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).

Tubifex Experiments (Day 13)

Here's the previous one: Day 3.

Well, I've been away on a family vacation. (By the way, if you want some tips about holidays and fishes, here's a post about it) I left my fishes with a relative.

What I forgot to tell you is that I bought a starter culture for my tubifex. I dumped it in the tubs containing gravel from my planted tanks. I never had the chance to take a photo (even now because the camera broke during the trip).

I want home today. I noticed that there are tubifex cocoons. This means that my tubifex are breeding and growing. I've seen a lot of them. But they still don't have the distinct red color (hence the nickname "bloodworms"). They're still a very light brown.

I continue the drip programme and refilling the 100gal tank every morning.

Tubifex Experiments (Day 3)

Here's from Day 2

This day is pretty much nothing.I refilled my 100gal tanks. I will cycle the tubs for at least a week. I also intend to adjust and get used to refilling the tanks everyday.

Sorry, no pictures for today.


Substrate
I am thinking for substrate. I'll use my coarse gravel found in my planted tanks as a base. That is the easiest solution. It is gravel straight from a cycled tank.

So, just wait until I update again!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 2)

Here's a link to Day 1

The pictures here are taken roughly 16 hours after I started my drip test. The big hose is too strong. It drained the tank to my minimum water level even before the 16-hour mark. The small hose is still dripping and I'll wait for the 24-hour mark. But, I think there is a chance that will also be able to drain the water to minimum level. So far, I plan on utilizing the small hose and if needed, adding a clamp to restrict water flow.

Here are some pictures:

The tubs have been filled and overflowing through the handle holes.

tub of small hose

tub of big hose

The effects of draining the 100gal tanks

effect of small hose

effect of big hose

One thing is for certain. The water change for the tub is more than 1; I am guessing around 7-8 times. This is due to the relatively strong drip and the small size of the tubs. I think this will work.

Thanks!
Keep checking!

Tubifex Experiment (Day 1)

I'm testing out how I could culture tubifex worms on my own. I asked around what I need to keep them alive:
1. Oxygen (aeration)
2. Running water (water change)
3. Substrate
4. Food

So, I came up with a no-work (I hope) system to solve #1 and #2. This is using a drip system design. I take water from my tanks to my tubifex. The movement of water solves the aeration problem. The water change is pretty much obvious. The excess water from the tubifex tubs will just overflow to the soil.

Here are some pictures of what I set up

"Sipping" from the big tanks

"Pouring" to the tubs
They've just been set up so the water is still really shallow

I chose two sizes of hoses: smaller (first picture) and bigger (second pictures). I did this for comparing which hose size would be more effective for tubifex.

Fingers crossed. I hope one (and hope more that both) would work. This could help my fish be stronger, healthier and happier.

So, I hope you keep in touch and watch for updates!

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.