Angels - PageSuite

AMAZONAS
50
Despite this preservation shortfall in domesticated angelfishes,
one thing has become clear: in a world where
the community ethic has embraced the open-sourcing of
genetic knowledge, any angelfish breeder with the genetic
raw materials can recreate and refine the desired genetic
result.
Angelfish genetics:
a history of standardization
In no small part, the late Dr. Joanne Norton is credited
with laying the foundation for most of the current
understanding of angelfish genetics. From 1982 to 1994,
Norton published no fewer than 18 articles in Freshwater
and Marine Aquarium (FAMA) covering her extensive
personal work divining the genetic basis for the myriad
of forms being produced around the world. It is fair
to say that Dr. Norton demonstrated how an aquarist
can single-handedly change the aquarium hobby and
industry, and, without a doubt, the tradition of genetic
transparency was indoctrinated through Dr. Norton’s
visionary contributions.
The Angelfish Society (www.theangelfishsociety.org,
TAS) was founded in 2000 and incorporated in 2003 as
Classic Forms
Top row, left to right:
Halfblack Veil Angelfish (V/+
- h/h), Black Angelfish (D/g)
(a.k.a. Hybrid Black),
Koi Veil Angelfish
(Gm/g - S/S - V/+)
Philippine Blue Influences
Bottom row, left to right:
Pinoy Veil WiFi (Widefin)
Ghost Angelfish (D/+ - S/+
- V/+ - pb/pb), Blue Marble
Angelfish (M/+ - pb/pb)
a not-for-profit organization. While the Society provides
and performs many functions, it also perpetuates the
tradition of Dr. Norton’s work. The current website includes
a repository of the 18 seminal works she published
in FAMA, but takes it a step further with the phenotypes
library that’s readily available online (http://www.theangelfishsociety.org/phenotype_library_2007/NewIndex.
html). This phenotype library covers all the known genetics
as uncovered by Dr. Norton in the 1980s and ’90s,
and was last fully updated in 2007.
This genetic canon is generally well regarded as a
definitive starting point, although observable traits may
be the result of multiple genes or what breeder Frank
O’Neill routinely refers to as “genetic modifiers.” Then
there are occasional mysteries that stand in stark contrast
to the assumed-proven genetics. Current TAS president
Tamar Stephens points out, “The genes that we have
listed [in our phenotype library] are all genes that follow
Mendelian genetics. With multigenic traits, multiple
genes contribute to the overall effect, making the results
unpredictable.” That unpredictability may be the reason
why many traits have yet to reveal their genetic secrets.
The Angelfish Society has taken on the role of the
MATT PEDERSEN; BLACK ANGELFISH: MELLOW AQUATICS