Scalares without Aeration

This is how I keep, breed and raise my Angelfish

Community

Pairs

Juvies

My way of verifying sex in angelfish

Here are my steps:

1. I keep males and female seperate...these are the ones that I am definitely, absolutely sure
2. I get two unsexed breeder sized angels
3. I place the two unsexed breeders and one sure sexed breeder
4. I wait and observe for a few days

Normally, the sure sexed breeder will nip at the unsexed breeder that is the same sex. Sometimes, the two unsexed breeders nip at each other which means they are the same sex and want to pair up with the sure sexed breeder.
If they all fight, try changing the sure sexed breeder with a sure sexed breeder of the opposite sex.

Here is a sample. The gold in the middle is the mature female. The platinum at the right side (near the female) is a male. The fish at the left, hiding behind the slate is a female. The mature female chased her away because she wants the male for herself.

Multiple Ray Branching in Bettas

I have been thinking of the factors in determining the expression of heavy branching in betta caudals (tails).

I have recently been experimenting with the 8-rays trait in HMPK bettas. Here's my male:

He is the son of a cross between a Red Dragon HMPK male from a friend and a Copper HMPK female from my line. It was a complete surprise that such a fish popped out. Well, he was worth experimenting on and try to produce more of him. From this outcross, I am guessing several factors that should be at play.

Here are my ideas:

1. [Phenotype] ray branching is not a good sign for determining 8-rays

2. A better dose of DT genes can help you out in producing 8-rays

Hypothesis 1: [Phenotype] ray branching is not a good sign for determining 8-rays

This male's mother is also spawned with a Green Red Bicolor HMPK from another friend. This male has 8-rays branching. One could easily assume that the gene is hard-wired already in the offspring. They might not show it but i thought the trait can be induced. Well, I crossed this male to a female. No 8-ray offspring was produced. In fact, there are even 2-ray offspring. I am quite disappointed.
Recently, I crossed 4-ray females back to him. I hope for better results.

Family line of cross in hypothesis 1:

My Flowerhorn

Bonee

Saia

I really like the short bodied-flowerhorn (aka bonsai flowerhorn). I prefer them over normal-bodied ones. I like them because they are more than the usual although they can be hard to find. Also, one of the challenges to bonsai flowerhorn is developing their nuchal hump/kok/head bump. If you have one with a kok (a well developed kok), you have quite a catch.

I am planning to breed these two fish together (Bonee is the male and Saia is the female). Saia is hinting some kok development and I want to further develop the kok in future generations. I am also planning to get a titanium/thai silk female to pair with Bonee because I want to develop the pearling pattern even more. Bonee is showing some very promising pearls. There are other strains that I plan to cross with my bonsai to develop the pearls namely the Heavy Metal strain and the Pinoy Super Perfect strain. Both local strains have very good, very big koks and will help develop the kok too. But, I wonder what the effect will be to the body of my bonsai...I might have to breed out the bonsai body again after generations of damage control.

Hey! I stumbled on this fish in a local forum. I really like the fine pearling on this fish. A friend of mine told me that redness will also help develop the kok. The redder the fish is, the bigger its kok could get. So, this could be a very good candidate and stands as the number one choice in outcross breeders. I just hope I find one that is a short body.

I'll give you updates when I breed them. I'm still trying to make space for a 50gal tank for them to breed and raise fry in.