A + b = ?

[AFishTale]

Or to carry on the line for better quality.

[FlareThis]

What are your breeding goals? Do you want to show in the future? Are you trying to make a profit? Do you just want the experience?

Will you be able to find homes for the fry (There can be 200+ of them)? Breeding takes a lot of time, a lot of space and a lot of money! You need to do tons of research, especially since right now you dont even know what the different tail types look like...

I'm not trying to be mean, but those are the facts.

As for your boys, that red copper has a few conformational issues, he has a lot of ray branching, hes almost bordering on rosetail, his anal fin is really long too. If you decided to breed him I would maybe breed him with a HMPK female to shorten those fins just a bit, get the babies looking more compact then he is.

Out of your boys, I honestly like the second one you posted the best, looks like a super delta to me, and I would love to see a couple flaring pictures of him!

[AFishTale]

Thank you very much for the feedback, I figured my red boy didn't look quite proportionate. Ehh, that's Petco quality for ya. As for the SDT, he's pretty timid and I have yet to get a good flare shot of him...And yes, between now and the time summer starts I intend to be researching like mad! Hence why I joined this forum in the first place, so I could ask questions and get good answers from knowledgeable people like yourself. (:

As for my goals; right now I'm really just in it for the experience, but want to make sure I can get heathy and good looking fish. My plan is to gather all the information and supplies that I can during the next six weeks, and then hopefully rear a group of fry this summer when I'm off school.

One thing that's really bugging me is the finding homes issue. I've asked around about how to go about this, and have gotten different responses. How would/have you? (or anyone else reading this) go about finding homes for them?

Again, I value your advise and feed back. ^^ Thanks!

[AFishTale]

Okay, I managed to get one of him flaring. o: How does he look conformation wise? I'm trying to learn all I can. ^^

[DarkMoon17]

Originally Posted by AFishTale

One thing that's really bugging me is the finding homes issue. I've asked around about how to go about this, and have gotten different responses. How would/have you? (or anyone else reading this) go about finding homes for them?

I sell them on aquabid and DeviantArt. You have to get the shipping materials (which can be purchased on aquabid). You can also sell to your LFS or sell/give them to friends.

If you wanted to breed the Red Copper, then a HMPK cross would be best to fix up the fins. You would also want to find a female with a larger dorsal fin.

The SDT appears to have better conformation than the red copper. His fins are more compact.
-DM17

[indjo]

In terms of fin quality, I agree with DM17 - the light colored male is better. They are more symmetrical and .... neat (?) while the copper shows signs of rose - something you don't want to breed.
You need to make the light colored fins a bit thicker by pairing him to a firm finned female.

Edit - originally posted:
If you want to be 100% sure, get a female with a 180* spread, with 11 base and 4 end ray branching and preferably with pointed tail edges.

I meant to say 8 rays ..... sorry about that.