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.

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!

Bonsai Update

This is just for Bonie

Before (2 weeks after I got him)

After (a few weeks ago):

Bonee was in a 20gal tub so I had to raise him to take a photo.

This is them today (Aug 15, 2013)

The photos are around 3 months apart. I would say he got more round than before. It's nearer the coin shape. The mouth is also not as pointed as before. Kok has definitely grown.

What do you guys think?

Update (10/23/2013)
Male is doing better. I put him back to a crate to grow out some more. His colors really intensified!

The female is starting to fade out. She looks really pale now. Since she doesn't have much pearls, she'll be a pale white fish. :(

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:

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 Guppy Breeding

Guppies are live-bearing fish and are one of the easiest fish to breed. Because of their ease, their population can easily boom. Here are just the methods I use in breeding my guppies. Males and females are easily told apart. Males are more colorful. They also have smaller bodies and bigger fins. The females have bigger bodies, shorter fins and duller than the males. The females also have a more rounded body compared to the males.

1. Prepare a trio or a quad of guppy breeders. Male to female ratio is 1:2 or 1:3. Just place them in a tank with plants for fry's hiding places. Take care of them as you would as other fish and wait for them to give birth. Female guppies can give birth 6 times using the sperm from one mating.

2. When the fry are born, I do not remove them unless they are being eaten. If plant cover is sufficient, eating will not be a problem. I give the fry baby brine shrimp at first but they are also big enough to be given daphnia.

3. When I can discern the males from the females, I remove only a handful of females (6-10pcs). You can also choose to remove all of them but it is not necessary. This is important to keep them virgin so they will be flexible for future use because you know which male mated with them. You can identify females by the black spot at the back of their bellies. The pointed anal fin of the male (or the gonopodium) is not yet developed so anal fin shape will not be an effective tool.

4. Raise the main spawn group and selected females separately. When they reach about half an inch long, adult food can be given. No need to crush the food. The water will soften those up for the fry.

5. When you see your potential breeders, separate them and prepare for another generation.

The challenge with guppies is that they can easily boom. So be prepared with what to do with your excess fish. Well, you can sell them if you have enough space to raise a lot of fry to sell. If not, you can also opt to use them as feeders to carnivorous fish or turtles.

UPDATE (11/04/2013)
Here are some tips!

1. Choose a fry tank that is not too wide. Position it so you that you face the "short breadth" of the tank.
2. When your guppies give birth, catch all fry and move them to the fry tank. Grow them out together.
3. Every time you feed look for males. Catch them and transfer them to another tank. I put my juvenile males along with the adult males in the community tank.
4. You can now choose your potential breeders!

Good luck on your guppy breeding!

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!

Less Strains, Less Strain

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been busy with the fishroom then not busy [got sick]. During my sick days, I started to think how complicated it is to maintain a lot of lines. My dreams of getting a really large farm for my fish has faded because it can only come later. I now just want to maximize the tanks I have so far.

Here's a breakdown of my tanks:
3pcs 100gal tanks
3pcs 20gal tanks
4pcs 35gal tanks
8pcs 18"x18"x12"
30pcs 12"x18"x12"
1pc 36"x18"x12"
1pc concrete pond (around 55-70gal)
16pcs 4"x6"x8"


Here's what I'll use them for:
16pcs 4"x6"x8" = Male Individual Tanks: These tanks will be used as they are.

4pcs 35gal = Female Betta Community Tanks: I will have one tank for the form betta lines I will maintain. Formwise, most of the fishes will be halfmoon plakats (HMPK) carrying doubletail (dt). The offspring will be a mix of singletail (st) and dt fish. I will have one specific form line, CTPK. At first, I really segregated and diversified my lines numbering to more than fifteen. I decided that I should integrate some lines together.
1. Copper-based Line = Copper + Platinum + Pastel + Grizzle + Marble
Since my Marbles have red, I might inject some red loss genes or maybe even yellow. I have a copper-based spawn that produced no red in the offspring. The lineage is:
Copper DTPK x Copper DTPK             Copper DTPK x Red HM
               Copper Marble DTPK      x     Multicolor SD                    (half-sibling cross, same father)
                         Green marbled, no red expressed
2. Bicolor/Butterfly Line = Copper Red + Copper Orange + Copper Yellow + Platinum Red + Platinum Orange + Platinum Yellow + Cambodian + Butterfly + Blue Black Lace
I will be producing red/black butterfly bettas. To further integrate my lines, instead of using the red gene to produce the red color in my lines, I will use a combination of nr1 (yellow) and nr2 (orange) genes. A fish with nr1 and nr2 does not produce yellow nor orange but it produces red. Crossing two of these nr1nr2 fish will produce 25% yellow, 25% orange and 50% red in the offspring. I have all three colors in one combination.

For Lines 3 and 4, I do not really care about the color but am focusing on form. I will be solidifying the Pearlscale body and CTPK form.
3. Pearlscale Line = I just combined the different pearlscale lines I have = Copper + Marble + Platinum Red
Actually, these lines are very related. I have actually one male that started as a Copper but Marble-d out and now he is a Platinum Red. It's like magic.
4. Crowntail Plakat (CTPK) Line = CTPK line, any color/pattern
For this line, I specified "any color/pattern" because I want to fix the form. Currently, the colors of my CTPK are iridescent and metallic. However, if I see a CTPK with a really good form in the future, I will try to get it and if I do, I will not hesitate to breed it no matter what color it may be.

However, I do not intend to rigidly and strictly implement these divisions. I would like to keep my options open. I recently noticed a broad-dorsal female from my F2 CTPK line and that would perfectly match the broad-dorsal (almost sailfin) HMPK I have. I will not hesitate to cross them. Development could be hastened this way.

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.

Going on Holiday

Sometimes we can't avoid going out of town and of course, we can not bring any of our fishes, so here are

MY TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR VACATION

1) Get someone to feed your fish if (a) you'll be gone for more than a week and/or (b) you have eggs/fry.

2) Instruct that person face-to-face and provide a demonstration on feeding.


3) Label the tanks accordingly with what, how much and when to feed.

4) Give instruction on the preparation of these foods (e.g. hatching Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS), harvesting microworms (MW), catching mosquito larvae, etc.)

5) Pre-pack food to make it easier for the caretaker!

6) Make a manual. This will summarize everything you have taught about feeding, food preparation and everything else.

7) Do a water change (WC) a day or two before leaving.

8) Do not leave any aggressive fish pair together.

9) If parents are with eggs, leave them together. Don't if the parents won't show any parental care. If parents with fry, remove the parents. Fry have less likely to die than eggs to have fungus.

10) Provide a simple solution (fool-proof) to any problem that might arise while you are away. For example, WC in goldfish tank in case fish show difficulty breathing.