White animals – preferably as pure white full albino with red eyes – exert a special attraction on many people. The white coloration gives them the impression of special purity and innocence. It is therefore no wonder that albinos sooner or later appear in the trade from almost all very frequently kept and bred animal species.
Albinos also exist in nature, because only a single gene is responsible for albinism. If this gene mutates, albinism occurs. Humans can also be born as albinos. In wild animals, albinos have a very low probability of survival as they are too conspicuous to potential predators. In the wild, adult albinos are therefore extremely rare and perhaps this also contributes to many people’s fascination with this color morph.
Overall, however, albinism is a relatively common mutation that occurs spontaneously time and again. In fish farms, where thousands of young animals are reared, it is therefore only a matter of time before albinism occurs. In the common bristlenose or Ancistrus (this species has not yet been clearly assigned to any wild species and is probably a hybrid that only occurs in human care), there are essentially two albino strains. “Normal” albinos in Ancistrus have a yellow body base color and red eyes, while the body color of the “Snow White” is really pure white. There are Snow Whites with black and red eyes; however, no distinction is usually made between the two in the trade. In terms of care and breeding, Snow White-Ancistrus do not differ from their other colored conspecifics, which is why they will not be discussed further here, with one exception: experienced breeders recommend keeping Snow White no warmer than 26°C, as experience has shown them to be more sensitive at higher temperatures.
For our customers: Snow White has code 204073 (4-6 cm) on our stock list. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
