June-2019 mixed of all
This one of the most important mutation from our first cross breeding from albino orange and black Moscow. the first batch gave us the first generation of Transnow, but this mutated male serve the purpose as starting male of all other four lines.
This male has metal blue body with rainbow connection between the tale and body along with a very outstanding red spot. top fin was somehow white with black strips.the tail is mainly transparent with light white and green/yellow in the center, orange around the edge and black spots at the end.
Even though we used it for four new lines with a lot of modifications, but we still can get some throw back or new mutations from batches now days.
March-2020 black spots of Transnow
This is very interesting mutation happened during early days of Transnow, it looks very similar as Transnow expect black spots on the spike edge tail with more brown body.
We think the black spots should from one of the original pair’s recessive gene got reactivated during the cross breeding, but we did not rule out the possibility of mutation.
We did not try to keep this type to cross breeding with Transnow, but gave up due to the overall aesthetic line selection.
We still get a few throwback or new mutation from current Transnow batches !
Jun-2021 Leopard or Tiger stripe of BlueLazuli
We lost the black Moscow almost at the first batch when cross with albino orange, but we really like to have a solid dark blue color line (BlueLazuli). Also to strengthen the lines with different genes , we brought another black Moscow to breed with a solid light metal blue line, this is one of very beautiful mutation we got.
We tried to create and enhance this as a new line, we tried for almost two years and with 4-5 generation and failed since the body color and the spot patterns are so hard to stabilize.
We still get this type of mutation with different characters on each individuals in our BlueLazuli line.
Feb-2022 Orange Transnow
We got some orange with black eyes right after the first cross between albino orange and black Moscow, but this orange version is from later matured Transnow cross with a red Moscow line. we try to create a new bright orange with metal like body and white top fin (BrightPoppy).
This is very much like Transnow but with all the white color replaced by orange.
We decided not to establish this as a new line, but this should be very easy to stabilize with certain enhancements you design to add.
Nov-2022 the purple BlueLazuli
This is a purple version when we tried to cross the red Moscow with our new BlueLazuli, nothing really good came out from the cross breed as red met blue. Most of fish somehow with a feel of dirty. Purple might be the best result but we never get really clean representation.
we still get some individuals like this one from our BirghtPoppy line. They all somehow got black strips on the tail and they grow in really large size, We got a monster male which grow more than 3 inches.
March-2023 White spot of SkySilk
We got this mutation when we cross BlueLazuliwith Transnow and resulted in a new line called SkySilk .
This is interesting character to see white spot on blue tail, we may want to continue enhance the white spot to cover more on the tail more like a Cobalt leopard.
May 2024 mutation notes
In every batch, I always get some very similar “mutations” ex: the orange version of Transnow. I put quate to quate for word “mutation” is because technically, those should not be mutations, they should be throw back to original source of genes. but the reason I still call them mutations is due to the comparison of original fish, they were not completely throw back to original fish. for example, the orange version of transnow is nothing like the albino orange, not just they are not albino, but the color pattern and details are also different.
the majority of male display color and pattern should come from male side but not always, Transnow is basically the albino take out the black color from black moscow, but still some male may take the orange color gene from the albino orange, and carry through the strain.
I did culling batches for breeding, although I picked only the one which trend to the strain I would like to create, even in the late time of strain process, for example for Transnow, in the 6 to 7 generation of stabled transnow line, I still got one or two completely orange version. either the display color gene can be hidden and enactive in a certain chance or female may carry as hidden all the time .
I have all the strains I worked on have such “mutations” , I will introduce them in each line mutation section later. this type of mutation may have small difference in each batch but majority of characters are the same.
When the strain gets more matured, if we do not introduce new blood into the strain, such mutation will be less due to selective and close breeding, but as the strain may get weaker , and generical flaws may start appearing more.
The second type of mutation is completely random, normally represented in the patterns. it feels like you pour milk into coffee, the cloudy pattern in the milk is different every time no matter how consistent you operate.
This type of mutation is very unstable, sometimes the pattern appears really unique and beautiful, but there is no way I can stabilize it and make it as a strain.
The third type of mutation is very useful to create a new strain, basically, I can find new characters (color, pattern & shape) which I can stabilized them into a new creation of strain. For example, the orange radial pattern of spots in GreenRadial stain or the black spots in BrightPoppy as seeds in flower. They normally appear in small scale or single spot , but I knew they are solid and can be enhanced later.
it is not always true a repeated pattern mutation can be used to stabilized into a strain. The compatible of two genes is also important, I had a black guppy with big white spot in the middle of tail, looks like dark sky with a white moon, very beautiful fish ,and I used this male to breed with three females , but unfortunately, I did not get single fish from offspring looks like it.
