I first purchased these from Stan Shubel in 1984. I have crossed them with my gold reds a few times with variable results. The cross weakened the half black in the body and introduced the purple body mutation. For two years I worked to improve the black body color and eliminate the gold bodied fish from the line. Having done that, I spent the last year working to get the red in front of the half black. About 50% of the current generation carries the trait. I have not been showing the line as I have just focused on improving the strain. This appears to be an autosomal trait, making the genetics more difficult to track. It can be carried by the male or the female. The fish in the video are almost 3 months old.
This male is a gold bodied half black red carrying the purple body mutation. Note that the half black portion is not really black. This is why I have chosen the breed only gray bodied half black reds, so that the half black in the body remains a true black.
