Diamond Cardinal Tetra

[bidsyboy]

Hi there i have just bought new fish for my communtiy tank. I bought 2 clown loaches 2 male leapord skin guppies 4 female guppies and 13 cardinal tetras. I bought these at the pet shop in gorgie road edinburgh. After bringing them home and releasing them i noticed one of the cardinal tetras had a silverish blotch on its side. I phoned the pet shop up and they said that they were recieving "Diamond Cardinal tetras and they were worth a bit extra so i got a bargain" is this true

 

[The-Wolf]

I've never heard of diamond cardinals; however there is a colour morph of the neon tetra called a diamond head neon.
this has been selectivly bred so the neon blue line is mainly on the head (rather than running the length of the body), and often apears as a diamond shap when thefish is viewed face on.

 

[jimbooo]

sounds like a fob off to me. are you sure it isn't a scale that has come away from the fish, this can happen if they scratch them selves and it catches the light looking silver.

 

[bidsyboy]

its scales are fully intact i just checked with magnifying glass i think it might be something to do with the guanin crystal producing color or selective breeding

 

[jimbooo]

its scales are fully intact i just checked with magnifying glass i think it might be something to do with the guanin crystal producing color or selective breeding

thanks bidsyboy, just googled it. never heard of guanin crystals until now

interesting reading

 

[beta 1991]

It could be a different birth "defect"(more of a new color different from its parents)

 

[bidsyboy]

I think that is comical what just happened there . A newbie teaching the leader of fishes something new lol :stupid:

 

[Lateral Line]

I posted a very simplified "pigment cell classification" for fish in this thread. I had a much longer piece about pigmentation, and how the various cell types worked, but I can't find it now?

The lfs's explanation sounds like a fob to me as well. I'd go down there and check to see if they have a tank full of the "diamond" cardinals somewhere.