# melano × royal blue melano geno



## trilobite

I'm really pumped for this spawn! The male is my first aquabid fish and from Adithira and is probably the nicest quality fish I've owned. Here he is 
Breeder photo









My photos


















The female is bred by me, her parents are these guys









And here's the female. Bad pic but its all I have of her










And the fry!! :-D currently they are on ve, bbs and aquapearls.
The male has hated me ever since i removed him, he just flares and tells me off when whenever I look at him now :twisted:


















I've got my fingers crosses for some melano, I will cry if there's none


----------



## BlueInkFish

I'm sticking around for this!!! If you don't get any melano fry, you'll just have to send them all too me!!! ;-)


----------



## trilobite

Haha deal!! I'm getting really paranoid that I've chosen a bad female for him, colour wise yes, but she's quite round... And I've been looking at a few of my other girls whos have gross colour but form much tidier. Oh well maybe I'll breed him to one of them one day but for now he can live in the good tank 

The fry are growing well on BBS, they still look like tadpoles with orange tummies. not much to report really except that they've been having 80-80% wc everyday since free swimming.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Glad everything is going A-OKAY!


----------



## trilobite

We are starting to grow faces and bodies 
Somwhow they all lined up like that for a photo...


----------



## BlueInkFish

Woah, that is the coolest fry photo I have seen!


----------



## Lilalein

+1 for that latest comment that is so cool all those fry facing the camera!


----------



## trilobite

Its cool ae! It was kinda creepy, they all slowly turned and looked in that direction...
At least they aren't camera shy


----------



## BlueInkFish

Lol, like a horror film. A Betta fry horror film ;-)

It looks like their little schooling fish


----------



## trilobite

Haha Id pay to watch that kind of movie

Ive been wondering why these guys tank was constantly smelling horrid even after daily 80% water changes...but then I found the reason...a rotten plant was hiding at the back and looking pretty alive until I accidentally knocked it and it fell apart on me... Now I have a nice smelling tank again 

These dudes are still going well despite their rotten plant days

Heres a vid of dad because I love him so much!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_em3iORJgo

And a slightly better photo of mum



and some embarrassingly bad photos of fry


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow! In the video, your male is beautiful! Great picture of mom, too. Fry look great!


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

I'm gonna hang around for this spawn log. Love the father, and the female is nice too. She looks like she got pretty beat up though :S


----------



## trilobite

Yeah she got a bit of a beating, but she bullied the poor males tail so she deserved it lol. Both are healing nicely though
Babies have all survived being in the hands of my partner for a week and seem to have grown a little bit. Im so relieved! I was convinced he would get lazy on them and Id come home to empty tanks

I think I might transfer them to a bigger tub today they are all in a tiny 9 litre (~2.3g) container and its looking pretty full. I took some out and had a look at them and we are getting colours!! 

Excuse the crappy pics but its all I could get


----------



## BlueInkFish

Crappy pics??? Pls. I have crappy pics. Lol.

Love to see they're doing great!


----------



## trilobite

Lol if you could see how many photos were taken just to get those few barely in focus shots you would be ashamed of me

We have about 462 babies... All moved into their new tub which I hate because now its even harder to see them. I mixed them with the hmpks because its much easier looking after one tank than 2 and I like things that are easy


----------



## BlueInkFish

Glad they're doing alright! They are going to be beautiful fish!


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

Looking good! Can't wait to see them colour up!! 
Easy is best. Fry are the _worst_ to take pictures of, you did a good job!!


----------



## trilobite

I cant wait for them to become photogenic 

Heres a few in their new tub



and this one... hopefully... might be... possibly...melano...
I dont want to get my hopes up so I'll be keeping a close eye on them over the next few weeks and crossing my fingers for some definite melanos


----------



## BlueInkFish

Cuties! I have my fingers crossed for you!


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

*crosses fingers* hopefully you get some nice ones! *gasps* look at those little tummies ^^


----------



## trilobite

My bbs eggs still haven arrived and Ive only got enough to make one batch left...so Im starting to freak out..  Hopefully it comes soon
Luckily Ive converted most of them to aquapearls but the runts dont seem to like it much... Seems like it might turn into a game of adapt or die soon

I scooped a few out for a bit of a photoshoot, looks like theres a few blacks :-D


----------



## trilobite

I spoke too soon they just arrived! The famine is over! :-D


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yay! Glad they can be filled and stuffed!

They're so cute and beautiful!  You have done a great job so far!


