Question 1: If neither the amel nor the anery parent were het for the "opposite" trait, then all the offspring would be normal but het for both traits. You made a correct assumption.
Question 2: Since you are getting normal, amel and anery offspring, then, yes, both parents are het for the other trait. You can also get snow offspring from this pairing.
Question 3: Yes, the amels are het for anery, the anerys het for amel, and the normals het for amel and anery (aka - snow).
Question 4: Breeding the offspring to each other can produce snows. Breeding parent to offspring can also produce snows. And as mentioned earlier, you can already get snows from breeding the parents.
Question 5: A snow MAY have been involved, but not necessarily. Recessive traits can be passed down for many generations before ever being expressed. Quite a number of combinations over several generations could bring you to the same results. Using a snow gets you there quicker and guarantees the het status of the offspring.
Question 6: Breeding a normal to a sunglow (and assuming the normal is NOT het for anything), all the offspring would be normal het for amel. Sunglow is a variation of amel selectively bred to eliminate all the white. This trait is not really completely inheritable. You have a better chance of producing sunglow offspring when you breed 2 sunglows together, but it cannot be guaranteed. A more recognizable way to describe it would be: breed a Great Dane (dog) to a Great Dane...you get Great Dane puppies. Breed a Great Dane to a Collie, you get mutts. If, over many generations, you breed those mutt puppies to each other and keep only the puppies that look more like Great Danes, perhaps breed a "purebred" Great Dane into the line every once in awhile, you will eventually get pups that look like purebred Great Danes. In another 10 generations, they could probably be considered purebred again.
Question 7: Your normal MAY be het for just about anything. If you get amel offspring, you know she is het for amel. If you get anery offspring, you know she is het for anery...and the male sunglow is also het for anery. If you get snow offspring, then you know both parents are het for both amel and anery. If you were to breed your normal to a hypolavender bloodred, and get hypolavender bloodred offspring, then you know your normal is het for hypo, lavender, and bloodred...and..., you're then the luckiest person alive and you need to pick my Lotto numbers!! LOL!!
You seem to have the basic genetics down. It CAN get a bit confusing, especially now that there are at least 4-5 known hypo genes, the motley, stripe and motley/stripe connection can be a little confusing (and there may be more than 1 type of motley), and the whole zigzag/aztec thing will drive you crazy if you try to put it simply.
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