! Good luck!

[mkinsella]

Thanks. I'm struggling for space at the moment but I'm trying. The difficulty I'm having is the tank she's in, the other fish will eat the eggs. What I've done in the past is move a female to another tank to lay her eggs. The trouble is getting that timing right because they can tend to just drop eggs early if they are stressed. Also they drop A LOT of eggs and it only takes a small percentage of bad eggs to foul the water if that tank is too small or filtration not up to the job. What would be ideal is to keep her in a bigger tank alone but I don't have the space for that right now unfortunately.

Edit: What I should've also added is if anyone has any advice or tips on egg and fry care of these woodcats so I can attempt to progress this strain I'd be really grateful.