Astrild, interesting Caramel Stripe

This little girl is Astrild. She was produced in my 2021 clutch by Odin (caramel ghost stripe het amel) and Tulip (amel stripe het anery, caramel. There was one other caramel stripe in the clutch, a male whose coloring was darker, like other caramel stripe babies I've produced. Astrild was different. She was nowhere nearly as light as ambers or amber stripes I've produced, but something was different. Looking at her now, I'm still scratching my head. These are current pics. I'll also post some hatchling shots.

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This is the male caramel stripe sibling, whom I sold.

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And these are Astrild.

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Interesting. She almost looks like she's in blue in those first pictures.

I've thought that too! She's actually freshly shed in those. I've never seen a dilute caramel stripe but she's kinda what I'd expect one might look like. Not that I expect her parents to both be carrying an unsuspected gene for dilute, lol.

The blurry photo here is Astrild at about 1 month. (Sorry for poor quality, I had a tech crash a few months ago and lost some stuff.. ) She had already diverged quite a bit from her brother when he left for his new home. I had a few pics of them together but I can't locate any.

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I spoke too soon! Checked an old sim card. They're blurry, I couldn't get the noodles to be still. They also had flash. Still, they show a definite difference.

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One more of Astrild on the same day as the sibling pics, natural light. I'll add to this thread as she grows. Thoughts and observations welcome! Thanks for looking.

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I don't think I've seen dilute caramel before either. But I think amber is definitely an option, especially since one parent is homozygous hypo.

Thanks for the thought. Yes, she has me wondering if Tulip is het hypo and I have never known it. I have bred these parents together before, with no eyebrow raising results. Of course, that doesn't mean Mr. Murphy wasn't involved. One of the male butter stripes in this clutch was noticeably lighter than the other butter stripes, which I put down to individual variation.

If I were only seeing Astrild now, I'd peg her amber for sure. As a new baby, she seemed way too dark for that. The amber/amber stripe neonates I've had looked much lighter. I dunno. :shrug:

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Had the youngsters out for feeding and weighing today and took the time to get a couple of ventral shots of Astrild. She's got some suffusion, which is not unusual. She's also developing some black speckles, which is not usual. You might also be able to note that her colors are taking on a bit of the greenish tint seen in some caramel lines.

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