Marble-based Black that Breeds True?

Since I have laid low on betta breeding over the past year, I lost most of my breeders and grow outs. However, I was left with three fish - one female and her two sons (one long-finned and a plakat/PK). The female is black. I only have a vague idea of what color the father is - a green marble HMPK. I'm not certain about that though. Because the female was able to breed successfully, then I assume she is not a Melano-based black. Eggs of Melano females do not successfully hatch - so they are effectively "infertile" in a sense (see the article The Different Types of Black for more information).

One shot of the female after spawning. Her color here suggests that it's a "Black Lace".

What's common to all three fish is that they are black. Of course, there is a fault of iridescence on the body and fins. The long-finned male started of as a black/red bicolor then changed to a butterfly pattern on the fins and marbling (white area) on the head, with no sign of red. The PK male, on the other hand, started as cellophane when it was juvenile but grew up to be solid black with no red as well. The color changes that these two fish underwent affirms that the black color is Marble-based (check this article to see how the Marble gene can change the fish's appearance). Since these fish don't show any red, they might also be carrying the Red Loss gene.

The long-finned son when he was a juvy. This fish looks like it will turn out to be a Bicolor.

The long-finned son now that he is older and has been bred.

When I crossed the Black PK male back to his mother, I wanted to get some doubletails (DT) back - whether as a DTPK or long-finned carrying PK. Given the broad dorsals of the male and his mother, there was a good chance. I did get one DT from the cross. It is black as well and still with iridescence like his father. Some siblings showed the same black color. Surprisingly, one sibling remained a Green/Red Bicolor. The number of blacks from this cross (backcross) gives a hint that the heredity of the color may be predicted accurately.

 

The Black DT.

Black siblings of the Black DT in the grow-out pond.

The Green/Red Bicolor sibling of the Black DT.

The black female was also crossed to a Copper HMPK and two Royal Blue SDs (there was a time I assumed that she is a PK). Due to the small spawn sizes, I decided to put the spawns together for efficiency. An unrelated spawn was also added to the grow out. From the mixed grow-out, I can see there are a few black fish. This hints that the black, like marble, can act in a semi-dominant manner. Most are iridescent colors and a few Marbles. (See here for more information on breeding marbles).

Black half-sibling. I think from the cross with the Royal Blue SD.

Non-Black half-sibling. Presumably from the cross with the Copper HMPK.

The next steps to check if the color does breed true is to do F2 crosses and also half-sibling crosses. The resulting offspring will provide more insight on this color. Will it breed true for another generation? Will it behave like marble - always changing color? Hopefully, I can get my hands on a Melano HMPK male and cross it to these Black fish. It will be interesting to see how this color interacts with the Melano gene. I wish that all goes well and I can write a sequel to this article.

UPDATE (Feb. 19, 2017): Pictures of other Blacks from the Black Marble SD x Black Marble SD (son x mother backcross) and Royal Blue SD x Black Marble SD (outcross).

Building a Betta Sorority Tank

It's been a long time (very, very, very long time) since I last posted. Only recently, I had the time again to get back into fish keeping. 99% of us don't have the whole day to spend for fish keeping. Time-saving, effort-reducing and productivity-increasing have become the rules of the game. Keeping in line with that, I decided to set up a betta sorority tank again. This was how I have always done it until I became very busy and had very few fish left.

So, what is a betta sorority tank? It is a tank of female bettas. Just google "betta sorority tank", "female betta community tank" and other similar keywords. You'll find article after article about setting one up. For this article, I just want something free-flowing. I'll simply list down my experiences and some points on how I do things.

Tank.
1. I don't use tall aquariums and I always choose horizontally-shaped tanks.
2. Gravel or no gravel, it doesn't really matter.
3. I make sure that there are many different hiding places for the females. These are places where they can retreat and rest between fights. Hiding places I've used are coconut shells, driftwood, pots, clay tiles and live plants. There are other things you can use.
4. I don't use any aeration or filtration for any of my tanks.