----------



## HTageant

Subbing


----------



## trilobite

Thanks  I cant believe they survived the famine but Im glad they did
These guys havent changed too much but are slowly getting bigger


----------



## BlueInkFish

*ooo ahhh*


----------



## trilobite

lol theyre so sloooow, I want to fast forward them


----------



## kitkat67

trilobite said:


> lol theyre so sloooow, I want to fast forward them


Lol, that's how I felt when I had fry!


----------



## Lilalein

That picture from above is so cool


----------



## trilobite

kitkat67 said:


> Lol, that's how I felt when I had fry!


Lol its just plain abuse to us breeders to make us wait so long



> That picture from above is so cool


Thanks, its pretty much the only view I have of them lol. I kinda regret putting them in a black tub now because I cant see them side on except when I scoop them out to have a look, and even then all I see are upset, angry babies


----------



## trilobite

Getting bigger and off live food now. Culled a couple of bendy spines but everyone else seems to be looking good
Boys are starting to show themselves, I have a few nice steels that Im keen to see develop but so far I cant see as many melanos as I hoped :-( hopefully they are just hiding from me...cant wait till jarring time :-D

Ill try and get pics tomorrow


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

Awesome! Don't worry I'm sure there will be some in there. I may be interested in a melano boy, if he meets my form requirements  
Sounds good! It's so sad having to cull, but necessary. I have a girl that I'm sure is slightly deformed spinally. Her tail always sags down and she seems to struggle to control herself when she is trying to flare. She seems to be doing okay though touch wood. Bless her.

Excited to see them all!!


----------



## trilobite

Aw poor girl, glad shes got a good home though! Yeah culling is the worst part of breeding. I somehow always manage to grow soft spots for the really deformed munty ones which isnt very helpful 

Heres biggest boy, he will be ready for jarring soon, probably in the next week or so



Everyone else is a lot smaller so not too interesting still. But more and more boys are starting to show up so wont be too long till they really start sprouting
Heres another little boy

and a girl


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

Omg, that is me. I'm always just thinking "well maybe they'll still live a healthy life" or *staring at a a 's' shaped spinally deformed fry* "...maybe it'll sort itself out with time"... But what must be done must be done.
And thank you! I like to think she is well cared for. I worry about her in my sorority, and although she is doing fine, I worry about her aging. She's still young and coping well, but I'm considering a custom built 2.5g that's quite shallow but lengthy so she can swim but doesn't have to struggle for air.

Loving that male! Hopefully a few melanos will show up soon


----------



## trilobite

It could be that her swimbladder hasnt developed properly if her tail keeps sinking. Ive had some grow out of it and some that never did, so if thats the case there may still be hope. Im sure she will love her own little mansion though!

I jarred the big boy yesterday and he has discovered how fun it is to flare



Ive also found a few melanos :-D turns out most of them are the runts haha


----------



## Olivia27

Where do you sell the rest of your spawn, @trilobite? <3 do you have an AB page?


----------



## trilobite

I sell most of them on facebook, theres an australia betta auction site there that I usually use. Sometimes I use gumtree, but yeah mainly fb


----------



## trilobite

Some babies asking for dinner, marble is kicking in too  There seems to be a large number of boys in this spawn....
The ones with red fins are from the hmpk spawn, but the lanky blue ones are from this spawn


----------



## liamthen

like this spawn,guess you'll have a hard time selecting future breeder later with that many nice fry lol, the parents are awesome


----------



## trilobite

Haha thanks, yeah it will be a fun time trying to decide who to keep. I have over 400 so hopefully theres some nice ones hiding in there somewhere


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

Ooh! Lots of pretty fries! *_* so cute. Hopefully your little guy is in there :3


----------



## BlueInkFish

So beautiful!


----------



## trilobite

Thanks :-D the jarred boy has finally grown an attitude and is flaring at the girls. I had a really unexciting dream about these guys last night, all I was doing was watching the blue male flare at his neighbor...what kind of lame dream is that lol


----------



## BlueInkFish

Lame? Nah. I embrace my fishy dreams. Hehe.


----------



## trilobite

Haha I like to think my brain could have come up with something a bit more creative, at least send me to Thailand or have a whole bunch of sweet fish 

Heres big blue, I completely overestimated his will to flare, turns out he will only flare at one girl....reflections, males and unknown females just dont cut it for him... 
Taking pictures of him is a painful experience


----------



## liamthen

very good male, i just i love the intensity of the blue color and the scaling is very neat, genetic wise ,can you say he has metalic trait for his shiny scales?


