The question of whether an ornamental fish species is particularly popular can often be answered with “yes” if breeding forms exist. Breeding forms, whose characteristics either do not occur at all in nature or only occur extremely rarely in individual specimens, usually only arise when the natural form is bred on a large scale. The statistical probability of a spontaneous mutation occurring then increases considerably. Such a mutation can affect body color, body shape or fin development.
One of the most common spontaneously occurring mutations is albinism, i.e. the complete or partial absence of color pigments. Albinos occur in all animals, including humans. The attitude towards albinos among pet owners could hardly be more different. For some, albinos in their pure white are a symbol of innocence, for others albinos are simply ugly. Because this ambivalent attitude means that only a part of the potential aquarist clientele is a potential buyer, it is no exaggeration to describe Chindongo socolofi “Albino” as a very popular ornamental fish, as it has been successfully bred in ornamental fish farms for over 20 years and – after all, that’s what matters – the animals always find their buyers!
In terms of care, expected final size, etc., the albinos do not differ from the stock form, which you can find out more about here: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/25-perchlike-fishes/chindongo-socolofi/
For our customers: the albino Socolofi have code 573211 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
