What bettas should I breed?

Hello,
I have bred bettas twice last year, first time was unsuccessful but I think it was due to poor genetics and the breeding tank wasn't cycled. Second time I bred 2 HMPK Koi bettas and it was successful. Had around 300 by the end. Hmpk kois are definetely my favourite but maybe there are some other nice traits I haven't seen yet, any ideas?

 

I've always loved the 'butterfly' colouring in bettas, with a tail that has rings of two or more colours. I think it's a marble colour, and I don't know if it can breed true, but I'd definitely follow an attempt at breeding it. Metallics are also a colouring that I find amazing, and a purple colour is very rare because of the fading of red as a betta ages - it would be cool to try and breed some purple bettas. I'm not sure if you could do purple metallics - I'm not exactly an expert on betta genetics!

I think I've also seen a colour called 'steel blue' which is a very strong blue that has no hints of green.

Translucent bettas, especially if they have some iridescent, look very magical, but you often only see them as 'rejects' in pet stores, because they often have some marbling in them that, to me and probably others, makes them look kinda like their scales are falling off. I'd like to see some that don't have marbling in them.

It's hard for me to pick through - any cared-for betta is a pretty betta, in my opinion, and any healthy betta is good for breading - you could even take two very different kinds, and see how wide a mix you get!

 

I've always loved the 'butterfly' colouring in bettas, with a tail that has rings of two or more colours. I think it's a marble colour, and I don't know if it can breed true, but I'd definitely follow an attempt at breeding it. Metallics are also a colouring that I find amazing, and a purple colour is very rare because of the fading of red as a betta ages - it would be cool to try and breed some purple bettas. I'm not sure if you could do purple metallics - I'm not exactly an expert on betta genetics!

I think I've also seen a colour called 'steel blue' which is a very strong blue that has no hints of green.

Translucent bettas, especially if they have some iridescent, look very magical, but you often only see them as 'rejects' in pet stores, because they often have some marbling in them that, to me and probably others, makes them look kinda like their scales are falling off. I'd like to see some that don't have marbling in them.

It's hard for me to pick through - any cared-for betta is a pretty betta, in my opinion, and any healthy betta is good for breading - you could even take two very different kinds, and see how wide a mix you get!

“Butterfly” actually refers to a rI'm of white, which can be small or take up the whole fin. The ideal distance for it is half of the fin. When the coloration is present, it’s actually said that fish has variegated fins. “Butterfly” is just a term the companies came up with.

The metallic coloration is actually a modification of the blue layer, it was originally bred in from other betta species, and the gene actually changes the shape of the iridrocytes. There is no such thing as a “purple” betta - it is simply how the light reflects off of the metallic scales, creating a purple sheen. Purple can also sometimes be a simple optical illusion of the blue layer over the red layer if there is no black in the black layer.

The blue layer is subject to incomplete dominance. Turquoise is two dominants (BlBl), royal blue is heterozygous (Blbl), and steel blue is simply two recessives (blbl). Hence why it’s a tad more uncommon. It appears as a grey-blue coloration.

Translucent bettas aren’t a thing either. The “translucent” coloration you observe in bettas with the marble gene is the cellophane layer - the very bottom layer. The marble gene has simply happened to turn off the above layers, letting the others showed through, but that will likely change as the fish grows, as chances are the marble gene will “turn on” pigment production in new cells. Some may also mistake white bettas as “translucent” but these are cause by an opaque gene that covers up the layers underneath. Two dominant copies gets you full white, one dominant copy will get you the pastel color often seen in elephant ears, for example.

Further reading:
Color Genetics

 

I checked and I like the ones you suggested but I think breeding kois is more fun as you get to see them marble a lot and they all turn out to be different. I might get half-moon kois instead of hmpk but it depends on what I find,
Thanks

 

“Butterfly” actually refers to a rI'm of white, which can be small or take up the whole fin. The ideal distance for it is half of the fin. When the coloration is present, it’s actually said that fish has variegated fins. “Butterfly” is just a term the companies came up with.

The metallic coloration is actually a modification of the blue layer, it was originally bred in from other betta species, and the gene actually changes the shape of the iridrocytes. There is no such thing as a “purple” betta - it is simply how the light reflects off of the metallic scales, creating a purple sheen. Purple can also sometimes be a simple optical illusion of the blue layer over the red layer if there is no black in the black layer.

The blue layer is subject to incomplete dominance. Turquoise is two dominants (BlBl), royal blue is heterozygous (Blbl), and steel blue is simply two recessives (blbl). Hence why it’s a tad more uncommon. It appears as a grey-blue coloration.

Translucent bettas aren’t a thing either. The “translucent” coloration you observe in bettas with the marble gene is the cellophane layer - the very bottom layer. The marble gene has simply happened to turn off the above layers, letting the others showed through, but that will likely change as the fish grows, as chances are the marble gene will “turn on” pigment production in new cells. Some may also mistake white bettas as “translucent” but these are cause by an opaque gene that covers up the layers underneath. Two dominant copies gets you full white, one dominant copy will get you the pastel color often seen in elephant ears, for example.

Further reading:
Color Genetics

Like I said - not exactly an expert on betta genetics! Thank's for the information!

 

Like I said - not exactly an expert on betta genetics! Thank's for the information!

Yup! I love Betta color genetics

 

What about working on wild type Bettas. There doesn’t seem to be very many people breeding them.