The Albino Gene History
Back in 1953, first reported the
finding of a true pink-eyed male albino betta. It
appeared among a breeder's stock, as many albinos
do, by sheer accident. Thought at first to be a very
pale specimen of the Cambodian type of betta, close
inspection revealed the unnatural eyes and its true
distinction. Naturally, it was given every
Only once before, in 1927, had such an albino been
reported. This was by the veteran German aquarist
Wilhelm Schreitmuller in Leipzig. He noticed it in a
tank of tropical fish in the store of Herr
W.Glaschter. With typical albino weakness, the
German betta lived only a short time. It was
preserved and presented to the Magdeburger Museum.
It never was bred.
The one found in 1953, in spite of having difficulty
seeing and an aversion to bright light, prospered
and became robust. Three unsuccessful attempts were
made to breed him in the normal manner. In spite of
building a fine nest, he could not see the female
unless she was directly in front of his nose.
Because of this, his courting activities gradually
Then a special breeding setup was attempted. It
proved successful. The pair was confined together by
means of a piece of glass in a small space with
scarcely ten square inches of surface. Here the
female could hardly escape his view. The courtship
and eventual spawning were a success. Then it was
discovered that the albino had no desire to care for
the eggs. The nest broke up and scattered. The eggs
dropped to the bottom unattended and went bad.
Obviously, some other procedure was in order.
Once again the breeders were introduced into their
limited confines. A second spawning ensued. As soon
as it was completed, a three-inch laboratory Petri
dish was slipped under the nest. It entrapped both
eggs and the nest, and maintained but a fractional
depth of water. This time most of the eggs survived.
A small spawning of about fifty fry was reared.
The fry started to color when they were about
five-eighths of an inch long. All were of a
bluish-purple color. No hoped-for albinos were to be
seen. This was expected. Albinism is a recessive
characteristic. For the young to show it, the genes
must be present in both parents. By the time these
young had grown to breeding maturity, the male
albino had perished, so a daughter could not be
spawned back to him. As expected, brother-to-sister
matings never resulted in another albino.
What had happened? Just one mistake and the albino
betta again disappeared from the hobby. Thinking
that the albino male had come from the early
light-bodied Cambodian stock, a beautiful
light-bodied female had been provided for the
spawnings. Had the albino been derived from this
stock, the offspring should have been of the
Cambodian strain, also. Instead, the result was
The results of future brother-to-sister matings
should have been predictable on theoretical grounds.
From each sixteen offspring, there should have
appeared nine wild or dark-colored bettas, three
Cambodian light-bodied fish, and four albinos.
There did appear mixed spawnings of light and dark
specimens. However, the eye straining inspections
failed to turn up another albino. Finally in 1994 a
hobbyist named Tanaka successfully bred it.