The fourth type of mutations is related generical flaws, I got a black fish suddenly with the first half body became white, I also introduced born with deformed body guppies, most of fishes from this type of mutation have weak body and can not live very long, definitely I will not use those fish for strain creation.
actually albino should belong to this category , albino fish has weaker gene and easy to get disease , their body and tail are delicate. but since most of albino can still live healthy and decent life span as normal fish, so we still keep as a strain.
other examples like spit tail, sword tail , double ear, bloom body etc..
Strain creation should be a process of selective breeding and continues enhancements, from generation to generation to stabilize the characters of your strain creation.
I barely used any mutations in my strain creation programs since mutation can carry many unstable characters which I do not know what going to come out and even I got a individual which I really like , I also do not know how to stabilize it. I always use stabilized fish to cross breed to start new strain creation so I knew what I really work with.
Mutations are fun to work with as each individual is unique and one of the kind in the world. A lot of time I feel unfortune and pity such fish can not be reproduced and continue , and chance to have it again from mutation might be very small and always not going to be exactly the same. but I think that is what mutation mean to be.
May-2024 Mutation Tank update
I normally keep two types of mutations along with the strain male only tank , the throw backs or missing characters , most of them do look like the stain but just lack or different in the display characters. In the establishing strain of a 50 offspring batch, I will normally have about 10 mutations in which 7-8 are in this category. These fish will never be used for strain breeding unless I want to alter the strain towards some of the mutation’s character.
There is about 1 to 2 true mutations (looks totally different from the strain) In each batch, I put them in a special mutation male raising tank where I can observe them closely , they are very unique fish and normally they grow out to be totally different than any strain adults. I tried many times to use such male fish to stabilize the character to make into a strain. but have not got any success yet. The breed normally just throw back to the strain which this mutation came from, or something more different but not a single one which stabilized mutated character in the male as I want to create a strain with. I will keep trying, some of the mutations were really beautiful and unique which I really would like to share with the hobby rather than one of the kind in the world once it existed.
For solid color strain (transnow, bright poppy, bluelazuri and skysilk), there are two type of common mutations, tail with patterned spots or stripes or random cloudy wave like color cross the tail. I normally put them into my large mutation male raising tank,
female mutations are rare also even they carry different gene , it is hard to tell from the look of the female. I do have a large female only display tank, but mainly to overflow from a strain.
May – 2024 BrightPoppy mutation update
There are mainly three mutations going on with BrightPoppy strain.
The first is light color version , body color is light blue and white. orange color has been faded away on the edge of the tail, the entire dorsal fin is white compare with most of part in orange but shaded with white in BrightPoppy, and over all, color is fading with transparent feeling similar to the white in Transnow. Black Sports has a few left. on the edge of the tail.
BrightPoppy did has certain blood carried on from Transnow when I started creating the strain, This might enhanced with the white gene in BrightPoppy.
Another mutation towards the opposite direction to push the fish in dark blue/black color. basically the whole body is almost black, with some potion of dorsal fin and tail show black as well. Black color in also in BrightPoppy strain, and that is where the black spots used for, also, the BrightPoppy lower body should be in deep blue/black , but more metal feeling.
I think this is the enhance of using dark black female in the breeding and black color just got enhanced
The last common seeing mutation is more around the pattern of the tail with tiger stripes instead of spots, the black color did impact over all color of the fish as well.
This is very interesting as this mutation should be a stable gene which I can continue to create a tiger stripe tail strain, I am not sure how other breeder create the leopard or tiger stripe guppy strain, but for me, I think it starts from small black spots and some how spots can be formed only in certain part of tail to form and patterned stripe, which confirm the spots in BrightPoppy might not be random as well.
I did not use any of these mutations in strain creation, BrightPoppy is establishing strain, but I still get certain number of each mutations from every batch.
The last mutation might be the only one I would like to continue to create a strain if I can get orange and stripes on dorsal fin and body
May – 2024 BlueLazuli mutation update
BlueLazuli is solid color fish in strain establishing. the source of pair did have pattern and spots with blue and possible orange color. I try to make sure those genes can be wiped or deeply hidden so I did not see it from BlueLazuli from selective breeding. but in each batch there is no surprise we will see some of the pattern and color showed up in some individuals.
For a solid color fish, it is every normal to see the solid color shows as waved color (dark and light crosses) , this is random and color is no longer solid, also seems transparent and faded.
and I also got some individuals lost a large portion of color or color has been mutated to light blue with certain part still remain dark blue. as the second picture showed, I do not think those are patterned stripes, those should be random while deep blue color faded or changed to light blue.
One of the mutation I do think is worth of continuing as showed in the third picture which solid color mutated to patterned stripes or spots. on the edge of the tail which became transparent and add black segments.
I did not use any of the these mutations for breeding , so all of them are directly from selective breeding from BlueLazuli, the further of the strain breeding, for BlueLazuli , it should be at 8th generation, I still see such mutations in a very different way. It is amazing how the gene plays under the selective breeding and the throw backs or mutations gave one of the kind fish in the world.
May – 2024 GreenRadial mutation update
For a pattern or spotted strain, it has less mutation concerns but more throw backs or weaken and missing in the full body and tail pattern.
