# critique



## Itskristen (Feb 28, 2014)

Just got this guy and I was wondering what you all thought about him. I was thinking of showing him, but I've never done it before so I'm not sure if he would be good or not. Thanks!


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## Alphahelix (Dec 7, 2013)

You can only show Bettas that you have bred yourself, unless it is a pet show unrelated to IBC.

At least that was my understanding lovely fish!


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## Itskristen (Feb 28, 2014)

Oh ok. I saw some other people talking about getting fish from aquabid to show so I didn't realize you had to breed them yourself. thanks for the info!


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

he is a beautiful boy. but as the person above said, you can only show those you have bred yourself. I love his coloring but am not a master on confromation


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

he dose look long in the body in my opinion though


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## Itskristen (Feb 28, 2014)

Another question... what if I bred him? Would I be able to show offspring? Would that even be recommended?


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

Itskristen said:


> Another question... what if I bred him? Would I be able to show offspring? Would that even be recommended?


yes, that's actually how the game is played. 
IBC has a standard judge criteria that you should take a look at to determine this. if you think he is the pinnacle of what you desire in a show betta, find a female that has the same/similar defining characteristics (like a sister), breed that to your male. most often, the F1 generation comes out as a mixed bag, so you might have to backcross to the father to get more consistent/fixed genes. 

also it would be important to find faults in your male. a closer photo and a full caudal, dorsal, and anal spread would be necessary for this. broken rays, excessive branching, poor posture, non-ideal morphology of body and fins all contribute to faults. the reasoning for this is to find a female that is the exact opposite of these faults so that the progeny would even out. in this case, it might be safer to do sibling to sibling crosses, rather than back to the parent, if the faults are significant.


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## Itskristen (Feb 28, 2014)

Thanks for the great advise! I've had betta fish for a long time but I've never bred or shown them before... I only have experience with Horses and dogs as far as breeding and showing goes


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

If you are interested in breeding and showing then you might want to look into joining the IBC.


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

yes, and I want you to, with lots of pictures


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## Chard56 (Jan 22, 2011)

Actually, Dan Young who writes the IBC regulations said they had passed a regulation allowing people to show fish they have purchased but they do not get points accredited for them. That started a big discussion on the IBC face book page. I'm hoping them rescind that next show season. Your beautiful Royal Blue Butterfly BigEar Halfmoon would be shown in Color and Form class in Variations. There is no class in the shows for BigEars, (yet) I won 1st place in Color and Form at a show last fall for one of my Grizzled Purple BigEar Shortfin Plakats.


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