junebug
- #1
Still on the quest for that perfect red hm.
Yes that's right, I bought him. As you can see, he's *not* a perfect red. Those iridescent spots on his body are the main flaw on him (though someone will need to confirm this as I'm not 100% sure - though I am 99.9% sure that's his main flaw xD)
But! I wanted to talk about this guy, since we have some folks interested in breeding show bettas around here.
Why did I pick him, even with the major color flaw? What will I do to fix it in offspring?
First off, look at his form; he has a great, smooth topline. (ya'know the lack of bumpy head, spoon head, sway-back-ness, etc). His body is not too thick, not too thin, and an appropriate length to his fin size, which is something that adds to his symmetry.
This is probably a good time to mention that with HM's, symmetry is the BIG thing you want in a show-quality fish. On a really good halfmoon, you should be able to draw a nice, smooth line from the front of the dorsal fin, around the caudal, and to the front of the analfin, without any sharp edges. That way the fins form a semi-circle.
The caudal should open up to a perfect 180 half-circle and blend seamlessly with the dorsal and analfins. Is Big Red's fin form perfect? Well no. But it's very close. He has a few uneven spots in his caudal, but it's the appropriate size and shape, and blends very well with the other unpaired fins. He also has good branching. While I can't count the rays in this picture, I can see the look they create in his caudal so I know he's a good HM with plenty of branching, without going into the excess of a rosetail (while pretty, rosetails do NOT make good breeders. they carry the "X-factor" gene and that's not something you want in a show line). I can also see, from looking at the base of his caudal, that the rays are strong and have not broken. If they had, I'd see some streaking lines there.
I would like to see a longer first ray on his dorsal fin, and ideally, his dorsal would start a bit further forward, at approximately the same vertical line as his analfin. This is something I'll be looking to fix in future generations, by selecting a good female. However, his dorsal is the proper length, overall shape is good, branching appears nice and even. I've noticed this shape of dorsal seems to be very common among the ThaI breeders; possibly it's something they breed for intentionally?
Now look at his analfin; see how it is the same length as the bottom of his caudal? That's what you want in an analfin. Often you'll find an otherwise perfect fish with a long anal; long anals are hard to get rid of from what I'm told, so I went with a fish that just didn't have that issue. His is nice and level, no wild rays, nothing too long or short. A nice, even line is what I was looking for.
Regarding his color: Yes, he has a lot of iridescence. To find a red male without it is, as some of you know, very hard and very expensive. I chose him over some other fish with just as nice of form, because he shows signs of being a black-based red. You can see a few black flecks on his body, and around his operculum. I didn't notice any light spots around his face, which is where I'd be most likely to see signs that he came from a strong cambodian line. The black underscale base creates the velvety look I want to eventually achieve with this line.
So, what I'm looking for now is a female of a similar phenotype, with better coloring. I wanted to go with a sibling female, but the ones available weren't quite what I was looking for. So I'm going for some genetic diversity Ideally a yellow, red, or orange female, black based like Big Red, with no iridescent wash. I'll also be hunting a girl with great form. Form on the female is just as important, if not moreso, than form on the male.
Anyway, just thought I would share my new little guy (will be sure to post pics when he arrives) and why I chose him out of the dozens of reds I've been looking at over the past few months. I'm sure that BB and Fried can come along and point out anything I missed about him, but that's my assessment of my new buddy.
I will also probably find a girl for the little red cambo male I bought the other day. Most likely that will be a practice spawn for me, unless I see something I can't let go of in the babies
Also credit to BB for A) tolerating my incessant chatter about pretty red HM males and B) teaching me about the color genetics of reds and how to improve the color on a less-than-perfect male. Hope I didn't mess anything up in this little spiel lol.
Edit: Oops! I forgot to mention his ventrals (apparently they're the forgotten fin lol). It's hard to see them in this picture, but I can tell they're nice and full. I'd like them to be longer, personally. Will see when I get him what kind of point they come to, but I think it's a fairly good point with no split rays.
