who often deal with a specific wholesaler, that may also be owned by the company. Local employees are stuck with whatever corporate policy they have. I would like to think I might do some creative trading for neat new fish, but probably that fouls up their inventory. ;)
Unfortunately (from the perspective of the aquarist) they miss out on the opportunity for some neat fish they can't get. And as mentioned local fish have grown up in the local water supply often are healthier and should adjust more easily to local aquariums.
Gray guppies have a fair amount of melanin (black) pigment. Those spots make their bodies look gray. I'm familiar with gold, which has a lot fewer spots and albino, which isn't supposed to have any melanin spots.
Obviously the fewer or smaller black pigment cells or chromatophores, the lighter the guppy's skin. That would also apply to the gravid spot and if the fry are consistent, the fry's golden coloration would also be quite light. I have never intentionally bred a gray to a gold but I would guess her spot (with the gray fry) would be a tad darker.
I did have to look up blonds. Is this pretty much the image of your blond?
http://www.pbase.com/tomsview/image/43598336
The site below suggests that blonds don't have fewer dark cells, but that their gray pigment cells are much small than usual. That is interesting because the overall effect is much the same as having even fewer (regular black) cells as in the case of the golds and they are supposed to be even lighter in color. Not surprisingly the gravid spots and fry follow suit.
grayhttp://guppyplace.tripod.com/Colours.html
The albinos of course have no melanin cells at all. Some people who study fish speak of degrees of albinism and might include all melanin reduced fish in that crowd. I was also surprised to learn from a James Langhammer presentation that different gene or gene combinations may control albinism differently in different guppy strains!
If we keep our regular gray guppies over a really light-colored gravel or sand, those guppies will show a little lighter color. Their systems automatically attempt to adjust to the substrate (often the gravel or glass). That is why we keep them with darker gravel if we want their colors to really shine. (Of course decorations such as plants and faithful water changes play their parts too.) I'm surprised by some shops that use mostly lighter gravel. I guess they can see and remove dirt more easily and can more conveniently inventory the fish, but they lose a selling point.
I believe the tenancy to show dark colors from the dorsal view and light to white colors from the ventral view is called countershading. This helps shield them from predators. Especially if there is some cover, it is very hard to see a still fish in water with a muddy bottom. Since the sky is light, might undersides present less of a silhouette.
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