Breeding Bettas

[BrookeLea]

Hey guys. I'm just planning ahead, here. I'm stocking up on bettas now (up to thirteen of them since April and I've got three more coming soon) to start breeding them in August. I don't know who to breed with who and what the outcomes will be. Here's what I've got:

Fish that I want to breed:
Red Male Crowntail
Red and Blue Male Crowntail
Red/Blue/Purple-ish Male Crowntail
Mustard Blue Crowntail Female
Gold Copper Double Ray Crowntail Female
Red Cambodian Double Ray Crowntail Female with Doubletail gene
Mustard Blue Halfmoon Plakat Male
Mustard Halfmoon Plakat Male
Mustard Halfmoon Plakat Female

Fish that I don't want to breed:
Wild Type Male
Red and Green Male Veiltail
White and Blue Male Veiltail
Red White and Green Male Veiltail
Dark Blue and Red Male Veiltail
Red Cambodian Female Veiltail

The Halfmoon Plakats are pretty obvious, but what about the Crowntails? What happens with the Double Ray females and the one with the Doubletail gene? What about the colors?

Any suggestions as to who I should breed and what I'll get from them?

 

[Kiarra]

A cross of your red male Crowntail and your red Cambodian (Traditional Cambodian is the official term, if she's white or flesh-colored of body, and has red fins) Crowntail female would make a lovely pairing. Crossing red and Traditional Cambodian usually results in some of the purest reds. So, if you want red, that'd be a good bet.

You could easily breed your Mustard Gas male Plakat to your Mustard Gas female Crowntail. You'd end up with Deltas, probably, and likely would end up with some truly lovely Mustard Gases. Plakat is recessive, and Crowntail is intermediar recessive, so you'd probably end up with Deltas with minor Crowntail trait, or something similar. They'd probably be very, very lovely.

With what you have, you can probably cross whatever you want and get some lovely critters, though. Obviously you know you shouldn't use your Veils, but everyone else is fair game. I think part of breeding fun is crossing two Bettas when you don't know what the result is going to be, and discovering as you go.

 

[BrookeLea]

Thanks Kiarra! I hadn't really thought to cross them, but it sounds like fun! I want to be able to sell them, though. Would it be harder to sell cross-bred bettas, do you think? I haven't seen that many up for sale.

 

[Kiarra]

Actually, a CT x Plakat cross usually makes a VERY lovely Delta with stronger finnage than the average Delta. At least, it has in my observations and my research.

As long as you don't end up with any Veils, they'll be easy enough to sell. Besides, some people might specifically want the recessives they carry. For instance, I really want a CT x Plakat cross fry myself, specifically for their recessives. I'm planning on doing it soon as I get a decent chance at it.