Yes that's right, I bought him. As you can see, he's *not* a perfect red. Those iridescent spots on his body are the main flaw on him (though someone will need to confirm this as I'm not 100% sure - though I am 99.9% sure that's his main flaw xD)
But! I wanted to talk about this guy, since we have some folks interested in breeding show bettas around here.
Why did I pick him, even with the major color flaw? What will I do to fix it in offspring?
First off, look at his form; he has a great, smooth topline. (ya'know the lack of bumpy head, spoon head, sway-back-ness, etc). His body is not too thick, not too thin, and an appropriate length to his fin size, which is something that adds to his symmetry.
This is probably a good time to mention that with HM's, symmetry is the BIG thing you want in a show-quality fish. On a really good halfmoon, you should be able to draw a nice, smooth line from the front of the dorsal fin, around the caudal, and to the front of the analfin, without any sharp edges. That way the fins form a semi-circle.
The caudal should open up to a perfect 180 half-circle and blend seamlessly with the dorsal and analfins. Is Big Red's fin form perfect? Well no. But it's very close. He has a few uneven spots in his caudal, but it's the appropriate size and shape, and blends very well with the other unpaired fins. He also has good branching. While I can't count the rays in this picture, I can see the look they create in his caudal so I know he's a good HM with plenty of branching, without going into the excess of a rosetail (while pretty, rosetails do NOT make good breeders. they carry the "X-factor" gene and that's not something you want in a show line). I can also see, from looking at the base of his caudal, that the rays are strong and have not broken. If they had, I'd see some streaking lines there.
I would like to see a longer first ray on his dorsal fin, and ideally, his dorsal would start a bit further forward, at approximately the same vertical line as his analfin. This is something I'll be looking to fix in future generations, by selecting a good female. However, his dorsal is the proper length, overall shape is good, branching appears nice and even. I've noticed this shape of dorsal seems to be very common among the ThaI breeders; possibly it's something they breed for intentionally?
Now look at his analfin; see how it is the same length as the bottom of his caudal? That's what you want in an analfin. Often you'll find an otherwise perfect fish with a long anal; long anals are hard to get rid of from what I'm told, so I went with a fish that just didn't have that issue. His is nice and level, no wild rays, nothing too long or short. A nice, even line is what I was looking for.
Regarding his color: Yes, he has a lot of iridescence. To find a red male without it is, as some of you know, very hard and very expensive. I chose him over some other fish with just as nice of form, because he shows signs of being a black-based red. You can see a few black flecks on his body, and around his operculum. I didn't notice any light spots around his face, which is where I'd be most likely to see signs that he came from a strong cambodian line. The black underscale base creates the velvety look I want to eventually achieve with this line.
So, what I'm looking for now is a female of a similar phenotype, with better coloring. I wanted to go with a sibling female, but the ones available weren't quite what I was looking for. So I'm going for some genetic diversity Ideally a yellow, red, or orange female, black based like Big Red, with no iridescent wash. I'll also be hunting a girl with great form. Form on the female is just as important, if not moreso, than form on the male.
Anyway, just thought I would share my new little guy (will be sure to post pics when he arrives) and why I chose him out of the dozens of reds I've been looking at over the past few months. I'm sure that BB and Fried can come along and point out anything I missed about him, but that's my assessment of my new buddy.
I will also probably find a girl for the little red cambo male I bought the other day. Most likely that will be a practice spawn for me, unless I see something I can't let go of in the babies
Also credit to BB for A) tolerating my incessant chatter about pretty red HM males and B) teaching me about the color genetics of reds and how to improve the color on a less-than-perfect male. Hope I didn't mess anything up in this little spiel lol.
Edit: Oops! I forgot to mention his ventrals (apparently they're the forgotten fin lol). It's hard to see them in this picture, but I can tell they're nice and full. I'd like them to be longer, personally. Will see when I get him what kind of point they come to, but I think it's a fairly good point with no split rays.