# A rummynose of a different color



## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Anybody know what's up with this rummynose? I've had a group of 32 of them for over six months - some of them for almost 2 years. About a month ago one of them took on this unique coloration. I'm pretty certain it didn't look any different than the others before.

Is it old age? Disease? Not a true rummynose?

Whaddya think?

Check out this video.

The video quality kind of stinks, but you probably get the idea. The body is deep golden with the usual red head. The checkerboard tail is more faint than average.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Love your video music! Makes me laugh! [smilie=b:

Ok, now I'm done.... He sure does look funny. I've never seen anything like it and I've had rummy nose for decades. Does he seem as healthy as the others? I'm gonna watch this thread to see what the experts say......


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## DMHdispute (Oct 23, 2007)

I don5t know what it is but its pretty cool, hes swimming like he okay and his nose is nice and bright red. If its a good thing maybe one of mine will do it too. Im gunna watch this thread too.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

He's eating, schooling, and acting perfectly normal. His nose is red, but it's actually a deeper red than his tankmates. He's probably the biggest of the rummies in the tank too. Is this the equivalent of grey hair in an older individual?


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## Jareardy (Feb 14, 2008)

If its not normal breed it!


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Yeah right. I'm spending enough time trying to breed angelfish. They're about 100 times easier than rummies. In any case I'm not much of a fan of selective breeding. I tend to believe that nature does a pretty good job of deciding what sort of traits are best. I happen to know for certain that these were wild-caught, so whatever this particular fish has, he comes by it naturally.


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## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

guaiac_boy said:


> He's eating, schooling, and acting perfectly normal. His nose is red, but it's actually a deeper red than his tankmates. He's probably the biggest of the rummies in the tank too. Is this the equivalent of grey hair in an older individual?


 x2!! breed it asap!!

lol that music made the video epic


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

hey there guaiac!
This does not answer your question, but I've had some rummies now for over 10 years. They just don't die! And sorry to say none of them are yellow.
penny


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

It's either a mutation or possibly one of the similar species that also are sold as rummy-nosed tetras:

*Hemigrammus bleheri* from the ***** and Meta River basins, *H. rhodostomus *from the lower Amazon River basin and Orinoco River basin, and what is more commonly known as the "False Rummy-nosed Tetra" *Petitella georgiae *from the upper Amazon River basin in Peru; Purus, *****, and Madeira River basins.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Guaiac,

Check out this thread. I know you said yours was natural, but I thought you might find this interesting.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fish-planted-aquarium/13664-new-rummy-nose-tetras.html


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

Maybe he's a "super male"! LOL. Looks like some color variety of the same species, but who knows. cool vid BTW.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

houseofcards,

Now that I go back, I remember that thread. Too bad the original photo is gone now.

The thing that is odd about this particular fish is that he's been in the tank for several months, possibly as long as 2 or 3 years without ever standing out before. He looks so different now that I can see it from across the room. There just isn't anything else golden in the tank.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I suspect it is probably one of the other two species in the hobby. Perhaps it wasn't showing it's colors until full grown?

Our LFS once got in a fourth color variety. These had yellow and black tails instead of white and black.


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

hahaha I love the music, that a crackup


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

AaronT said:


> I suspect it is probably one of the other two species in the hobby. Perhaps it wasn't showing it's colors until full grown?
> 
> Our LFS once got in a fourth color variety. These had yellow and black tails instead of white and black.


I would have LOVED to have seen those- any idea where they came from?


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

By the looks of it, I would agree that it is a different species or possibly a hybrid(?). It looks much more robust and different morphologically.

The other two species (H. rhodostomus and Petitella georgiae) that closely resemble Hemigrammus bleheri look nothing like the fish in the link.

Could you get a picture of it?

EDIT: I think we've found a winner.










The Golden Rummynose.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Latin name?

I can't find much under that common name...


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

lauraleellbp said:


> Latin name?
> 
> I can't find much under that common name...


It's a hybrid, so it technically it isn't classified as a separate species. I'm not sure what the cross is as there is little to no information on them. Search "golden rummy nose."


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

It does look like a golden rummy nose, but as you said it had normal colouration then it can't be that as albino/xanthic fish are mutations where they cannot produce the normal pigmentation. This fish was producing those and that can't change during life unless something happens to the fish. As, AFAIK, all rummy noses in the hobby are wild caught, and that gave me a rather wild hypothesis that may be miles off, but may explain things...

I was thinking about the life cycle of a number of parasites of higher animals that need different hosts, I think this may well be a fish with a parasite acting as an intermediate host. At some point these parasites develop and move from the intermediate host to another species in the food chain. If they want to move from fish to a host like a fish eating bird they affect the colouration/behaviour of the intermediate host so that it is easier to catch like preventing it from producing the usual colouration.

Or it may just be another parasite. I'd keep an eye on it and see if it looks bad, but I don't think your other fish are in danger or the parasite would have spread already.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Hmmm. I guess I can't be certain that it didn't have that golden coloration before, but I really think I'd have noticed it. I suppose it could be somehting secondary, but the fish is acting perfectly normal and is eating well.

I'm inclined to believe that it's either a natural color variation (think black sheep or white buffalo) or that it's a minor species that found its way into a regular rummy shipment.

I'll try to get a better photo of the thing. It's not exactly identical to the fish in the photo above. The golden body coloration is the same, but my fish has a very dark head - almost burgundy and it has lots of black coloration along its back between the head and the caudal fin. The tail markings are fairly similar - much more pale than a typical rummy.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

lauraleellbp said:


> I would have LOVED to have seen those- any idea where they came from?


They claimed they were just found in a different location than the others, apparently the same species as the true Rummynose.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I love that music too. LOL!

Perhaps it's just in breeding coloration for the first time, so you just noticed it?


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

The music is only there to replace the sounds of my kids whining in the background. It's Mars, from Gustav Holst's The Planets.

About the fish, on second look it does look a bit like the one in the photo above. The body is fairly translucent too, especially above the lateral line. I'm guessing that it is indeed a "golden rummynose" whatever that is.

Very strange that it never stood out before..............

It will be interesting to see if any of the others change color.


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## trag (Jan 9, 2008)

I'm kind of like the guy with only a hammer who thinks every problem looks like a nail, but I would not be too quick to discount the parasite hypothesis. That was my first thought when I viewed the video and an awful lot of imported fish are arriving with internal parasites these days. Given the mixing that can take place at way-stations, it could easily have a parasite which Rummy Nose do not normally get in the wild, and so its color is not something typically seen.

Or it could just be a hybrid which snuck in as others surmise.

As to it schooling, in the video it looked to me like the golden one was not schooling. He appeared to be leading his own swimming life and a few other rummynose were following his lead, but I did not see him following anyone else.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

It continues to look as strange as it ever did, visible from across the room. Its 31 brothers continue to lead their lives as normal, drab, usual rummies. The strange one does seem to school ok though. Other videos show it schooling just fine.


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## manifresh006 (Jul 20, 2007)

Star Wars hahahaha loved the music!!!


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