Neotonic Alpines

[chaimdov]

I bred a few hundred alpines this year and a half dozen did not morph. The males started cresting and the females looked gravid so I put them in a separate tank and sure enough they produced eggs which have started hatching. I was wondering if anyone else is raising a neotonic strain of Alpines and would be willing to swap eggs so I can diversify the gene pool. Thanks.

 

[chaimdov]

Update is that the babies from two neotonic parents grew much faster than any other Alpines I have. And then some (about 10) started morphing, much smaller than usual. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[otolith]

I've raised a few Apuanas that stayed neotenic. All were incidentally females. Its pretty common with certain Alpine sub species (Apuanas included) and some entire populations are neotenic. I've never noticed differences with their offspring, I do have much larger morphs (and usually more neotenic ones) when I have fewer together in deeper, cooler set ups. Whenever I try to raise them in tubs like I do Triturus they morph small.