Question: Axolotl Pure/Inbreeds

Hi there,

I am doing a lot of research on Axolotl, mainly because they are not very populair in my country
I'm however very interrested in some more difficult scientific explanation about breeding Axolotl
If anyone could give me good information I would very much appreciate the efford of trying to explain this to me

On to the question
It's said that Axolotl in captivity are unpure, inbreed, and genetically very different from the wild
I can understand that the climate, food, water etc. can make a huge difference over time in an animals genes
However isn't it harsh to say that they are inbreed?
Because in my understanding that means brother+sister

Also I was wondering
If I understood it right then a leucistic one could have the albino gene laying doormant in his genepool
So when 2 leucistics both recessive for albino should make baby's, they could get albino's right?

Bottom line, could anyone explain this thoroughly to me in as simple english as possible?
I'm trying to learn from the internet but I can't get the picture complete in my head

I want to get into breeding here, and it would be nice to understand what I'm doing genetically and colourwise

Here are some examples to see if I got it:

- A leucistic female has the following parents > White Albino / White Leucistic
She mates with a leucistic male from other parents, those parents > wildtype / white leucistic

They may get: few wild ones / many white leucistic and maybe some albino's?

Or do I understand correctly that in this case the wildtype should already be dominant and there can't be a leucistic male from that?

Please some info

Many of the color varieties in axolotls have come to existance because people have bred siblings to each other, or back to their parents. So yes, they're fairly inbred.

If two leucistics are both recessive for albino, 25% of their offspring will be albino. There will be no wildtypes. All of the babies will be white in some form, whether leucistic or albino. Wildtype is a dominant gene; it cannot 'lay dormant'. Two wildtypes can have leucistic babies, as leucism is a recessive trait.

Kaysie said:

Many of the color varieties in axolotls have come to existance because people have bred siblings to each other, or back to their parents. So yes, they're fairly inbred.

If two leucistics are both recessive for albino, 25% of their offspring will be albino. There will be no wildtypes. All of the babies will be white in some form, whether leucistic or albino. Wildtype is a dominant gene; it cannot 'lay dormant'. Two wildtypes can have leucistic babies, as leucism is a recessive trait.

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Thats very usefull and understandable thank you

so it's basically just like red hair and freckles?

Then how about black melanoids and goldens? are they human-made?

Icarez said:

Thats very usefull and understandable thank you

so it's basically just like red hair and freckles?

Then how about black melanoids and goldens? are they human-made?

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Yes, it's like red hair. Recessive.

Melanoid and golden are not exactly human-made. The mutations occurred by chance during the time that axolotls were cultivated in captivity. They were not really "made" they just happened, and then humans propagated them. In order to propagate a new mutation, it is necessary to inbreed.

The GFP mutant is the only mutant in the hobby that is truly "human made". It is a gene that was artificially inserted into the genes of one embryo, then propagated.

Allright

Is there any data on crossbreeding colors and what kind of color larvea they get?
I'm trying to get a clear view of all combinations possible

Like for instance could 2 wildtype parents have melanoids among the offspring?
And so on, 2 white albino's, 1 leucistic and 1 wildtype..

This page will answer some of your questions.

But really, it's impossible to tell what color the offspring are going to be with 100% certainty unless you know the genotype of the parent, or what genes they're carrying.

Two wildtype parents could have melanoid offspring, as long as both parents are carrying the recessive melanoid gene.

Two white albinos will have only white albino offspring, as white (which is the same as leucistic) and albino are both recessive traits. They would never have non-albino or golden albino offspring, but they could have melanoid albinos, as well as non-melanoid white albinos.

One leucistic and one wildtype could give you a huge variety of color types, depending on what genes they carry. If both parents are recessive for albino, 25% of the offspring would be albino. If the wildtype is recessive for leucism, 50% of the offspring would be leucistic. If the wildtype is dominant in all genes, all the offspring will be wildtype. If both are recessive for melanoid, you could have melanoid offspring.

Again, it's really impossible to tell without knowing what genes they have. And the only way to find that out is through multiple breedings, or by knowing what the phenotype (or color) of the grandparents and their grandparents are. Knowing multiple generations of parents will help determine the color of the offspring.

Here's an example. I had a melanoid male (he was purple-ish with dalmation spots), and an extremely dark, eyeless wildtype female (she was eyeless from a mutation, not carrying the 'eyeless' gene, which renders axolotls sterile). Their offspring were 50% wildtype, 25% leucistic, and 25% axanthic (which is lethal in non-albino axolotls).

Out of the hundreds of offspring I raised, I got one melanoid, which was a spontaneous genetic mutation. I also had 25% mortality in my larvae right off the bat, as non-albino axanthics fail to thrive and usually die within a week of hatching. Interestingly, a few of my leucistics had blue eyes, rather than the normal silver-shiny.

Thanks that answers it