Flying fox...

[MissD]

Hi all,

I was just curious here as I'd never seen this before.

I've currently got 4 flying foxes in my 25 gallon aquarium. There's nothing wrong with any of them, but one of the 4 has a completely white head. It's not a fungus or anything, just the colouring, and I was wondering if anyone had seen this before? Is it something to do with gender or something, or do I just have a "special" fish?

I can try and get some pictures if you want, but I don't know how long it'll take...it's a heavily planted tank, and s/he is incredibly fast and very good at getting in things...




Edit: I can't spell.

 

[WILDER]

Been looking up on them and they don't seem to have a white head, even in breeding, can you describe it abit more, does it look like a pale discolouration,

 

[LoachLover]

Never seen that before, and like Wilder said, can't find any info on it.

 

[MissD]

It just looks like discolouration.

Here's some of pictures I managed to get. You can see him next to a regular coloured one in a couple of them.

Any ideas? I'm not bothered about it - as I said, just curious.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I've found a link witha pic on pandoras aquarium site, but unfortunatly i can't find anymore info on it;

http/www.fishpalace.org/infection_natali...and@aol.com.jpg

As far as i know, this kind of thing is asociated with scar tissue after a stressful or traumatic event...

 

[MissD]

I've found a link witha pic on pandoras aquarium site, but unfortunatly i can't find anymore info on it;

http/www.fishpalace.org/infection_natali...and@aol.com.jpg

As far as i know, this kind of thing is asociated with scar tissue after a stressful or traumatic event...

It really doesn't look like that at all. It just looks like it's supposed to be that way. That's not to say it hasn't been through stress though - it did come from WalMart

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Has the flying fox always been like this or is it a recent thing?

 

[MissD]

Always been like it. I asked for two when I bought it but the guy had three in the net, so I told him just to bag them all rather than cause them more stress trying to get one back out of the net.

 

[WILDER]

How long have you had him as it could be stress related.

 

[MissD]

I've had him and two of the others for a month now. He's the only one with this weird colour thing, but he had it in the shop too...weird.

 

[WILDER]

Not stress then, does he flick and rub on objects.

 

[Synirr]

Looks like it's a natural discolouration; the fish is part lutino. It's entirely possible for an animal to be only partially albino/lutino
My local Walmart has a tank full of those guys, and every single one of them has blotches of pink/white. I'm guessing it's something that showed up in some spawns at Walmart's supplier, so a lot of Walmarts will probably be getting fish like that in. Are you sure it's a true flying fox, though? The ones at my Walmart are SAEs...

Edit: They may lose the rest of their colour as they age as well...

 

[WILDER]

Just keep an eye on him, that's all really you can do, it might be just coluration same as you say.

 

[MissD]

Wilder - he doesn't flick or rub on anything, nope...just sucks himself to it

Synirr - I'm not 100% sure he's a flying fox, no...I just kinda assumed that that's what he was based on what I'd seen before and pictures I found on the internet. I could be wrong. Either way, he's the same breed as the other 3 I have as they were all shipped in and in the same tanks together, just white.

Maybe he's just special

 

[Synirr]

Synirr - I'm not 100% sure he's a flying fox, no...I just kinda assumed that that's what he was based on what I'd seen before and pictures I found on the internet. I could be wrong. Either way, he's the same breed as the other 3 I have as they were all shipped in and in the same tanks together, just white.

Maybe he's just special

He's probably a Siamese algae eater rather than a flying fox... I only say that because SAEs are a lot more common and my Walmart has never once had a true flying fox . The two species do look pretty similar though; I'm sure I couldn't tell one from the other