Sources

Checked out a couple of books today on fish and genetics from the Haverford Library:


101 Essential Tips: Aquarium Fish
Dick Mills
The step-by-step series that brings expert advice at an affordable price. Breaks down key information on caring for your aquarium fish into 101 easy-to-grasps tips.

Focus on Freshwater Aquarium Fish
Geoff Rogers & Nick Fletcher
A photographic book of aquarium freshwater fish listed by common and Latin name and divided by family groupings with details on the size and characteristics of each. 


Aquarium Fish of the World
Ivan Petrovicky
A comprehensive illustrated guide to over 500 aquarium fish. 

Amazing Schemes within Your Genes
Dr. Fran Balkwill
Discusses the structure and function of genes, their adaptations and mutations, and basic genetic processes, particularly as they occur in humans.

The DNA Detectives
Anna Meyer
How the double helix is solving puzzles of the past. 

Genetics Rabbit Example

Used this whole example from www.biotopics.co.uk/newgcse/rabbitgenetics.ppt and used a little of my previous knowledge from last year in 8th grade when we learned a little about genetics.

This is a "family tree" of rabbits. Right now Im focusing on coat color as an example. The offspring proportion I'm using is the estimated, but not always that exact.

MOM                                                    DAD

Albino (Recessive)              Brown (Dominant)
aa                                                          BB

OFFSPRING: 100% Dominant (BROWN)

BaBa
BaBa


Now take one of those and breed it with another one...

Brown (Dominant)                    Brown (Dominant)

Ba                                               Ba

Dominant(Brown)=75%    Recessive(Albino)=25%

                BB 
                  Ba

Ba

  aa 

So the offspring of two BROWN rabbits don't always have to be brown as well, because if they BOTH have an heterozygous genotype, then their recessive genes could make a recessive baby.

If you have a dominant phenotype, then you COULD have an invisible recessive allele in your genotype.

This is why sometimes your mom and your dad could both have brown hair, and all of your brothers and sisters have brown hair too, but you end up with blonde hair.

Basic Genetics

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/genetics-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html


Alleles: Alternative forms of a gene.
Autosomal chromosome: A nonsex chromosome.
Chromosome: A linear or circular strand composed of DNA that contains genes.
Diploid: An organism with two copies of each chromosome.
DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid; the molecule that carries genetic information.
Dominant: A phenotype or allele that completely masks the presence of the other, recessive allele in the heterozygote.
Gene: The fundamental unit of heredity; a specific section of DNA within a chromosome.
Genotype: The genetic makeup of an individual; the allele(s) possessed at a given locus.
Heterozygote: An individual with two different alleles of a given gene or locus.
Homozygote: An individual with two identical alleles of a given gene or locus.
Locus: A specific location of a chromosome.
Phenotype: The physical characteristics of an individual.
Recessive: A phenotype or allele exhibited only when homozygous.

Laws of Inheritance

Segregation: In diploid organisms, chromosome pairs (and their alleles) are separated into individual gametes (eggs or sperm) to transmit genetic information to offspring. 

Dominance: A dominant allele completely masks the effects of a recessive allele. A dominant allele produces the same phenotype in heterozygotes and in homozygotes.

Independent Assortment: Alleles on different chromosomes are distributed randomly to individual gametes.

Adenine

Guanine

Cytosine

Thymine

Punnett Square (A= dominant trait) (a=recessive trait)

Example: (Heterozygous & Heterozygous)

Dominant= 75%  Recessive=25%

Example: (Homozygous & Homozygous)

Recessive=100%

This is homozygous recessive, if it was dominant (AA & AA) 100% of the offspring would have dominant traits.

Example: (Homozygous & Heterozygous)

Dominant=100%

Dominant=50% Recessive=50%

Aa=Dominant

AA=Dominant

aa=Recessive

12/13/12

FEMALE TANK
Temp- 79°F
Fish are okay. That one blue female guppy's eye is getting worse and worse. At this point I have given up and am just waiting for it to burst. It also looks very very irritated.

