Albino... Less Healthy?

[Danny O]

Hello. First post...
Looking for info or opinions on health of albinos. More specifically, I am considering buying an albino pleco and was trying to find info on whether or not they are less healthy or likely to grow less than their pigmented relatives. Thanks in advance of your responses.

[Silurus]

This depends on the broodstock from which the albino came (i.e. whether or not the line has been severely inbred). However, I think most albinos out in the market are as healthy and grow as quick as the pigmented versions.

[anonymouse]

they may be a bit more sensitive to light than other fish, but water's natural ability to diffuse light should be enough to keep your albino fish happy and healthy

[Danny O]

Well, I raised the question because albino-ism (sp?) is really a genetic defect raising the possibility of other defects. Add inbreeding to preserve the albino trait and who knows what other defect-traits are preserved.
All the above aside, I went back to the store three times since the albino pleco I wanted to buy arrived. Today I went completely ready to purchase one, but two were dead in the tank. None of the pigmented plecos from the same shipment date were dead in their tanks. Just one case study, but it made me think.

[faith4ever]

Hi Danny, my parents have had an albino plec for almost three years and it is now approaching 7-8 inches in length. It has outlived all the community fish so far and is currently in demands for a bigger tank! It looks fantastic and i was going to take it off their hands for my own set up but they wouldn't part with it. So, if you can find a healthy specimen i can't see a problem. My concern would be why are there are dead fish in your local retailers tanks? i would question buying from them in the first place! Shop around!

[MatsP]

Well, I raised the question because albino-ism (sp?) is really a genetic defect raising the possibility of other defects. Add inbreeding to preserve the albino trait and who knows what other defect-traits are preserved.

Yes and no. Albinism is indeed a genetic "disorder" which is inherited by both parents carrying the "correct" genetic setup. And in itself, it's sign of likely inbreeding. However, if we for example take one albino male, and mate it with an albino female that has a completely different lineage (i.e. it has completely different parents and grandparents), then the only trait that is likely to "stick" is the albinism. It's a bit like coupling "blue eyes" with any genetic illness. If both parents have blue eyes the child will have blue eyes. If one parent has the genetic setup for diabetes, and the other has the same gene, the child may also get diabetes. But that doesn't mean that if this child (with diabetes) later on in life getting a child with another blue-eyed parent, that the diabetes will come through. That is a different gene, and it's not connected, and if both parents don't have that gene, the child will only carry the latent gene (so the next generation, given the right setup of other parent, will potentially get diabetes again).

[The above is a simple example, and I'm not saying it's just ONE gene that inherits albinism, it may take more than one gene for this to happen].

All the above aside, I went back to the store three times since the albino pl*co I wanted to buy arrived. Today I went completely ready to purchase one, but two were dead in the tank. None of the pigmented pl*cos from the same shipment date were dead in their tanks. Just one case study, but it made me think.

I think it's a wise move to find another shop. I'm sure there are albino pleco's in other shops too... They aren't that rare.

As to why the albino's were ill and the coloured ones weren't, is a completely different question. They may have been in a smaller bag, and got more ammonia poisoning during shipment, or the bag got colder/hotter than the bag with the coloured ones. Or ... the list goes on. It could of course be that they are weaker, it depends on what the breeder has been up to.

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Mats

[Danny O]

However, if we for example take one albino male, and mate it with an albino female that has a completely different lineage (i.e. it has completely different parents and grandparents), then the only trait that is likely to "stick" is the albinism.

I understand that. But what is the likelyhood that the parents are from different lines? Albinos occur naturally but with a frequency of only about one in several thousands. So they are being inbred to keep the albino trait. While I guess many tropical fish are inbred, it would be especially important for a breeder to inbreed the albinos (thereby increasing the likelyhood of carrying forth other defects or disorders).
I'm sure people have healthy albino fish, but I decided not to take the risk.

[MatsP]

Without knowing the breeder personally, you can't tell.

Intentional inbreeding causes problems with poor fry survival (as inherent bad health kill many of the fry before they are even sellable) so as a breeder, I would try to keep my fry as "un-inbred" as possible, as that would get better profits than in-bred fry.

And yes, to get that first albino male and female pair, you need to do some inbreeding (or at least, that's a good way of improving the chances of getting an albino form). However, the albina pair that you breed more albino's from should preferrably come from a different line, so that any other bad traits are bred-out again. This will produce healthy off-spring with little of the original inbred traits, whilst still getting true albino's.

If you consider that one female common pleco can lay thousands of eggs, it wouldn't take that long in breeding terms to get an albino. Once you got a few, go talk to your breeder friend and swap some albinos for some other albinos, making sure that none of your males mate with any of your females, and the other way around.

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Mats