Number.
1. For me, the minimum number of females for a sorority is five (5). If it's less than that, keeping them separate is manageable too.
2. I allot 1-2 gallons per female.
3. I haven't read an article yet that says it's alright to add new females to the sorority but I have done so in the past. Yes, there is the fighting but I've seen it mellow down in a few days.

Tankmates. I've had placed different tankmates for my female bettas. These include corydoras, rainbow sharks, guppies, angelfish and even goldfish. The females get out of the way of the bigger fish and ignore the bottom feeders. They do show some aggression to the guppies. The long fins and colorful patterns remind them of other bettas. In my experience, this does some good - the female bettas get distracted and show less aggression to others of its kind.

On breeding. I have taken females out of the sorority to breed them and then put them back afterwards. There is not much fuss with the females. They do remember tankmates but there might be some nipping as a reminder. It is as long as the returning female is in good shape. If not, then she might not be fit enough for the tank.

Feeding. I feed my sorority tank as I would any other tank. I drop the food in two or three places (only one if I'm rushing). Leftovers are cleaned up by the bottom feeders and the snails in the tanks.

That's about it. I just wanted to share. I hope you can find this useful in addition to whatever else you've read in your research.

Happy Fish Keeping!

Working on Symmetrical Bettas

Well, I'm thinking of working on the three unpaired fins of bettas: dorsal, caudal and anal fin. In my plans, I have two of the three fins down. The sailfin trait for the dorsal and the rosetail for the caudal. Now, I'm thinking of working of the anal fin. Thus, breeding for the symmetrical trait will deal with the anal fin.

Here are some links about symmetrical betta.

The Plakat Trilogy

Proposal for Adjustment of the IBC Plakat Standards

I see some work in progress in the anal fins in a handful of my bettas. They show a more rectangular anal fin than a trapezoidal of a typical asymmetrical betta. 

Here are some pictures:

Here is the most prime example of the anal fin I'm looking for. This has the rectangular shape. The outline is smooth from the front part of the anal fin to the back. Aside from the anal, this has the dorsal and D-caudal to boot.

These two have rectangular anal fins. However, as you can see, the anal fin is not as smooth from the front to the back. This hints that the rear part of the anal fin will extend in the future...leading to an asymmetrical form. The extreme branching of the Copper Red Rosetail HMPK causes the anal fin to wrinkle and further make the outline more bumpy.

With more work, I will try to bring the form close to the first fish.

UPDATE (10/26/2013)
I got several new breeders from a friend. These fish are gonna be symmetrical!!! I'm excited to breed them!!! Then, breed them with my fish!!!!

Moreover, I am planning to breed the Platinum male to the DTPK daughter of the solid Copper male. If I'm lucky, he'll produce more symmetrical fish for me.

My Betta Breeds 2

Here are fish that I have bred in the past few months

Platinum Red HMPK

Copper DTHMPK

Copper Marble DTHMPK

Copper Marble Sailfin HMPK

Green Broad Dorsal HMPK

Copper Red HMPK

Copper Red Rosetail HMPK


Here is a link to the old one: My Betta Breeds

Grandfather VS Grandchild

Grandfather

Grandchild

I don't really know what motivated me to compare them. I just want to.

I will point out the differences that are most significant to me.
[Feel free to comment if you want to add more]

Dorsal
For me, both are sailfin because the dorsal fin width is at least half of body length. Dorsal bases (where the dorsal is attached to the body) are still wide.
Grandfather has a nicer shape because its more rectangular. More broad
Grandchild has a broad dorsal too (check out the base). However, the shape doesn't give it that impression though.
First rays play an important role. Grandfather has an abrupt increase in dorsal ray length while grandchild has a more gradual increase in dorsal ray length. Hence, grandchild's dorsal shape is more smooth and rounded.

Body
Grandfather has a typical betta body
Grandchild has a thicker, stockier body...this evidences a strong dt background (even though both of his parents are singletails carrying DT)
Toplines are both smooth.

Ventral, Anal, Caudal
All are pretty much the same to me. The shape of the anal fin is uniform for the line. I'm seeing a trend to a more symmetrical look.
Caudal is still rounded. I will have to work on that.

