Talking about Red-White swordtail, Mr. Rainer Rekord suggested a classification of 5 types based on the region of red pigment allocation along the body of the swordtail as the following:
The combination of III, IV and V can have the same effect as II (white belly). Variants I, II and the two combinations can expand and combine different. Until the red covers the whole body. Therefore, this breed animals may have little red. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/swordredwhite/) The gallery below is just an example of color region that red pigment may consistently express on the swordtail body (no matter which strain of swordtail that you could identify.) Thanks to Mr. Rainer Rekord for his observation. I myself found that the classification system is very helpful to understand Red and White patterns in swordtail strains. Yes, there're a couple strains (in fact, different genes) that express various patterns. Personally, I would explain the system as following: 1. Pinto, Peppermint or Pieball strain: Type I: Usually see red pigment express on the lower body, extending along lateral line, forward as far as to the gill, yet narrower, and backward to the caudal portion. As describing by Mr. Karl Trochu, he had another strain that he had obtained from Mr. Darrell Mefford in 2006. It produces 'all white', 'bleeding heart' (mentioned by Mr. Rainer Rekord above), as well as as red-spotted offspring. The juveniles fish change color several times before they reach maturity, making this strain a very interesting one to work with. Type II: Pieball irregular patches between red and white. This is rare, but I tried to find a picture to depict this type as in the gallery above. Variant I & II: See picture above 2. Kohaku Koi or Santa claus swordtail: When it says Koi swordtail, please don't mistake it with the Red eye Kohaku. Koi is a separate trait of color expression, representing Red and White pigmentations, while albino is about the loss of black pigment in the eyes thus resulting Red eyes (the body also suffers this loss, making the white band of Albino Koi swordtail look milky white color). In other words, you would find Kohaku Koi with Black eyes also. Type III: Red cap. The gene seems to priorly express on the head cap, then extend its red pigment further to the back, wrapping around the gill, chest, but not the belly. Red cap only is a rare phenotype produced by Kohaku Koi. As the matter of fact, the cross between two red cap would yield a higher chance of red cap in offspring. 3. Red Saddleback or Pineapple swordtail: Type IV: usually see in Pineapple strain with Red pigment cover the dorsal fin, high back (saddleback) down to the tail. 4. Red and White swordtail: Type V: commonly called red and white swordtail (may be an ambiguous name), but easy to specify by finding the red pigmentation to express in the lower body part upto caudal portion. The upper body part and head is often offset white or light blue (under light).
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