Betta Colour Crosses

[Snape]

I'm almost certain that a good quality Male Betta will be my next purchase. I have a spare 32 (about 7 gallon) litre tank that has been sitting idle fo a few months and I think it'd look great with just the single fish in it. (Possibly a few pygmy cory but the betta will go in 1st on his own for a while.)

Because I always tend to go over the top on any new project this will innevitably lead to a female Betta community tank and a fry grow out tank in the future!

I'm just wondering how one goes about selecting females that will give good colour young. Is it general practise to breed very similar colour mates of the same tail type or does crossing vastly different colour fish sometimes give as good results? All the places I have looked at so far sell sibling pairs, this is fine if you have a goal in mind to create stunning fish of the same type and colour but do the resulting babies all look rather like clones?

Mark

ps, stolen from the aquabid thread: gorgeous. Want one. For example if the below fish was crossed with a platinum female of the same tail type what do you think would be the end result.

 

[devon_charm]

I would like to know about crossing colour. i mean would you get some yello some blue and some green if you crossed a blue and yellow pair? or orange if you put blue and red together???

 

[starrynightxxi]

genetics doesn't work that way, breeding a yellow fish to a blue one won't give you a green fish. Remember Mendel and his peaflowers? crosspollinating white peaflowers with purple gave him some white flowers, and some purple, the colors didn't mix to create light purple.

that, though, is about the extent of my genetics knowledge.

 

[modaz]

genetics doesn't work that way, breeding a yellow fish to a blue one won't give you a green fish. Remember Mendel and his peaflowers? crosspollinating white peaflowers with purple gave him some white flowers, and some purple, the colors didn't mix to create light purple.

that, though, is about the extent of my genetics knowledge.

its been a while since i looked at colour genetics but i'll see if i can remember it LOL.
the base colour of all bettas are black, black is the natural colour of the species, the colours that you see now a days are the genetically improved pigmentation that covers the black, if at any point where the coloured pigment is missing due to the genetic structure of the betta then you will see the black.
To create a pattern that you desire you may pick the 2 adults that hold almost the same pattern if not the siblings of a particular pairing. this will give you a higher chance that the genetic structure in the fry will hold the same colours in the same place thus creating a particular pattern.
Red is a dominent gene, yellow is a mutated gene of red, blue is also dominent, green and steel are mutated genes of blue, copper is a very fine spray of genetics (not bold as the solid colours) consisting of red, blue and the mutated yellow, black orchid is not the original black colour of bettas but is a mutated colour that originated from red, the natural black colour is much duller than you would imagine it to be like. breeding black orchids will give you infertile females in the F3 spawn, so advised to cross the male with a female from the previous spawn to ensure fertility. 2 greens produce a royal blue,white is a further mutation of the yellow from the red

mother nature is a wonderful thing at times and there is always a chance that crossing unusual colours will give you a marvelous pattern to work with, and matching up the pigmentation pattern (colour) as best as you can regarding the position on the fish will enhance or improve that area within a couple of spawns.

As for creating colours with the image of how a rainbow spectrum works is not the case, the fact is to carefully select and then work on adding or removing genetics to create a new pattern of colour on the fish.

 

[devon_charm]

Wow Daz your so clever, thats really interesting

 

[snapefish]

Facinating stuff.

Thanks for taking the time to post all that modaz. Do you still breed bettas? I'm not a huge fan of sending or recieving fish thorough the post and am trying to find someone near who I can buy direct from.

Cheers

Mark

 

[ibbledibble]

Facinating stuff.

Thanks for taking the time to post all that modaz. Do you still breed bettas? I'm not a huge fan of sending or recieving fish thorough the post and am trying to find someone near who I can buy direct from.

Cheers

Mark

modaz do you have any crowntails in stock? was told about your new shop opening last sunday, but unfortunately have been unable to get down and check it out yet. I liked the look of bettas but didn't know much about them. started reading the aquabid thread and now i'm hooked! love the crowntails and the halfmoons especially

im picking some up tomorrow, only crowntail b/c the HM and DT aint arrived in th uk yet. your welcome to come a have a good look and introduce yourself, if you like one in particular you can reserve him until hes out of guarantine.

 

[alessasavoca]

will also add-re:Modaz's fish that he is breeding some to sell through his shop and he'll be having fish from my spawns as well-quality bettas at DP Fishways eh?

 

[snapefish]

Very interesting.

I set up the tank today. I think a little drive may be in order.

Mark

 

[Bubblenester]

Breeding bettas that are siblings or at least the same color will give you a better chance of getting the color, pattern, and fin that you want. Usually there is still a decent amount of variation in the offspring, or at least enough to satisfy me (I'd hate to get a tankful of clones!)

For variety, my favorite thing to do is breed a pair of royal blue marbles. Royal blue x royal blue will give you 50% royal blue, 25% turquoise, and 25% steel blue, and when you're breeding marbles you will get a whole variety of patterns- solid, butterfly, and marble. I actually have a royal marble x royal marble spawn growing out right now and all the fish are different. I even have a bunch of doubletails, and I didn't even know either of the parents carried doubletail!

 

[starrynightxxi]

Breeding bettas that are siblings or at least the same color will give you a better chance of getting the color, pattern, and fin that you want. Usually there is still a decent amount of variation in the offspring, or at least enough to satisfy me (I'd hate to get a tankful of clones!)

For variety, my favorite thing to do is breed a pair of royal blue marbles. Royal blue x royal blue will give you 50% royal blue, 25% turquoise, and 25% steel blue, and when you're breeding marbles you will get a whole variety of patterns- solid, butterfly, and marble. I actually have a royal marble x royal marble spawn growing out right now and all the fish are different. I even have a bunch of doubletails, and I didn't even know either of the parents carried doubletail!

are you doing PK, or long finned bettas? I may be interested in one of your DTs when they're grown out. If you don't mind shipping, that is.

 

[Bubblenester]

are you doing PK, or long finned bettas? I may be interested in one of your DTs when they're grown out. If you don't mind shipping, that is.

These are long-finned (delta) but the parents are both carrying plakat. So far I haven't spotted any definite PKs in the spawn though. I was thinking of offering up some of the nicer ones on here for cheap once they're a little bigger.