Color
Honestly, I have no idea how Grandfather carried marble. Grandchild's father is a copper marble. When Grandchild was younger, he was a solid copper then marbled out into his current color. It pretty much stabilized now.
Grandfather showed the typical black base my coppers have.


The Winner
For me, Grandfather still wins. I am planning to cross Grandchild to Grandfather's two DT daugthers. They are Grandchild's aunties. I hope to get more of Grandfather's blood into the next batches of fry. I am yet to see a reincarnation of Grandfather but I am hoping.

More about dorsals here: http://babyfishbreeder.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-dorsal.html

UPDATE (10/23/2013)
I see fry from Grandchild x DT aunts.
They are almost all DT! Grandchild really has strong DT blood in him.I crossed the aunties to other related fish. They threw in some singletails. I'm planning to bump the DT produced by him to these STs. I hope for more Sailfin HMPK to come my way!

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:

What a Dorsal!

check this out: http://www.qldaf.com/forums/bettas-79/3-week-old-betta-fry-80851/index2.html

this guy's got full sailfins on his bettas!
I wish I can produce fish like those!

I am inspired!

One thing is for sure though, I have several fish that do show very broad dorsal (but not as broad as the ones in the link) but the genes have not yet been fixed. These fish just pop out from spawn to spawn. It is inconsistent so far.

Here is what I look at for my bettas' dorsals:
1. base: the base is where the dorsal fin is attached to the body. The broader the dorsal base, the better. I always look at it in relation to the base of the anal fin. I always look for at least 50% ratio (dorsal base length / anal base length).
2. first rays: the next thing I look at is the first rays of the dorsal. The longer, the better. If they are longer, they give the dorsal more volume and better spread.
3. branching: the more extensive the branching, the wider spread and bigger volume. I saw these links in bettysplendens.com: Dorsals part 1 and Dorsal part 2. I am aiming for this, too but it is the last thing on my list.

Example:One of my first self-bred "sailfin" coppers

1. Base: The ratio is 2/3 or around 67%. That means the dorsal base is 2/3 the length of the anal base
2. First rays: The first rays of this fish is very short. They appear as mere protrusions from the body. Generally, the pattern is that the rays are getting longer as they get nearer the caudal. The idea for me is they are of equal length to each other.
3. branching: while the two other traits give the dorsal a broad look already, I will look into the branching. They are basically two-ray branching. Fair enough. But if they could go to 4-rays that would be better as the dorsal will spread more and would possibly flush forward. If it flushes forward, this would give the dorsal a better appearance.

Family Line:

May 15, 2013: I have bred this male to a spawn sister. The offspring (F3) produced a good number of DTs but the singletails do not exhibit the sailfin dorsal like the male. I crossed the F3: a Marble HMPK male and a Copper HMPK female. I transferred the small fry today. Some of the bigger ones are showing broad dorsal bases. I hope all of the singletails will be sailfins and I hope doubletails will also pop up. I want to do an F5 spawn in the future.

The Pearlscale Betta

When we say Pearlscale, the round golf ball-like Goldfish with protruding scales comes into mind. You ask people to think some more, people then think of Angelfish, or Scalare. But, I now want bettas to come into mind when we say Pearlscale.

What is pearlscale? It is the characteristic protruding of the scales. the scales are not necessarily round as the Goldfish version. The betta pearlscale is more similar to the Scalare version. The scales appear to be more like diamonds (so maybe it should be Diamondscale). However, the Scalare pearlscale has a rather random pattern. The betta pearlscale is diamond-shaped and is arranged in parallel rows of scales. But, one problem of the line is the appearance of "wrinkles". Wrinkles are defects that makes the scales look like they were twisted. This has been almost eliminated by choosing my breeders without the wrinkling. The pearlscale pattern is not yet as prominent as I would like them to be and I will be breeding for more pearlscale expression.

