# Strange looking dorsal fin.



## Arlene (May 20, 2005)

Hi all

A while ago my swordtail had a few litters of fry, some of the babies are about 3/4 the size of adulthood. One of them has started growing a strange dorsal fin. The mum doesnt have it and the dad didnt have it, but the offsprings dorsal fin has started to grow upwards. I cant wait to see what it is going to end up like. My camera doesnt work or i would have took a pic. Anyway how is it possible for the offspring to be different? Also is there a name for this? It looks quite sharkish. Thanx in advance for the replies.


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## doggydad38 (Jan 18, 2005)

It's possible that what you are seeing is known as a hi-fin trait. I guess it is possible to carry this as a recessive gene, but I was under the impression that this was a dominant characteristic. The other thing may be that you have experienced a "point mutation." Keep an eye on that one, you may be the originator of a new variety of Swordtail. Good luck.
 Tony


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## Fraser (Dec 5, 2005)

lol not if theres only one 

She'd need a male and a female to continue it ^^


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## Arlene (May 20, 2005)

Surely you would only need it to be either the male or the female for it to be passed on?

Ive added a pic of it, its not a very clear pic but you can see the dorsal fin a bit.


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## DUSTIN323 (Sep 21, 2005)

Yes that looks like a hi-fin trait. But even with just one fry having it you could make a new strain(if it truely was) you would probally breed that one with it's father. Guppy breeders come up with new strains but it takes years alot of times to make them breed true(where all fry look different than original and all same). It takes so long because at first if one fry is born than you would breed it with its father(most ,likely if only one fry looks that way) then you gotta start using the correct breeding techniques and crossing with correct strains. So a long process but yes you could start a new strain from just one fry being born different.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

You're assuming that the parents carry the trait and its not a mutation (the high fin gene had to mutate from somewhere originally). How many fry did you have? Only one shows this trait?


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## doggydad38 (Jan 18, 2005)

Breeding a "normal" to a "mutation" should at least introduce the new gene into the offspring, which should be carried as a recessive. Breeding brother to sister will bring out the trait in approximately 25% of the brood. Contrary to popular belief, inbreeding, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing as long as you have something to use as an outcross every 3 to 4 generations or so. The other factor is that Swordtails take nearly 6 months to fully mature, so the results of your crosses won't be known for about a year. Good luck.
Tony


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## Arlene (May 20, 2005)

Hiya...The mother has had 2 litters of fry, the second lot are still babies so i will not know for some time whether any of them have the same fin. The first lot of fry she had about 10, 5 of which i still have and only 1 with the hi fin although another of the fry has a weird fin as well...it is not like a hi fin but its fin is very long and straight like a rectangle. I no longer have the father so breeding with the father wouldnt be an option.


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

can we have a piccy of the other weird one?


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## Arlene (May 20, 2005)

Ok here is a pic of the other one with the weird fin..its not a very good pic as his fin is not fully up but as you can see it is way longer than a common swordtails fin.


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## Arlene (May 20, 2005)

I was looking at this pic after i had posted it and it looks to me a little bit like a sailfin. I dont know what is happening here but i can assure you both mother and father were regular swordtails.


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

looks like a sailfin sword.. 

sorry to tel you, I was browsing aquabid andsomeone had already developed a whole batch of Hi fins... sorry to dissapoint you. 

Work on the sailfin thing tho!

BTW I caught slightly sailfin endlers too, in the wild! I wanna cross breed them with gambusia, imagine sailfin gambusia!


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## Arlene (May 20, 2005)

His dorsal fin has grown a good bit now and completely looks like a sailfin...i am not worried that someone has already got a strain of these fish as i was not going to do anything with them anyway. I have got the hi fin and the sailfin in the same tank and they are male and female......so who knows could have a hi-fin sailfin lol. I am just at a total loss as these 2 fish are from the same brood. but yet neither mother or father has any of these fins.


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

that sounds kewl. lol hi fin sailfin!


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## Arlene (May 20, 2005)

Well ive had both fish together in a tank for a few weeks now and it looks like the hi-fin is pregnant. So fingers crossed


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