Interesting wild-type coloration

[MarieKarma1311]

Hello everyone, I've been watching my wild type axolotls and the amazing growth process that they encounter from small hatchlings to juveniles. They are only three months old and already four and a half inches long! Outstanding creatures really! One thing I've happened to notice however is that one of my wild type axies has been losing his dark pigmentation, unlike it's siblings. I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this and how common it is?

 

[auntiejude]

This is called vitiligo - the same as in humans. It's where they stop making pigment.
It's fairly common in axies, although they tend to be older. I have a 7 year old wildtype who has been fading for 2 years and now looks like a leucistic.

 

[MarieKarma1311]

Oh how cool, that would explain a lot. Logan was my darkest axie out of the three but now he's just getting paler and paler. I can't wait to see how he looks in a year or two :happy:

 

[tipnatee]

That is what some of my GFP wild is going through , the very dark one is having light spots behind gills their feet are almost white, and very white belly , the gills that used to be dark grey Is turning in to Blood red color while they are still just a baby (3") some of the body staring to look more light green with shimmer effects, some kinda goldenish with grey spot. They are still small and chesing them with camera to get a good look is next to impossible. I will try to get picture more when they are older. But in low light on top of their body they still look dark and I can almost see through the tip of their tails.

 

[MarieKarma1311]

All three of my wild types have perfectly white bellies and nearly translucent tails, it's quite adorable :happy:

 

[Wysper]

My three wild types have this going on too.

Can anyone post pictures of what they may look like later??

I'm a curious momma!

 

[brightstar34]

Oh wow that's really cool! Defiantly take pictures as your little one grows up, that way you can see how he's changed through out the years.

 

[auntiejude]

Here are the before and after photos of Patch - 6 months between pictures.

 

[Wysper]

Oh wow. He's beautiful.

Mine are still babies, so I can't be sure if this is what they will go through. But I know they have wild type markings along head and body, but the ends of their tails are almost see through.

 

[tipnatee]

Would that happen a lot to most wild that had lots of albino/leucistic genes ? So if you breed vitiligo with another vitiligo will that carry on genetically ?

 

[Wysper]

I wonder how vitiligo would present in a Leucistic? Hmm....

 

[MarieKarma1311]

Here are some more updated photos of Logan and his coloration.

 

[Wysper]

He is gorgeous! Kind of leopard spotted. He looks like a very happy boy!

 

[brightstar34]

Oh wow, that's a dramatic change! That is so cool how he has changed colors. Your wild type is beautiful! How many axolotls do you have?

 

[MarieKarma1311]

I have six, four wild type, one albino, and one golden albino that I got today.

3 of my wild types are five months old including Logan and his odd coloration. My albino is seven months old, and I believe my golden albino is about two months old. The youngest is my other wild type and she's only 8 weeks old.

 

[brightstar34]

Oh that's cool. How do you have them set up? Will they all be in the same tank once they are big enough? I have one leucistic and one gfp leucistic . I am hoping to get a golden melanoid, melanoid, copper and a golden albino.

 

[MarieKarma1311]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium and a 30 gallon aquarium at the moment, five of my axolotls are in the big tank right now since they are all juveniles and under 5 inches long. The sixth is still being acclimated to my tank and will be introduced into the 30 gallon aquarium.

When they get bigger I plan on leaving all the wild types in the big tank and having the albinos go into the 30 gallon together, that way I have a wild type tank and an albino tank.

 

[brightstar34]

Oh wow that's nice! Did you breed yours or did you buy them? I hope I can get a big tank like that. I want to separate my male and females into two tanks. That way I wont have them breeding since I don't have the money or time maybe later on I will. I did see that they had a 40 gallon breeding tank on sale at petsmart for $40 but they were already sold out. I'm hoping that they get some more in.

 

[emdalliance]

It may not be vitiligo, it may just be he's a very light coloured wildtype. Lots of Axies can have strange colours that aren't quite the norm. My wildtype has gold spots all over her.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brightstar34]

I love the gold speckles! Very cute