MALE TANK
I'm just about to release the males now. I took them out of the female tank and into a ziplock bag and placed it in the new tank for over an hour now. So far there are 7. All are blue except for my original two. I will add new males every week.

Body Parts

Guppy Care

Using this website because it is a network (.net) not commercial advertising (.com).
http://www.guppycare.net

1. Clean Water: I have to change the water at least once a week to make sure it remains clean and healthy for the fish. You don't have to take all the water out but at least replace a quarter of it. Also let the water sit (even though I use a heater) before you add it to the tank and add some water conditioner.

2. Overcrowding: My tank is VERY crowded right now because of my fry, but I am hoping to move them around and make space so they are less stressed. This source says that there should be a minimum of a guppy per gallon, which I agree with. I'm hoping fry count as half a guppy...

3. Temperature & Filtering: It says to keep them at room temperature, but they're 'hardy' fish so just don't keep them too hot or too cold. The warmer the water, the larger they grow, but they live longer in colder water. Can't decide! I am thinking of just moving my males to the tank without the heater now because I think they will be ok. I'm just worried about the transition....

4.Food: Guppies like variety. I feed my guppies Tropical Fish Flakes and freeze-dried bloodworms(on the occasion). I'm not supposed to overfeed them because they could get sick or the water could get very polluted. Fish can't really get fat though.

Pregnancy and Fry Development

Since this is my first day, I'm just posting/blogging all the information I know about taking care of guppies.

Here is a video I like to look at if I ever wonder how my 3 females are doing. In the past I looked back at this a lot and looked very closely at my females to see if they needed to be separated and placed in the breeder. Now, since my female tank is overcrowded and there are tons of plants, I just don't pay attention to it anymore. Also would like to add that I have an albino female, so the fry are usually albino too, making her gravid spot light, not dark like most are.

gravid spot: term used for livebearing freshwater fish. Gravid simply means carrying and developing eggs. Usually a dark spot near the back fin that grows bigger as the pregnancy progresses. That big black spot is actually little tiny guppy fry all jammed in there waiting to be born. That's why you can start to see their eyes after a while, especially with the albino females.

breeder: A tiny cage-like container that attaches in the tank to calm and protect the female when she is ready to give birth. Usually she's above a grate/funnel like system that lets the fry fall down into safety from being eaten.

Colors

Something that would probably be the easiest is color genetics (what color the guppies are) because it is easy to observe. I don't know however though if there are complications with that or not....

Here is a website that I googled and it is a conversation about guppies and color genetics. I'm not sure how reliable this source is though.
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/livebearers/4036-guppy-colour-genetics.html
Here's what I got from it:

BODY COLORS
Recessive
gold/tiger/bronze
blond/gold
albino/wrea
lutino/wrea
cream
blau w/ red
blau
blau w/ yellow
white
silver

Dominant
grey

FORE BODY COLORS
mostly y-linked

Red
H/B reds are dominant. (H/B?)
When crossed with a gray female, 100% offspring should be red

Purple
Dominant!
When mixed with green, green becomes darker, not purple AND green, but a mix.


Albino (I have one of these)

White

Coral/Red

Gold

Leopard

Grey/Gray (?)

H/B Red

Blue (I have a bunch of these)

Pastel

12/12/12 :D !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello. This is my first entry for my first blog. The topic I'm aiming for is genetics in guppies. I do not know what I'm going to really look at, if it's physical traits passed down or mental or even strength against the environment to survive. I will probably do most of my research online and use HTMLs. I will also try to load some pictures and/or videos to help understand this more.
***I also need a goal and a deadline.


MALE TANK
I just set up my soon-to-be tank for my male guppies. The filter has been running for almost 24 hours now. I will not transfer the males until I have a heater and it has run for over 24 hours. So far the water without the heater is 69°.

FEMALE TANK
I changed the filter but did not actually clean anything yet. Temperature is 79°. One of my blue females' eyes is very swollen at the base, but not cloudy. On top of her head, behind the swollen/infected eye, it is red (underneath her skin). I'm estimating that it is "Pop Eye(?)" because that's what I learned from Google.

This is what it looks like. (but with the red)