breeding an ee betta

[stangant]

I am looking to breed my elephant ear betta at some point and would like to know compatibility. I would like to keep the over features of the elephant ear but maybe grow them larger. Is there a female king or giant beta that I could go with? thanks for any help in advance, I have experience in breeding African ciclids but I am new to betta's.

[indjo]

If you want to cross breed size, it is best to use smaller female - thus use male kings/giants and female big ear. The pair need to wrap in an embrace to fertilize the eggs. If the male is much smaller (slightly smaller is OK), he won't be able to embrace properly.

You might want to read the stickies on breeding for basic knowledge. Then ask as many questions as you can think of.

[stangant]

I have been reading up just not sure how big the female king is compared to my ee. He is around 1.5in long.

[indjo]

As far as I know, Kings could reach 2-3" (body only - without fins). If your male is only 1.5", then he would be too small. Remember, female's body is usually fatter/thicker than males. Equal sized, males have difficulty embracing too fat females.

[stangant]

darn... ok well what other beta would be a good candidate for breeding with this guy since there is no female ee's to be found.

[aemaki09]

whats his tail type? you'd want one with the same tail as him.
have you looked on Aquabid or ebay to see if they have any EE females?

[stangant]

this is my lil guy. I cannot find any females.

[stangant]

i'm thinking maybe a plakat?

[aemaki09]

yes, he looks like a PK. So you could breed him with either an hm, hmpk, or pk and you would be safe. I'm not sure if the EE gene is recessive or dominant, so if you arent in any rush to breed I'd go search around online for a month or two and see if a female EE pops up by that time.

[stangant]

nope not in a hurry at all just trying to get some study done. Maybe someone else on here has attempted this before.?