OK so I finally acquired the calico bn plecos I always wanted, however they are 3 males and I cant find/afford a full grown female calico. So here is my question, if I put a female albino in there, what are the chances of getting calico fry?
Probably slim to none on the first generation cross. I mixed brown females with red males and the fry were all brown. Worse, the same red male also produced brown fry with the red females. I moved him (and several other males) to another tank, leaving a smaller red male who had produced a batch of red fry previously. He spawned with a red female, then the eggs disappeared before they hatched. :cry:
I would think very high since the albino trait is recessive. I believe the calico is a T+albino - which means it can systhesize certain color melanins. But I am not up and up on all those genetics.
Don't know if this will help or not, but this is a link to Biohazards BN pleco breeding journal thread. She bred an albino female with a brown spotted male and the babies came out half and half. Some are albino and some are brown and spotted. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225332
I would say chances are good that you'll get some calico. I have a trio of brown BN in a tank to themselves and they consistently produce 50/50 albino and browns. So somewhere in these browns genetics is albino that I didn't know about. I was quite surprised to see albinos emerge from the cave for sure.