I have been working on the line for a year now. I got my initial broodstock from a fellow breeder who had these fish popping out of his grow-outs. He didn't really care about them much but I talked to him about developing the line together. He agreed and stopped ignoring those fish. However, his pearlscale line has crashed and is still to be revived. Here are some pictures of the pearlscales I have bred.

EESDA Betta Breeding

To start off, I think I should identify with sexing bettas. Some might think that plakat (short fin) males are females. To prevent you from putting two males together and end up with massacre, I am going to give some tips to identify if your "female" is really a she.
1. ovipositor: this is a small salt-looking organ behind her belly, before the anal fin. Be warned though because some chubby males have a similar looking thing on some occasions.
2. triangular belly: the belly of a female is more of a triangular swelling compared to a stuffed male's round belly. Looking from above, the female is wider and still has a triangular outline. If you look at a male from above, the belly is circular and round while the rest of the body is streamlined.
3. generally short fins: female bettas have short fins, even shorter than plakat males. However, I have seen long-finned females lately.


Now, here are simple steps I do to breed my bettas:

1. Prepare a barebottomed 2.5gal tank*. Place a few live plants and a piece of styrofoam for a bubblenest anchor.

*I have spawned in bigger tanks (10gal+) and with a fine substrate but not quite as fine as sand.

Here are more common set-ups.

2. Add the conditioned male and female. Some would use a chimney to separate the pair first but I have long stopped using those. Just let them be together.

3. Wait. Check the pair occasionally to make sure that none get too hurt. Although the wife-beating is part of betta love, there is a point where a female betta is too abused. The breeder must use his personal discretion.

4. After 2 days to a week, the bettas would have spawned already. The spawning process involves the female approaching the male's bubblenest in a bowing, submissive way. The male tries to flip the female and wrap his body around her. The female will release her eggs and the male will fertilize them.
At this point, you will have eggs. Betta eggs look like small pieces of salt hanging on the bubblenest. Remove the female. The male will kill her if you don't. Trust me. I tried.

5. Wait. After 24-48 hours, the eggs would have hatched and you will have fry hanging vertically. Just let them be. Wait again.

6. 2-3 days from hatching, the fry will be free swimming. You can remove the male at this point or opt to keep him with the fry as this method in these links:
http://www.bettysplendens.com/articles/page.imp?articleid=809
http://www.bettysplendens.com/articles/page.imp?articleid=839

7. If you opt to remove the male, use a coarse net to avoid taking any fry. When you catch the male, do not remove him immediately. Just dangle the net in the spawning tank for around 10 minutes. This will allow the male to spit out any fry in his mouth.


So there you have it. Betta breeding is easy. It might be tricky at the start but when you get the hang of it, it will be a breeze. Good luck on your spawns!

UPDATE (11/04/2013):
What I forgot to add in this post are tips!

1. Aggressive breeder = more volume, example: add water to a half-filled tank
2. "Too Battered" breeder = depends on you...if you think they will spawn, add more water; but if you think otherwise, scratch the pair
3. "Not Aggressive Enough" breeder = less volume, example: drain water to half level
4. Short-finned male = more volume
5. Long-finned male = less volume
6. Female is larger than male = more volume
7. Male is much larger than female = more volume
8. No bubblenest = normally, I let the pair be...this type of male builds a small one after he squeezes the female; but other times, I scratch the pair
9. Female is not moving anymore = separate the female, out of other fish's sight...if she swims fine/properly/upright, put her back in; but if she doesn't, scratch the pair
10. Judgement and gut feel and intuition = breeders develop some kind of instinct as they breed more fish; trust your self!

The Orange Betta and My Thoughts

Here are my thoughts about the expression of orange in bettas.

Before...

I believed of three genes in expressing red and its variations (yellow, orange)

NR - red, dominant* (this is just a representative of the "normal" red color)

nr1 - yellow, recessive**

nr2 - orange, recessive** as well

*dominant = only needs one gene to be expressed; it takes over the recessive gene

**recessive = needs two genes to be expressed

Therefore, doing a punnet square of nr1nr1 x nr2nr2 would yield 100% nr1nr2

Here's a little guide to genetics: http://bettaterritory.nl/BT-AABtermgenetics.htm

Since both nr1 and nr2 are recessive and need two copies to be expressed, nr1nr2 fry will turn out to be red. My friend did a cross with yellow and orange fish, although he used bi-colors. True to my expectation, all the fish are red.

