Betta Breeding colors

Hello, I have a delta male who has been making very large bubble nests so I decided to do some research on breeding. He just looks like a basic delta, blue and red, pretty much exactly like this stock photo. My question is what colors will the fry be depending on which female I decide to get. My top choices are a pink galaxy koi, an orange koi, a blue marble, or a fancy black samurai. My thoughts are that his dark blue gene will overpower a pink galaxy or orange koi, as for the others I have no clue.

 

Hi,

Before you consider genes, do you have the money, time, and resources to breed bettas? Live food, extra tank/jars? Do you have the time to feed the fry many many times a day?

 

Hi,

Before you consider genes, do you have the money, time, and resources to breed bettas? Live food, extra tank/jars? Do you have the time to feed the fry many many times a day?

Yes I have been looking into all of this

 

Assuming you got him from a pet store and not a breeder then you really can't tell what colours you'll get. If the female is also from a pet store then you literally have absolutely no clue what the results will be. You will likely end up with something marbled no matter what just because most bettas seem to have that gene. I personally wouldn't recommend getting into breeding if using store bought fish and would instead recommend looking into imported or professionally bred ones. Keep in mind that bettas won't always be willing to breed with each other and that the female will possibly die.

Also keep in mind that the majority of bettas are severely inbred and have some pretty awful genes. Tumors, fins so big they weigh them down, diamond eye, etc to name a few. Not to mention that nearly all store bought ones have infections or illnesses that may not be immediately visible. Specifically with any "koi" coloured bettas the fish are more likely to get tumors due to the marble gene. The thing that gives them that spotted colour is basically their pigment and scales constantly changing which is exactly how tumors and cancers are formed.
With "samurai" and/or dragon scale bettas you'll notice they have thicker scales on their face. These tend to continue to grow and cover their face and body and often will actually grow over their eyes and blind them.

There's also a lot of thinking to do over why you want to do this. How confident are you in betta care? Will you be able to stay committed if they get severely ill and/or die? Will you be able to cull those that are unhealthy? Do you want to breed them to make money? Do you want to just make pretty fish? Are you trying to strengthen the species? In my personal opinion I would recommend breeding only if you're looking to better the species just because bettas are so widely bred that making money off of them is near impossible unless you have show quality or extremely rare results.

Assuming you know all this and are willing to risk it I would highly recommend planning on what you will do with the offspring after they're old enough to rehome. Not all petstores will buy bettas, most won't take care of them, and a lot of them will likely meet the same fate most do- dying prematurely due to poor conditions. Selling them online is an option but make sure you look into shipping live fish and the legalities of it wherever you are.

I don't mean to be so negative but it's just that breeding is a serious commitment that honestly deals with as much death as it does life.

 

Assuming you got him from a pet store and not a breeder then you really can't tell what colours you'll get. If the female is also from a pet store then you literally have absolutely no clue what the results will be. You will likely end up with something marbled no matter what just because most bettas seem to have that gene. I personally wouldn't recommend getting into breeding if using store bought fish and would instead recommend looking into imported or professionally bred ones. Keep in mind that bettas won't always be willing to breed with each other and that the female will possibly die.

Also keep in mind that the majority of bettas are severely inbred and have some pretty awful genes. Tumors, fins so big they weigh them down, diamond eye, etc to name a few. Not to mention that nearly all store bought ones have infections or illnesses that may not be immediately visible. Specifically with any "koi" coloured bettas the fish are more likely to get tumors due to the marble gene. The thing that gives them that spotted colour is basically their pigment and scales constantly changing which is exactly how tumors and cancers are formed.
With "samurai" and/or dragon scale bettas you'll notice they have thicker scales on their face. These tend to continue to grow and cover their face and body and often will actually grow over their eyes and blind them.

There's also a lot of thinking to do over why you want to do this. How confident are you in betta care? Will you be able to stay committed if they get severely ill and/or die? Will you be able to cull those that are unhealthy? Do you want to breed them to make money? Do you want to just make pretty fish? Are you trying to strengthen the species? In my personal opinion I would recommend breeding only if you're looking to better the species just because bettas are so widely bred that making money off of them is near impossible unless you have show quality or extremely rare results.

Assuming you know all this and are willing to risk it I would highly recommend planning on what you will do with the offspring after they're old enough to rehome. Not all petstores will buy bettas, most won't take care of them, and a lot of them will likely meet the same fate most do- dying prematurely due to poor conditions. Selling them online is an option but make sure you look into shipping live fish and the legalities of it wherever you are.

I don't mean to be so negative but it's just that breeding is a serious commitment that honestly deals with as much death as it does life.

Yes I did get him from a pet store so you're probably right about the genes. I was planning on getting the female from a breeder but maybe I will just get a male and female. I didn't know about the samuraI scales blinding them, so I won't be getting one of those. I wasn't thinking about breeding to sell or make money, more as just a hobby. Also this is something I wasn't planning on doing until the spring so I have time to think and do more research.

 

Also keep in mind that the majority of bettas are severely inbred and have some pretty awful genes. Tumors, fins so big they weigh them down, diamond eye, etc to name a few. Not to mention that nearly all store bought ones have infections or illnesses that may not be immediately visible. Specifically with any "koi" coloured bettas the fish are more likely to get tumors due to the marble gene. The thing that gives them that spotted colour is basically their pigment and scales constantly changing which is exactly how tumors and cancers are formed.
With "samurai" and/or dragon scale bettas you'll notice they have thicker scales on their face. These tend to continue to grow and cover their face and body and often will actually grow over their eyes and blind them.

Most bettas have the marble gene. It is not "constant" it is over a period of time. Also Cancer is formed by when CELLS reproduce rapidly and uncontrollably.

 

The red-and-blue iridescence that your male has in the photo above is the most dominant colouration. It is possible that your male has some recessive genes (he has better quality fins than the regular store stock), so if you get a female that does not have the same phenotype (anything else that isn't red-and-blue basically) then you have some odds of getting up to 50% fry that aren't copies of the male's colouration.
Odds are that nearly all if not all of the fry will be that colour regardless of what cross it with, though.

 

The red-and-blue iridescence that your male has in the photo above is the most dominant colouration. It is possible that your male has some recessive genes (he has better quality fins than the regular store stock), so if you get a female that does not have the same phenotype (anything else that isn't red-and-blue basically) then you have some odds of getting up to 50% fry that aren't copies of the male's colouration.
Odds are that nearly all if not all of the fry will be that colour regardless of what cross it with, though.

thanks, I was really wanting to get all marble/multicolor unique looking fry so I probably won't breed him. He seems very persistent in his bubble nest making though. Hes in a 3 gallon and they are covering over 1/4 of the surface area and he just keep adding to it lol at least he's entertained!