Another Albino For Me? Hmmm

[splashluff]

Jessica, one of my babies was attacked when it was about 6 weeks old. I thought he was dead, and I happened to spot him with a bunch of larger juvies around him on the bottom, so I pulled him out. His caudal was completely useless at first, I thought he would die within a day. He is still alive & kicking at 8 months, his caudal is basically crumpled, but he uses his pecs and wiggles to get and and he is very quick! =0) So, I do know that no use of a caudal doesn't mean they can't be a wonderful, healthy pet Betta.

Synirr has plenty of VT's and a variety of pet Bettas, I'm sure she's keeping him/her as a pet.

Also, congrats! OMG, the shipping costs!

 

[lisie]

I think Synirr's judgment can be trusted regarding whether or not it is right to breed the caudal-less fish, if she's even considering it. It's for her to decide, and if she wants opinions I'm sure she'll ask for them.

And congrats on the female albino! Can't wait to see photos of her.

 

[Synirr]

No caudal fin?! At all?!! How does the poor thing swim?!! I think the kindest thing to do would be to cull the poor fish, thats no quality of life with a missing caudal

Good luck with the line though...

I'm actually going to use the fish with no caudal, IF i think it may be genetic (I haven't seen a pic of it yet, remember), to prove a point.

Fish use their pectoral fins and body muscles as their primary means of locomotion, the caudal fin is mostly a rudder. I have a genetically tailless midas hybrid, and having owned her for over a year, I can promise you that fish without tails aren't suffering. She swims FAR better than fancy goldfish and even HM bettas do. She has a full range of motion and is quick as a bullet when she wants to be, she just uses her dorsal and anal fins to maintain balance where a fish would normally use its caudal.

Now, having said that, that's why I feel ok using the fish to prove a point. I don't intend to create a line with it or anything, but I have been saying forever and a day that taillessness can be genetic, and if this fish can help me prove that point then by God I'm going to use it, because I'm getting really tired of debating this thing into the ground and not having any really solid evidence behind me. I'd breed it just enough to see if it was genetic in this particular fish, up to F2, and keep the spawns small. I'm really, really hoping this is the same thing my midas has, genetically, and not just an injury or something

 

[afireinside]

Wow. Your life is centered around bettas isn't it?

jk. It would be cool to start a line of tailless bettas. I'd deffinately get my hands on some.

 

[Synirr]

Ok, just checked my email... turns out the breeder didn't mean it was tailless anyway, LOL! His English is a little spotty and he got the dorsal and caudal fins confused, so it actually has no DORSAL fin
Oh well. The albino is the real deal though.

 

[starrynightxxi]

that's kinda cool lookin' on it's own, reminds me of those goldfish that have no dorsals.. what are they...ranchus, maybe? I bet it would be hard to create a market for bettas with no dorsals, but hell, that's how these things get started. People just breed for something random until there's enough demand that they are accepted.

I'd buy a dorsal-less betta. I think she looks cool.

 

[vancouver]

lol.. no dorsal fin.. no ventrals.. what a weird lookin bugger.. almost doesnt look like a betta

 

[Synirr]

I think it has ventrals, they're just pinned to its body in the pic... either way, not really interested in it, that's a pretty common mutation that pops up in spawns, I've heard of it before. If he wants to give it to me for free I'll take it though . He'll probably cull it otherwise.

EDIT: Pffft, he wants too much for the female, same price I paid for the male, but I can already produce albinos with what I have now so I'm not paying out the arse again. However, I'm probably going to get a sibling male or two from him now that I have money again. I didn't do it last time because I figured I'd for sure be able to breed the albino, I wasn't 100% sure the line carried the gene (only 1 proven albino in the spawn), and the fish I had already bought broke the bank, but now... . That will make things a lot easier, being that Dominick's sight is so bad and all. I'll still try to breed him at least once more, but I'll have an easier plan B now instead of having to outcross the girls.

 

[Joby]

Aww shame he's asking a lot for the girly, I think she's gorgeous I also love the dorsaless one, gorgeous colour

 

[l.michelle]

very stupid question.....what does 'cull' mean?

 

[bUcky]

'cull' means "to feed to oscar, or other carnivoruse fish" ahaha just joking but u might get the picture.

 

[lisie]

To cull means to kill fry that the breeder does not want for whatever reason. People use the word "cull" instead of "kill" because it sounds better, but that's still what it is. It depends on the breeder regarding the extent to which they cull; some will cull fry that do not have the color that the breeder is looking for in the spawn, some will only cull severely deformed fry, and some breeders don't cull at all. There are different methods of culling as well; feeding them to oscars or other large cichlids (the most humane in my opinion), euthanizing them, and some breeders don't kill them at all but rather give them to their LFS. This is a topic that comes up a lot, and one that people have varied, but strong, opinions about... a topic that will usually turn a decent discussion into an argument.

 

[bUcky]

oh so other people do use oscars to cull? thought it was just me....

 

[l.michelle]

Ah, seeing as i do not breed etc, I really cannot make my own opinion regarding this. Everyone has their own, and not everyone would agree with the same thing.

But thank you both for answering


And to be on topic, I think that bluey girl there is quite pretty.

 

[Rynoah]

I really like that dorsal-less girl. I think she looks cute. That might be an interesting line to start. I know I'd like one.