----------



## trilobite

Thanks, Im quite pleased with him too, and hes just the first male to be jarred. Will be interesting to see what else hiding in in there. 
Genetically hes non metallic royal blue since both parents were non metallic. Metallics have a more yellowy/goldy specks mixed into their scales, so each scale shines looks like it shines a slightly different colour. 

Heres a pic of a metallic (left) next to the non metallic boy (right) to compare


----------



## BlueInkFish

*ooo, ahhh*


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

Love how you made that comparison picture, genius. You may want to post it in a colours section in the forum or something, as I'm sure it would be handy for future reference. 

He's amazing, and sounds like a character too. His form overall isn't too bad at all either, which is a plus!


----------



## trilobite

Thanks :-D. Yeah his forms not horrid but theres definitely a few things I dont like about him so I hoping for some better ones hiding in the tub when I jar them

Every one else is so tiny though!
Heres a few I quickly snapped, shows most of the coluor variation. Marble, steel and royal. Theres also a few runty melanos but they are too hard to catch...


----------



## trilobite

Ugh I just noticed the messed up scales on the little royal boy..


----------



## BlueInkFish

Those steels are stunning!


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

Ah no! Love the steels too though ^^

Hopefully they'll be some melanos!


----------



## dcg

BeautifulBettaFishies said:


> Love how you made that comparison picture, genius. You may want to post it in a colours section in the forum or something, as I'm sure it would be handy for future reference.


Yes, I liked that picture too. I kind of bookmarked it when I have seen it.  Here's one of mine trying to lock on the same aspect (metallic vs non metallic):


----------



## BeautifulBettaFishies

I like that one too!  they're really good for references.


----------



## trilobite

dcg said:


> Yes, I liked that picture too. I kind of bookmarked it when I have seen it.  Here's one of mine trying to lock on the same aspect (metallic vs non metallic):


Haha they posed so perfectly for you




When I came back from holiday I found velvet :-( so Im currently treating all tanks. Luckily since they are all in black tubs all I needed to do was chuck a lid ontop to block out all light.


Typically the little melano ones seem to have it the worst...but they are still greedy and dont seem to be sulking about it so hopefully Ive caught it in time. 


Their father wasnt looking too hot either, so he got a big water change which seems to have perked him up and given his appetite back but hes still looking weak and sickly


----------



## BlueInkFish

I hope the little guys the best! I'm glad you caught it nearly early before it would have gotten out of hand!


----------



## dcg

It must be awful to have to fight that illness without the option to separate everyone. To add insult to injury, you also need to defend little fry that are more fragile than adults. I wish you good luck, you will need it.


----------



## trilobite

Thanks guys, Im really determined not to lose these guys, Im quite fond of them.

Its even more important especially since the father is also in poor shape too and import laws are changing so I probably wont be able to get any more melanos. So if dad and fry go then my little project will become a lot harder

Today I discovered an ants nest in the garage stealing fish food, I didnt close the lid tightly enough last night because when I went to feed them this morning I found heaps inside the food.... so that went into the freezer...extra protein I guess. But I set up a trap and those suckers are falling for it so hopefully tomorrow they will be no longer
If theres one thing Australia is good at its collecting ants, you just need to look down at the footpath and youll see at least 20 different ant species all wandering around. And dont even think about sitting on the grass, theyll get you :twisted:


----------



## liamthen

hate ants biting me lol, i hope the velvet gone soon, its suck to have velvets, just had my fry getting that also, its really ruining the mood for me lol


----------



## kittenfish

What are you treating with?


----------



## trilobite

liamthen said:


> hate ants biting me lol, i hope the velvet gone soon, its suck to have velvets, just had my fry getting that also, its really ruining the mood for me lol


Aw no, good luck on your velvet fight!

Kittenfish I use "multicure" which is meth blue, mal green and acriflavine, aswell as complete darkness. My guys are doing much better now, theres still some specks of it but not as much so I'll continue for another week and see how they are

In the meantime heres big blue growing bigger


----------



## BlueInkFish

Holy cow! He's turning into a gorgeous fish!


----------



## dcg

Lol, he really is spreading his wings.


----------



## trilobite

Thanks :-D Im quite liking him, but Ive just jarred a few more now so well see how they compare to him.

