Genetics Resources

[finney]

Googling "betta genetics" is of no help. I get sites with absolutely conflicting information.

Long story short, I have 3 kick-butt males I'd like to maybe screw up the courage to breed sometime in the relatively distant future. The thought of potentially losing both fish leaves me cold, but I do want to give it a go at some point. Yes, I know it's expensive and time consuming and even with the best fish on earth, not generally done for profit, but... yanno. I could find homes for LOTS of the fry right off, and the rest could be sold to pet stores or on AB.

I've bred various fish before, and attempted bettas several years ago, so I know how all that works. At least in theory. I expect my first few matings to be dismal failures and if they're not, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'd just like some idea of what "goes with" whom, so I know what females to order (and I will have to, because we get AWESOME males in this city, but you-know-what all for for females). I'd like at least a shot at some decent looking fry.

[Pataflafla]

Most depends on what you're breeding for and what your males have. Are you looking to breed crowntails, halfmoons, plakats, mixtures?

And then there's colors you'd want to look for and color types...

If you give people on here an idea of what you have and are looking to create, then they can suggest better. I won't be any help though since I don't know genetics for bettas. Just that halfmoon/halfmoon usually results in halfmoon fry and other basics. No ideas on colors other than marble/butterfly will make lots of marbles.

[vilmarisv]

Personally, I found this website very helpfull when I started my research for breeding: http://www.bettasrus.net/
I went crazy the other day looking for it because I'm preparing for a spawn next month and there was something I wanted to go over... the website was saved on my old computer and I spent a LONG time finding it again.
There's another I'm STILL looking for but it's not as good.

[indjo]

In terms of form, look at the IBC standard and get a female as close to it as possible. You should produce great fry.

Color is personal preference.

[finney]

Here's who I have:

Yet-unnamed HMD copper black:



I'd like to select a female for him that would also have copper and dragon, so presumably strengthen both characteristics, if it works that way. I wouldn't mind keeping HM, but if I could get to CT, that would be awesome. Alternately, you know those OMG copper blacks you see on AB? Yeah. That.

Sunny:


[Forgive me, I don't know the abbreviations in the right order yet]

Dragon plakat, platinum yellow butterfly. He's much yellower than the picture shows. He's the one I'd be willing to "play" with the most, genetically. I'd like to keep DPK though. HM or CT PK could also work.

Kaspar:



Unsure about breeding, leaning towards no. Albino [at least partial] bettas = cool as heck. Blind albino bettas = not so cool. People have bred albinos, so IF I tried him it would be after I have good breeding experience under my belt. Although, albinisim is an autosomal recessive, so theoretically, his offspring wouldn't look like him.

Angelo:



Not sure what he is. Platinum delta tail? Only thing is, he's very very VERY faintly pink, so maybe some red mixed in there? I'd like to get platinum or platinum marble out of him.

[indjo]

If you're using a camera, try to get a close up picture of them flaring so we could see their form, incl. ray branching.

[vilmarisv]

Do you know the genetic background if your fish?
You will see characteristics of parents/grandparents showing up in your spawns so you want to make sure you're breeding a fish you know.

[finney]

Kaspar doesn't flare because he can't see. Angelo also doesn't do it much. The other 2 do pretty readily, so I'll give all 3 sighted ones a shot and see what I can come up with.

[trilobite]

It will be next to impossible to breed a fish that cant see, and it wouldnt really be a trait I would want to risk passing on to future generations. Personally I wouldnt breed him... but still, awesome find!
But yeah try and get some good side view flaring pictures for us

[MadMay]

Darkmoon17 has some really pretty females and I know her spawn produces some copper black looking fish that I think would make a good match for your unnamed male.

From the same spawn I believe she mentioned a few platinum dragons that I think would go nicely with Angelo and sunny since they carry pk. Personally I purchased a copper marble girl that I would like to cross with a yellow or orange dragon : D her is her pic