Discoloured Yellow Lab

[gaz guildford]

can anyone please tell me why my yellow lab is going from yellow to black please?

 

[Druchii]

can anyone please tell me why my yellow lab is going from yellow to black please?

unfortunately the main reason behind this change in colour is the genetics of the fish.

The black from what i have read and seen first hand is as a direct result of inbreeding somewhere within the history of the yellow labs fishes family tree.. other in bred fish have things like broken stripes on wrong number of stripes, labs simply have black beards or bits 'under their skin'

The fish as a juvenile will not show this colouration, it only happens as the fish matures.

if i can use this as an example, if you saw the parents of this fish you would probably see a similar look from the parents (certainly the male anyway) and then have the luxury of if you don't like it to say no.

in a tank in a shop you would not be able to easily tell the genetic linerage of the fish in question.

I hope that helps..

 

[gaz guildford]

hi ok thanks for that im not particually annoyed about it i was more worried as long as he is healthy i will look after him is this why wild caught malawis are so much more exspensive?

 

[Cheffi]

Agree with Dru on this one..genetics. I also had a very poor lab male who was even worse than yours. He's now left the building

 

[Ferris]

hi ok thanks for that im not particually annoyed about it i was more worried as long as he is healthy i will look after him is this why wild caught malawis are so much more exspensive?

Partly, but the main reason is far more practical. It is simply a lot more expensive to catch and transport fish from Lake Malawi than it is to breed them en masse in a fish farm in Thailand or similar. Plus the fact that people will pay more for the "exotic" sounding wild-caught....human nature.