Thoughts on this male?

[Vizja13]

Can I get some opinions on my Red Copper HM Male?

Sorry for the glare...His caudal fin is ragged because he was recovering from tail-biting in his old 10 gal

[homegrown terror]

too much branching and folding in his tail...you'd have to find a very subdued delta female in order to counteract it, and even then you might end up with some bad x-factoring. also, his dorsal and anal are too long for his tail.

[Vizja13]

Exactly what I thought.

What do I want to look for in fry to cull any x-factor? And how is his body shape?

[indjo]

His body needs improvement. If you draw a line from mouth to tail, body is ideally equal (top and bottom). Further his head is rather dippy. From mouth to tail (top line) should curve smoothly, no dips - including dorsal to tail.

+1 homegrown terror on fins

[homegrown terror]

Originally Posted by Vizja13

Exactly what I thought.

What do I want to look for in fry to cull any x-factor? And how is his body shape?

i doubt x-factoring is really visible till they're nearly at a sellable age, but you don't necessarily NEED to cull them. true they'll be no good for breeding, but if all else is good (i.e. no deformed spine, ruined fins etc) there's no reason you couldn't find a few LPS that'd give you 50 cents a head for them, and find them homes as pets. if you had a spawn of 200, out of which only 25 were "sellable" you'd have 175 left, cull maybe another 25 for deformities, and sell 150 bettas for $75, and you'd have money to buy a new fish to outcross and improve your current generation. a great line can be started from just about any origin, some just require more work.

overall, there's no reason it'd be inhumane to breed him, but for sake of feasibility and attainable goals, you might want to start out somewhere closer to the mark you're looking to achieve.