I found a pretty cute female too, I'll try and snap a pic of her


----------



## TigressBetta

seems to be an outbreak of velvet. recently had to deal with it myself, and thank God it didn't get to my fry tank. I also used multicore with the exact same active ingredients that yours has, and I have to say it works like a bomb. 

I have to say though, your little fin babies are absolutely stunning..


----------



## trilobite

Thanks  Yeah its good good stuff, so far its never let me down in a velvet battle

Jarred a few more boys. The main colours are these steel, royal, marble and cello. Ive found about 5 melanos but still quite teeny






And cute girl with her heavy makeup



Taking pictures of cello fish on a white background is not a good idea lol


----------



## Olivia27

That girl with makeup should go and start a punk rock band LOL she's so very gorgeous.


----------



## trilobite

Lol I think thats her secret dream! Little Punky :lol: She might be my fave so far


----------



## dcg

Olivia27 said:


> That girl with makeup should go and start a punk rock band


A punk band named Butterfly, because she has that pattern also. Trilobite, ask her kindly to stay like that.


----------



## TigressBetta

have you noticed with the black ones that even when they're a week or two, they're quite darker than the rest? I've spotted a couple in my black orchid fry


----------



## trilobite

dcg said:


> A punk band named Butterfly, because she has that pattern also. Trilobite, ask her kindly to stay like that.


Haha I will try my best but I dont think she will listen to me

Tigress, with the new fry you can definitely see the light bodies and dark bodied ones quite early on but I find that the blacks can take a while to turn fully black, mine usually stay brownish for a while

Heres a melano boy that Ive found, teeny little thing


----------



## dcg

I don't know hoe comes, but your fishes faces are expressive. The little melano seems baffled by something.


----------



## TigressBetta

Im power growing them. I have found 5 little white fatties, and the rest are all dark. -crosses fingers- I really hope though. and I love looking at yours. such gorgeous little ones


----------



## liamthen

agree with dcg, that punk female is awesome lol, hope she keep the look !


----------



## trilobite

dcg said:


> I don't know hoe comes, but your fishes faces are expressive. The little melano seems baffled by something.


Haha he was a bit concerned because the runtiest female was standing up to him

Heres some cellos...because I have heaps


----------



## SusieG

WOW! nice!!!!


----------



## trilobite

Thanks 

Im just gonna dump a whole bunch of pics right now lol

This little boy is looking like my fave so far
View attachment 752825


View attachment 752833


And a promising steel
View attachment 752841


As well as another steel brother who hasnt inherited any good looks so far, but he did get a few messy scales :-?
View attachment 752849


A multi
View attachment 752857



This guy took ages to finally man up, hes been jarred for a few weeks now but never flared or grew finnage...but now hes finally decided to grow up after getting a look at some girls
View attachment 752865


And this wee guy who reminds me of one of my first spawns with his half blue/half white
View attachment 752873

View attachment 752881


And his ancient twin


And Big Blue trying to grow some more redwash :twisted:
View attachment 752889

Hes decided that hes to good to pose for photos now so just zooms round at full speed...
View attachment 752905


He finally slowed down to turn a corner though
View attachment 752897


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh my! Such gorgeous fish :-D Find any Melano boys with big fins yet?  They'll turn out beautiful!


----------



## dcg

trilobite said:


> This little boy is looking like my fave so far
> View attachment 752825


As he should. 



trilobite said:


> He finally slowed down to turn a corner though
> View attachment 752897


This one is in a league of his own. I always had a soft spot for that one big male that outgrow and out compete the rest of the spawn.


----------



## Laelia

trilobite said:


> This little boy is looking like my fave so far
> View attachment 752825
> 
> 
> View attachment 752833


He's absolutely beautiful! His fins are amazing!


----------



## trilobite

Thanks guys :-D 

DCG, Yeah he somehow managed to leave everyone else behind, I think he was reading your spawnlogs and wanted to keep up with your magic growth rates lol. Hes definitely one of my fave boys too

Blu, nah the melanos are the runtiest ones of the whole spawn lol. Its weird because somehow out of the entire spawn the melanos are the only ones who seem to havent developed their swimbladders properly, so some of them are tail heavy... :-( not sure if this a melano thing or coincidence but its only the melanos that have it.... hopefully they grow out of it...tbh theyre looking like culls, Im only keeping them around for the colour at the moment

I took the biggest ones out of the runt tank since theyve been growing quite fast in there so now hopefully the runts of runts will have their turn. The melanos are definitely a lot more in your face now that the bigger guys are out. Ive got an empty planted tank that I might put some into and see how they go

Anyway heres the biggest melano (still absolutely tiny and dragging his bum)
View attachment 758049


And this idiot whos only about 1.5-2 cm but has already started picking fights and has permanently damaged his rays as a result...:evil:
View attachment 758057


----------



## BlueInkFish

Lol, I do hope they start growing bigger and faster!


