Gold danio with barbels?

[SOBERKITTY]

Okay really weird. But my very gorgeous gold long fined danio has wiskers. I knew you guys wouldn't believe me so I got a picture. None of my other Danios have them and it's almost like a little fish foo man choo!

[Richard B]

danios do have whiskers - they're often hard to see but they're there - they are often best seen in photos in commercial literature where there are great close-ups

[SOBERKITTY]

So is it male and females that have them? I've had a few before. 5 now and this is the first time I've seen them.

[MatsP]

I believe both males and females have them. They may be bigger/more noticable on one sex than the other. Otherwise, I think "body shape" is the best way to sex these little creatures - females have a bigger belly.

--
Mats

[Marc van Arc]

I believe both males and females have them.

Correct. Danios have them; Devarios don't.
Check http://www.danios.info

[SOBERKITTY]

thanks, guys.
I wish i'd gotten a better picture w/ the fin more spread. they are beautiful.

[apistomaster]

The common name problem arises again.
This fish is an albino long fin Zebra Danio, Brachydanio rerio

Usually, the black eyed xanthanistic variety of the Pearl Danio, Brachydanio albolineatus is referred to as the Gold Danio.

In any case, they both have whiskers and the females are fatter and generally larger than the slender males.

[SOBERKITTY]

from a genetics standpoint a true albino should have no color pigment at all. It is a double resessive gene. Meaning that more then 50% of the genetic material has to pressent in both parents. So how is my gold danio an albino?

[Mike_Noren]

No, that's a misunderstanding. Albinism runs the full gamut from "weakly pigmented" to "no pigmentation at all". There is a great many steps in the production of melanin, and any one of those steps may be faulty, leading to differing degrees of albinism. Also the error may be conditional, so that melanin is produced but at a reduced level, or precursors are produced, or melanin is produced in some parts of the fish but not others, etc etc etc. Fish also have other pigments than melanin, various carotenes responsible for yellow and red pigmentation.

[Marc van Arc]

So how is my gold danio an albino?

Hi Kitty,
Imo the main issue in Apistomaster's reply (hence his remark about common names) is that your fish isn't a gold danio but a zebra danio, which is correct. I take it you've been provided with the wrong common name.

[Suckermouth]

Around here I'm pretty sure all the "gold danio"s are the albino zebra danios. I have actually never seen the gold form of the pearl danio.

Plus, albinism isn't a complete loss of all pigments, it's a partial or total loss of the pigment melanin, which in zebra danios is present in the dark stripes as well as in the eyes. Thus the albino danio still produces not only the yellow pigment, but also the reflective guanine that makes its stripes shiny.

[SOBERKITTY]

No that was me being an artificial blond. I know it's a zebra variation, according to some articles i've read leopard,golden, zebra, blue, ect are all color variations of the same fish. Kinda like 3 different colors of cocker spaniel. Any opinion on this? And I have two of them and after looking at both of them, I can see how one of them could be considered Albino. He has much less color then the other. That and I'm begining to think he is very ill. He will only eat a bit of food. Mostly frozen blood worms. And once the fish has voided a day or so later the stomach is quite sunken. Can fish get a stomach parasite?

[MatsP]

Fish can very much get intestinal parasites. Medicating against them can be quite difficult.

--
Mats

[SOBERKITTY]

Is that what this sounds like? If so I may need to get a "hospital tank" and put him in it.