What is Albino Medaka? Is it difficult to care for and breed? What about its stability rate?

This time, we will explain about Albino Medaka.

What is Albino Medaka? Characteristics of Albino Medaka

Albino Medaka, as the name implies, is a medaka with albino coloration. Albino Medaka lacks any melanin, the black pigment, resulting in a completely white body. Additionally, their eyes are bright red, creating a distinctive appearance with a stark white body and bright red eyes. Albino can occur in all animals, not just medaka, and in fish, it is famously seen in species like guppies and corydoras.

In medaka, albinism can occur as a rare mutation or be bred into a stable lineage.

Is it difficult to keep Albino Medaka?

It is often said that Albino Medaka are difficult to keep. This is because in some species, albinos can be physically weaker and have shorter lifespans. Thus, some people argue that Albino Medaka are more sensitive to water quality and harder to care for than regular medaka.

Particularly, Albino Medaka, lacking pigmentation, are said to be sensitive to sunlight and should be raised in shaded conditions.

However, in the case of medaka, keeping an albino is generally not more difficult than non-albinos. While some bloodlines may be weaker, popular strains like Ryu no Me and Kaguya Hime are as easy to care for as regular medaka.

In fact, I have been keeping three strains of Albino Medaka, and they are just as easy to care for as other medaka. Moreover, I have been raising Ryu no Me outdoors without any issues related to sunlight.

Albinism in species like corydoras often results in robust variants, suggesting that the care difficulty associated with Albino Medaka may not be particularly significant.

Albino Medaka grow slower

However, Albino Medaka do seem to grow slower, possibly due to poor eyesight. For example, where a normal medaka may reach adult size in two months, an Albino Medaka might take about three months.

Whether this slower growth is due to poor feeding ability or a genetic predisposition to slower growth is unclear, but it is certain that they grow slower than normal medaka.

However, slower growth does not necessarily make Albino Medaka more difficult to care for. In fact, because the fry grow slower, it is less likely for exceptionally large individuals to dominate, potentially leading to higher survival rates.

About breeding Albino Medaka

Despite common beliefs, breeding Albino Medaka is not difficult at all. They breed as easily as normal medaka. Simply keeping males and females in the same tank should result in easy spawning.

About the stability rate of Albino Medaka

The stability rate of Albino Medaka is very high. If both parents are albinos, over 90% of the offspring will also be albino. However, this rate applies to established Albino lineages, not to spontaneously occurring Albino offspring.

In cases like Ryu no Me, where Albino Medaka have been consistently bred over generations, more than 99% of the offspring will be albino.

Representative strains of Albino Medaka

Albino is not a breed but a genetic trait, hence any medaka breed can potentially exhibit albinism. For example, Yang Guifei Albino, Ganin Albino, etc. theoretically, every medaka breed can have an albino variant. Here we introduce some representative Albino Medaka strains.

Ryu no Me

Ryu no Me is an albino type of Ganin Medaka. It is a beautiful Albino Medaka with a white body and pale blue bioluminescence. Among Albino Medaka, it is the most well-known and has been a long-term popular strain. It is very robust, produces many eggs, and is among the easiest Albino Medaka to care for. Additionally, its stability rate is very high, with about 99% of offspring being albino.

Kaguya Hime

Kaguya Hime is an orange Albino Medaka with a shimmering body type. It is also known as Grape Eye due to its purple-colored eyes. Unlike