From strain development point of view, we started with small area spot or partial pattern then selective breed to enhance the partial to cover the whole tail and even towards the body. so from breeding even the selective males is already full patterned, but the batch is always going to get some throw backs or missing pattern individuals.
This will happen in a U shape ratio. when first established the strain , we will get 20 to even 30 male individuals in each batch with partial or missing patterns, then this number reduced to 2 or 3 during the continues selective breeding to stabilized the strain, then when this strain has been going for 4-5 generation of close breeding without introduce new blood, such number will start increasing and normally introduce some new blood will also increase the missing pattern ratio just like start from strain establish at the beginning.
The three pictures showed three different individuals to represent this partial and missing pattern issues, the first one still has full radial orange from GreenRadial, but all the dark blue and black stripes has been faded into transparent gray.
The second one even impact the body color and orange spots is also missing big portion toward the lower tail,
The third one is similar to the first one, but it gets worse as body color has changed to gray and tail has became solid color with orange spots.
All of these fish will be culling into mutation display tank and not be used in any breeding process
May – 2024 Transnow and Skysilk mutation update
Transnow is the earliest strain I created, in the progress to stabilize the strain, there are many mutations, tail with gray color, tail with black spots, etc..
The pictures showed two very common but represent typical mutation processes
The first mutation , this individual basically lost a orange spots and the orange in the center of the tail. In Transnow strain creation notes, I discussed about how this orange spots got into the line. It is still a mystery, and I was thinking this is from wild guppy. but looks like this gene can be wiped off from breeding, that just got this mystery more interesting, if this can be wiped then how come Transnow which sources were from black Moscow and orange albino solid color fish to carry and pass this type of gene into Transnow?
I never use this male to breed to see if I can have the orange spot back to the offsprings, maybe I should do some batches to see the result, if the spot comes back, then it might be some triggers in the breeding to make it hidden and reappear or it might have something to do with the female?
Another version of mutation is the orange version of Transnow, which I do expected such fish, this is basically from the orange albino, although I did not start with orange albino male, but I think female also plays some roles to bring the orange gene into the Transnow male.
From this mutation, I can see all the white part has been replaced by orange, the center tail yellow also disappeared but leave transparent, and orange spot remains also enhanced in color and size.
This type of mutation is also very stable, I used this to breed 2 batches with Transnow’s female, and I got pretty much 80% of orange version Transnow already.
The last picture showed two males which have random patterns from SkySilk strain. very similar to BlueLazuri strain mutation. So far I have not got any SkySilk mutation which has patterned spots or stripes.
May – 2024 Pattern vs Random mutation update
After I worked with guppy to create and stabilize some new strains, I found out solid color fish will start developing spots, I started with two solid color fish which have been captive breed from many generations. but Guppy fish from wild is a spotted fish and this type of gene is very hard to be wiped and certain breeding condition will trigger it comes back,
most of time , the spots started around mid of tail and normally patterned with solid color, such mutation is something I can work with if I would like to introduce spotted or striped fish.
some of fish may show random spot or stripe with faded color, and those spots are normally showing on very unusual place such as dorsal fin, upper portion of tail, edge of tail and even belly and stomach. I called them random mutation, and difficult or not possible to work with. I used to have a Transnow with big black circle which I really like the fish, but I knew such mutation can not be worked on, and turned out to be nothing I can stabilize after 3 batches try.
There are some observation about the mutations to share
1. Patterned fish with spots or stripes have less mutation in color and pattern, but mainly degeneration on the full tail pattern. and it will be supper hard to have spots and stripes to cover on body .
2. Solid color fish tend to have many forms of mutations from changing color to showing up spots. And such mutations are easy to happen during all the stages of strain development.
3. Solid color fish with embellishment spots is the hardest to work with, strains like BrightPoppy, solid orange fish with small black spots like seeds of Poppy follow. I need to try not to enhanced spots to become stripes also prevent spots from fading away.
May – 2024 Mutation may consider to create strain
During many years of strain creation and saw hundreds of mutations, most of them were consider degeneration of the current strains and culling out from strain breeding. Some of them are unique and one of kind beautiful fish, but not able to work with to establish a strain.
I also said many times before, to start a strain development, we should start with a stable pair to cross to develop towards the fish as you preferred to create. Started from mutation has big risk even you think such fish has stabled genes to work with. and many times I tried before all failed. But I still encountered the 4 mutations showed on the right I can not resist to see if I can copy and paste or even make it more beautiful.
The first mutation is from BrightPoppy, but this one has black color showed on lower part with golden orange on the head and pectoral fin. the black color also shows as big circle area on the tail and dorsal fins, this reminder me the red panda which imply me to create a strain to called red panda guppy. I only have one individual male, I paired him with some secret females who have half orange half brown body. if I am able to continue with next generation, I would like to see if I can enhance the black area on the tail to make it as ring of black just like the Red panda’s tail.