What color morph is this frog?

[Jenste]

I mated my natural male ACF with my albino female ACF, and all the froglets morphed with spots like their dad....except one. originally I thought it was going to wind up being an albino, but I thought albinos would be generally...pinker with reddish eyes.

this little one is like a beige with really dark eyes...nearly black.

take a look...what color morph will it grow into?

frog in question in the lower left, regular sibling upper left



frog in question




frog in question on the left, regular sibling on the right





frog in question on the left, regular sibling on the right








so....thoughts?
I was thinking maybe leucistic?

[Jace]

I have no idea...but that is one cool looking frog. If I saw that in the petstore, I would buy it in a heartbeat. Nice looking frogs, by the way.

[tgampper]

It is leucistic.

[Jenste]

splendid! now the little guy is definitely staying!!!

I am trying to get a large variety of color morphs... I now have this little leucistic to add to my marbled male, my marbled female, my two albino females, my albino male, my reticulated albino female and my golden reticulated albino male.

any my x.borealis female of course (I will be getting a male for her in the next month or so)

[Jenste]

is there any chance this ends up being a reticulated albino?
I had another froglet who I thought was going to be a leucistic and she morphed into my current reticulated albino, "Lola"


is there any way to know for sure or is this one of those things that time will tell?

[Ken Worthington]

This is a really interesting thread, thanks!

How many individual tanks do you have, and what is your set-up please Jenste, it sounds great!

Both my step-brother and a good friend both keep albino ACFs, and I had a tank prepared for one (or two).......but a ribbed newt (P waltl) arrived and claimed the tank for himself!
So I'll have to set up another tank for any future Xenopus...

I can't wait to see how your little fellas grow up

All the best, KW

[Jenste]

my overall setup is

* 72 gallon bowfront ACF colony. Currently has 8 adults - 2 marbled (1m 1f), 3 albino (1m 2f), 1 reticulated albino (f), 1 golden reticulated albino (m), and one x.borealis female.

* 3 X 10 gallon tank used for breeding/ rearing of tadpoles.

* 30 gallon not currently set up but sitting by incase I have an adult frog needs to be separated from the rest - ex. injury, disease, a male who won't stop trying to breed with females and needs a time out, or a female who an amorous male grabbed onto in the middle of the night and needs a break from men (females should only be bred a maximum of 4 times a year for the females health). in most cases I keep the tank warmer to dissuade any unplanned breeding...but if a large enough storm comes by, the drop in pressure stimulates my males into thinking their breeding season (The rainy season) has arrived.



I hope to have more tanks in the future but in a one bedroom apartment I am lucky to have this many already! (I have a very patient fiance!)

[tgampper]

is there any chance this ends up being a reticulated albino?
I had another froglet who I thought was going to be a leucistic and she morphed into my current reticulated albino, "Lola"

I think there is a very good chance it could be a reticulated albino. It would be really exciting since they are quite rare.

is there any way to know for sure or is this one of those things that time will tell?

Unless you have a degree in genetics, you'll probably have to wait.

[Jenste]

I have two reticulateds already, one regular reticulated female and one golden reticulated male who I plan on breeding together in the spring. Won't mind another reticulated if thats what this little one turns out to be!

I'll keep posting pictures of it's growth

[Jenste]

Terry, do you know of any chart of ACF genetics?

[tgampper]

Terry, do you know of any chart of ACF genetics?

Hi Jen,

For many years, Xenopus laevis has been used extensively for genetic studies and there is a considerable amount of scholarly work available. Today, it seems that another species, Silurana (Xenopus) tropicalis, is at the forefront of genetics. The reason is that tropicalis is smaller and less genetically complex than laevis.

I haven't been able to find any "Punnett squares" for Xenopus, that will summarize the results of single or multiple trait cross. An interesting genetics site for tropicalis:

Xenopus Genetics

[Jenste]

some updated pictures of my baby

about 4 weeks later - -

[tgampper]

Jen,

Thanks for sharing. It's really great to see your success with clawed frogs. I hear you ordered some female X. borealis, can't wait to see the new babies!

[Jenste]

yup I have my female now and will be ordering my male in the next week or two. hopefully by the beginning of the year or late in the winter I will have some borealis froglets looking for new homes! (hinthint)

[Jenste]

What a change 4 weeks makes!!! Now 4 months and about 5 days old....check her out! She is becoming a beautiful reticulated albino!

Also - check out her size! She and all of her siblings seem to have an accelerated growth compared to the baby ACF I find in petstores

4 months old and she has already developed a cloaca and her brother (the light marbled) is developing his nuptial pads!!!



**** Ruler being used is dislaying INCHES ****

picture 1: reticulated albino in the middle, her brother on the right and my midget male acf on the left - he is almost 13 months old and the 4 month old babies are now slightly bigger than him! (am going to make another thread about him)


picture 2 - 4 are the reticulated albino




Picture 5: light marbled brother on left, reticulated albino on right....can you see the brothers developing nuptial pads?




picture 6: brother and sister, above view

[tgampper]

Jen:

Thanks for keeping us updated on your progress. These frogs are so cool!