# Clear Tadpoles?



## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

Hello all....reciently my inferalanis laid 2 clutches of eggs....both clutches are in tadpole form now and free swimming...but one clutch (4 tads) have turned out clear! i can see right through their bodies, while the other clutch is the normal black. anyone know what this means? i have tried a search for albino tads but i cannot find any meaningful information. all i can see is things for white tads not clear.


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## boombotty (Oct 12, 2005)

My bet would be albino, I have heard of inferalanis producing them before. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Cindy has produced some albinos from hers before.
Scott


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Any chance of pics? It'd be pretty neat to watch their limbs develop internally, and such.


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## yenrec (Jun 7, 2007)

pics pics! i also think it would be neat being able to see all the internals working and developing!


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Yes, it does sound like they are albinos. Here are some pictures of some Infer Alanis tads - albino vs. regular as well as some albino froglets.


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## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

melissa, since i got them from you and my tads look just like the pic you posted....then i bet i could make a good guess that they are albinos....its funny b/c the whole clutch turned out like that...i lost 2 so 4 remaining...is that common for all of them (in that clutch) to be albino?....sorry guys i dont have a good enough camera that will take pictures that close...i wish i had the money to get one but not after the holidays!!! great pics BTW


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

When ours were producing we would get 10 - 20% albinos. 

Are these the first eggs these have produced?



twohoops21 said:


> melissa, since i got them from you and my tads look just like the pic you posted....then i bet i could make a good guess that they are albinos....its funny b/c the whole clutch turned out like that...i lost 2 so 4 remaining...is that common for all of them (in that clutch) to be albino?....sorry guys i dont have a good enough camera that will take pictures that close...i wish i had the money to get one but not after the holidays!!! great pics BTW


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## bobberly1 (Jul 16, 2008)

Awesome! They look more hypomelanistic though, there's some darkness in there. Looks likes it was genetically established and not a mutation because you got so many.


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

There are previous discussions on this topic. They have red eyes - and although the tads do look like they have some darkness the froglets & frogs do not. The colors they do have are a pink (no pigment), yellow & clear. 


http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/ge...raits-do-you-know-what-you-talking-about.html

There are other discussions in the past on the Albino InferAlanis - some of them are better than others. 



bobberly1 said:


> Awesome! They look more hypomelanistic though, there's some darkness in there. Looks likes it was genetically established and not a mutation because you got so many.


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## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

no melissa their first clutch was roughly 2 months ago...give or take. do the albinos have a high mortality rate? you rarely ever see any being offered.


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## bobberly1 (Jul 16, 2008)

Yeah, the first time I ever saw them for sale was a few days ago at Brian's Tropicals.


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Some say yes - others no. In our experience they did have a higher mortality rate. 




twohoops21 said:


> no melissa their first clutch was roughly 2 months ago...give or take. do the albinos have a high mortality rate? you rarely ever see any being offered.


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## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

someone showed me how to use the macro feature after years of having it! here are the tad pics


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## MrGerbik (Dec 18, 2006)

I work with different frogs but all my tads come out like that. Not albinos tho. But yours could be different


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

When these guys first emerge they have more of a brown coloration than a black. It is difficult to see at first, but once you know what to look for it is easy to pick up when they hatch. The pictures I shared earlier were from the same clutch - and looked almost identical when they hatched. I am sure if he updates us with a new picture in a few weeks it will be more apparent. 

It is very difficult to capture the difference of them at first. Best way I found was to place a regular & albino one together & take the photo over white paper. Take a few different shots - and then use the one with the best lighting. 

In addition, using tads from different frogs as comparison isn't fool proof. I am going to make an assumption you are talking about tree frogs or other species besides darts. Many of them have different coloration or designs because nature made them that way. 



MrGerbik said:


> I work with different frogs but all my tads come out like that. Not albinos tho. But yours could be different


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## MrGerbik (Dec 18, 2006)

Nope...talking about my Intermedius tads. All are that light brown semi transparent color through the tadpole stage until they start popping limbs, then you can start to make out hteir pattern


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Yes, some of them are. I can also tell from the shape of different tadpoles what kind they are. Auratus have a different shape than tincs. Terribilis have a different shape & even eat differently than others. 

There are a lot of differences. Like he mentioned earlier - once the tads get a little older their appearance changes are are more like the ones in my picture. 

Check out the picture of clutch I have attached and the difference in coloration.


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## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

i have been trying for the last 20 min to get good pics with my point and shoot, and i just cant get the lighting right. i put the two different tads together and it's like night and day. we are going out to get a new DSLR today so hopefully i can get some better pics tonight. this is as good as i got for now-the whole body of the "off color" tad is much much much brighter and clearer than i can show with these pics. for some reason i cant get it to come out!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Are the tadpoles housed the same way? If the bottom is a lighter color then there could be a color difference. 

Ed


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## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

Ed said:


> If the bottom is a lighter color then there could be a color difference.
> 
> Ed


not quite sure what you mean there ed? but yes they are housed in the same way. all of my tad are seperate in their own containers, and kept at 75 degrees.


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## yenrec (Jun 7, 2007)

i think what ed meant was the tads could have different colors say if one was kept over a sheet of paper while another was sitting on a wooden table..


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## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

finally a decent pic


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If there is a difference in the back ground coloration (one is brighter or lighter) then there can be differences in the tadpoles as they try to be less obvious. Another possible one that can cause a tadpole to be lighter in color is if the light over one of the cups is brighter than the other one. 

Ed


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## twohoops21 (Sep 17, 2008)

the tads are kept in a large plastic container (w/ lid) with water in the bottom and a heater to keep it at 75 (house stays too cold without it), on the bottom on my rack, so both sets of tads have the same environment.


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