I got two fish from my friend for my own crosses. I did two crosses of his fish with my fish:

(1) Yellow x Red Dragon (my friend's)

nr1nr1 x nr1nr2 = 50% nr1nr1, 50% nr1nr2

(2) Red Dragon (my friend's) x  Red Dragon (carries nr1)

nr1nr2 x NRnr1 = 25% NRnr1, 25% NRnr2, 25% nr1nr1, 25% nr1nr2

However...

Aside from getting my expected mix of yellow and red, I got two orange fish in each spawn.

Theoretically, that would be impossible. How could the nr2 gene be expressed with just one copy?

I wonder what could other factors do in expressing orange. 

So, my hypothesis on orange now is that (1) it is not based on a single gene. Another friend noted that orange is highly recessive. So maybe, yes, another gene is being neglected. (2) Another possibility is the effect of some marble gene limited to only red and produce the orange color - a sort of cambodian gene for the entire red layer.

Another question to be raised is...will these "orange fish" breed true? That will be the ultimate test of their true genetics. I would do an F2 of each orange to a sibling. If they do produce orange fish, they are certainly orange.

On a side note, I will try these crosses with an orange fish I got.

(a) Orange x Red Dragon (my friend's; fish in cross #1)

(b) Orange x Red Dragon (my line; fish in cross #2)

But for now...
The idea of the nr2nr2 to produce orange still holds but I am still curious on what else is there...

UPDATE (11/03/2013):
So, I came back to answer...did those oranges breed true? Yes. I also added another trait. I saw an orange dalmatian VT (even when people would say it's a stupid decision) and crossed that to fish from my line. Then, the offspring are bred to the orange and nr1nr2 as well. The nr1nr2 cross yielded me with cambodian reds and platinum reds. The orange cross yielded this fish:

Here is the result. It's an orange dalmatian DTPK. The spots on the fins are from the orange dalmatian VT ancestor. Both the color and fins need work. The color is washed out and is very light. Most likely, it is the effect of the cambodian gene. The finnage needs more spread and branching especially the caudal. Still, this will be a worthy piece for my projects.

My Old Betta Drip System

This system is a few years old. DIY with what I have at home.

I revived it recently and changed the tanks used inside. Upgraded the 4"x4"x4" tanks to 4"x6"x8". Here is the link



top view

pump & sponge filter

pipe

drip to tank

Basically, this is how it works:
1. Pump brings water up the PVC pipe then distributed to the tanks with the air hose
2. Water overflows from the tanks and flows to the catch basin (bigger tank)
3. Water in the catch basin is filtered by the sponge as it is sucked in again by the pump

New Goals in Breeding

GA Symmetrical HMPK x HM
GA Symmetrical HMPK x CT
GA Symmetrical HMPK x EESDA DTHMPK
EESDA DTHMPK x HM
EESDA DTHMPK x CT

GA = Gerry Antonio, I think he is the first to develop a stable Symmetrical HMPK line in the Philippines

My Betta Breeds

Copper Red HMPK male (descended from Copper Red PK-geno Delta and Copper HMPK)


Cellophane HMPK male (descended from Red Dragon x Marble)


Melano PK male (descended from Metallic Steel HMPK x Copper PK)


Grizzle HMPK male (brother to Cellophane)


 Metallic Steel HMPK male (brother to Melano)


Copper PK female (niece of Melano and Metallic Steel)



Black Lace HMPK male (sibling of Copper PK female)


Metallic Steel Blue Marble (sibling of Copper PK female)
This one has a really promising dorsal but I can't say that for the rest of the fins. This fish is related (albeit, very, very distantly) to my current Copper Line. I would say the line is really inclined to broad dorsals.

Here is a link to the new one: My Betta Breeds 2