Betta Breeding

[littlefishie]

I know it's hit or miss with breeding bettas as to what exactly you can get.. but I just got an idea.

Now that I have two quality bettas [a pair of crowntails] I thought I might finally give breeding a chance. Yes, I know I have to get all the cultures and beanie boxes and everything, as well as growout tanks. I probably won't do this until the summer, so there'll be plenty of time to prepare. I also have an LFS that'd gladly take the fry.. I'm fortunate they love me there.

But since I'll have a couple months to decide what I'll want to do or not, here's what I'm wondering..

I have a red crowntail female with a bit of bluey-green iridescence to her.
I have a mostly blue crowntail male with a double-ray extension, whose caudal and anal fins have a blue/red/blue butterfly pattern..

What do you think the fry would turn out like? I'm sure there'd be blues and reds, but I'm wondering about the female's iridescence and the male's butterfly pattern..

Just curious.

 

[wuvmybetta]

That's a mix you would probably want to avoid. The goal with red is to get rid of any blue, so mixing would defeat that purpose.

I would guess that you would get a false purple (possibly) and mostly blue fish with red wash,or vice versa.

 

[littlefishie]

*bump* don't want this to get lost on the second page..

I'm just really curious as to what the fry may turn out like.. I've tried to get pictures of the pair, but my camera's just not cooperating.

 

[littlefishie]

That's a mix you would probably want to avoid. The goal with red is to get rid of any blue, so mixing would defeat that purpose.

I would guess that you would get a false purple (possibly) and mostly blue fish with red wash,or vice versa.

Ahh! We posted at the same time! Now I feel bad for the bumping..

Thanks wuv, I didn't even think of that.. I thought maybe the red of the female would bring out the butterfly in the male..
I'll keep my eye out for some blue girls and maybe give it a go with that.. they had some little blue crownie girls at the LFS last time I was there..

What do you mean by false purple?

 

[wuvmybetta]

A true purple betta is pretty much non-existent/very hard to come by. It's usually red covered by a layer of blue which gives it a purple tint,but it's not true purple. Here's an interesting purple run down.
http/www.bettysplendens.com/articles/pag...?articleid=1973

EDIT~ Also, I wouldn't recommend CT's for your first spawn. Ray curling and mis-shapen finnage are quite common and they would be disappointing as your first fry.

 

[littlefishie]

That's kinda sad, as my LFS doesn't understand what a halfmoon or super delta is.. crowntail they just recently learned, as they thought it was a spade-tail plakat. I'm prepared for the disappointment though.. but I won't risk it if I shouldn't.

That's a really interesting article.. I love the bettas in the pics.. I can only wish mine would turn out like that!

Would it be so bad to do crownies as a first? I'm not too sure what my other options are, and if I waited until the summer to buy a pair online I wouldn't really have the time to observe them and such..

 

[wuvmybetta]

Oh I'm not trying to stop you. I'm just letting you know from my experience. I've bred CT's twice and out of both spawns I got amazing girls and a small handful of show quality boys. The rest of the boys are "ehh". They each have a flaw of their own.

But if your LFS will take them then go for it

 

[littlefishie]

I didn't think you were trying to be discouraging.. I just don't want to do it if it's a bad idea. I'd rather do things right.

Having the small handful of show quality would be perfectly fine with me, cos I'd probably want to keep a couple. The rest the LFS would gladly take.. of course their bettas aren't perfect, and I'm sure that a couple of curled rays wouldn't be so bad.. They're not going in a show, they're just really pretty bettas that will suck people into the hobby a lot easier!

I know it worked for another member on here, DannyBoy17.. he had one male VT on Friday and yesterday picked up a female and a male crownie, because he just couldn't resist them!