Albino Aeneus vs Albino Sterbai

[Teelie]

Looking at the albino color morph of the sterbai, I noticed it looks a lot like an albino aeneus.

So how do you tell the difference in these two in their albino color? I have 3 albino aeneus, though now I'm wondering if at least one is a sterbai and the other(s) aeneus. If so, it would explain why my male won't fertilize my females eggs.

 

[The-Wolf]

if you look closely the starbai has a metalic like sheen to it.

 

[Teelie]

The albino aeneus on Planetcatfish looks like it has more of a sheen than the sterbai does though. Is there any physical difference to them? Something independent of the lighting source?

 

[parker313]

There's also an albino color morph of the peppered cory c. paleatus...

I looked at pics and couldn't really tell any difference b/n the albino aeneus and paleatus, but somewhere I read that the albino paleatus was pretty rare so I'm just going with the assumption that I have an aeneus!

 

[Teelie]

I know for sure mine are either aeneus or sterbai as I have Peppered Cories in there as well to compare against.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Teelie

Here is another picture of the albino sterbai:

http/www.scotcat.com/photo_gallery_page.html

I've never seen an actual albino sterbai, but every picture I've seen shows a good amount of yellow on it, especially in the fins. Unless the albino sterbai are common in your area, I doubt that they could have been mixed up at the lfs.

Are your fish spawning but just infertile? If you are sure you have two females and one male, you might try getting one or two more males. The larger the school, the greater your chances for a successful spawning.

I've seen it happen with my C. aeneus that after conditioning them and a good water change, one female will spawn the next morning, with all the males chasing her and another will spawn the following morning with all the males participating. In fact, with my bronze, I've had this happen 3 days running, which resulted in a huge batch of fry.

Two males to a female will also result in a higher percentage of fertile eggs too.

 

[parker313]

Inchworm - thanks for that link! I could really tell a difference b/n the paleatus and aeneus as far as dorsal fin shape

 

[Teelie]

It could be just that there aren't enough males. I know for sure there is two females and one male, but at the same time, I am wanting to expand on what I have. I may end up just getting 3 or 4 normal Bronze and seeing what happens then.