Albino Neons??

[Tetratastic]

I was out shopping the other day and saw a pet store I'd never noticed before, so I stopped in to check out their prices on fish tanks (thinking about buying a 30-gal). I also checked out their fish inventory, and in a tank next to the now (in)famous frankenfish was a tank with albino neons. I am a big fan of neons but have never seen albinos before. Has anyone ever heard of these? Are they a naturally occuring varient, or is this some captive breed mutation? Any other info (such as possible health issues) on these little guys?

I'd love to get some of these (they were so pretty!) along with some 'normal' neons when I get the new tank as long as the feedback is positive!

Thanks for your help :)

[Cearbhaill]

I saw some over on Aquabid (http://www.aquabid.com/)
Sometimes when you breed specifically for a color deviation like this you lose vigor, but I'd assume they've been "in production" long enough to have weeded out the weaker ones.
As long as they look happy and healthy I'd say go for it- if you like them. I kind of don't see the point- what's neon about them? But a nice novelty fish.

[OrionGirl]

Not sure if the albinos are the same as the golds? If so, then it is not a matter of selective breeding, but rather is the result of a disease that alters the fishes development, and results in the gold/silver instead of blue/red. Not something I want in my tank, though I agree they are a stunning looking fish.

[SnakeIce]

getting a fish that is bright shimmery blue like the regular ones are is so hard, very few blue fish to choose from. So why would you want neons that are not blue?

[pharoh08]

ive had them before, but they dont pass on their color traits to all the fry , if you breed them you will get regualar ones, besides that they are just like a regualr neons, o and they wont allways school with the regualar neons, i know mine wouldnt

[Tetratastic]

Originally posted by SnakeIce
getting a fish that is bright shimmery blue like the regular ones are is so hard, very few blue fish to choose from. So why would you want neons that are not blue?

The albinos I saw were a pure snowy white but the eyes were still that beautiful blue... very striking. :)
I also think a combination of albino and regular neons would look really cool, each complimenting the other.

[thekrib]

that makes me think it is a mutation or something unnatural, as true albinos have red eyes.

[OrionGirl]

I think--can't confirm this--that the blue eyes indicate that these are the fish that have the disease, rather than a true albino.

[pharoh08]

im thinking mutation or false albino, ive seen this in oscars they got the albino color but got black or brown eyes, they i doubt they got a illness or you would see dead fish in the tank or a medcation in the tank , normally a blue tint, are you sure they were cardinals , cause wild cardinals can turn silver, its a benifictial parasite they get when in the wild , and most are caught wild but are often too young to get it , but from time to time a silver one will turn up in the catches, but its not something they pass on genitically. but if they are neons , i would ask the pet store more about them , like where they got them and how long theve been in there , to make sure its not a illness;)

[MelJr]

They sound pretty. I went looking for a pic of them and found one that might be it one this page http://www.fishpondinfo.com/neon.htm

[Cearbhaill]

Here are the ones on Aquabid (http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcharacins&1066172129).
Bad photo- can't really tell an eye color.

[Tetratastic]

Thanks everybody for all the help and input, I spent some more time looking this up on the net, as well as looking at the pics on the links above. I found a good pic of a GOLD neon here:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=898

and once considering this as well as the other pics, it seems like they could have been gold neons, though those don't look precisely like what I saw either - IMO they look sorta like a cross between the two if that's at all possible! If I go back to the store I'll try and remember to tank my camera and I'll take a pic and post it. :)