----------



## liamthen

-And this idiot whos only about 1.5-2 cm but has already started picking fights and has permanently damaged his rays as a result...-

hahaha, i have same problem and its frustrating lol


----------



## trilobite

Lol Im pretty sure they do it on purpose!

Jarred almost all males from this spawn today and a few females. I'll try and get pics of some tomorrow :-D


----------



## trilobite

Some little boys
I like this one for his colour
View attachment 763017


View attachment 763025

View attachment 763033


And a female flaring at a hmpk girl

View attachment 763041


----------



## Olivia27

You're killing me with all the blue and whites! I want them aaaall ><

Seriously though. Lovely fries  love how their anals are actually shorter than Rapunzel's hair. Too many HMs I see have enough anal to make a blanket with ><


----------



## trilobite

Mwahaha! blue and whites are one of my fave colours too

Yeah they are surprisingly balanced considering hmpk in their recent background. My main concern is the finnage getting too big and heavy, Ive had to trim the fins of my old boys to make life easier on them. Even the females in their background have very heavy fins so I need to be careful. Heres some aunties to show what I mean 

View attachment 763081

View attachment 763089

(excuse their poor form, these old girls are well past their prime and retired but you can still see how big the fins are)


----------



## trilobite

Omg lol just ignore that last picture of the bf hm! I accidentally added it without noticing  The image upload thing screwed me over lol...Should probably sort out my picture folders...
Hes not from this spawn and is long dead, just a fish I was tossing up buying ages ago and I took a pic of him to help me decide..


Anyway heres some actual fish from this spawn :lol:

View attachment 763241

View attachment 763249


View attachment 763257

View attachment 763265

View attachment 763273


And old BB
View attachment 763281

View attachment 763289


Ive got heeeeaps of royal blues jarred, cant wait for them to grow out of their baby fins


----------



## liamthen

Superb result!!!! Geee..so.many beautiful males to stare on lol


----------



## BlueInkFish

They've grown to be very beautiful fish!


----------



## Laelia

The royals are very pretty, love the deep blue they have!


----------



## trilobite

Thanks :-D Im quite pleased with how they turned out. 
The hard part of selecting for f2 is looming closer and closer now


----------



## StephLove

Beautiful fish! I'm in love with that black and white female! <3


----------



## trilobite

Yeah little Punky is quite cute, I cant seem to find her anymore, so Im guessing shes marbled away into another colour :-(

Turns out I had more than 5 melanos after all...
These guys havent developed their swimbladders properly so Ive moved them to a special tank of their own where they can hopefully get over it 
View attachment 767833


Theres a cute marble in here too
View attachment 767841

Aswell as a fat, nasty bully
View attachment 767849


But on the bright side there are 2 melano that can swim properly still in the runt tank :-D They are good at blending in
View attachment 767857


This guy was posing for me while I was taking melano pics so he needed a photo too
View attachment 767865


This was the only guy to develop so much redwash
View attachment 767873


Heres a swarm of girls (plus a few sneaky boys), you can see their mum in the bottom left, that long royal blue dorsal is her. And up in the top is the mother to my other hm spawn, the almost full mask metallic one
View attachment 767881


----------



## BettaNard

Oh my goshhhh if I had a spare tank I'd ask if you'd be willing to sell me this guy:











I haven't read the whole thread but for future reference what do you do once they're grown up? Do you sell them to users here? Auction them? Would you ship to Melb? :-D


----------



## Rennie Sky

BettaNard beat me to it! I'm curious if you will sell here as well. Beautiful fish!


----------



## BlueInkFish

Such beautiful fish! I love that group picture of the melanos 

I seriously can't wait for everybody to be grown up! They'll look stunning!


----------



## trilobite

BettaNard said:


> Oh my goshhhh if I had a spare tank I'd ask if you'd be willing to sell me this guy:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I haven't read the whole thread but for future reference what do you do once they're grown up? Do you sell them to users here? Auction them? Would you ship to Melb? :-D


Lol he is going to be for sale  
Ive just been selling these guys locally, but I do sell them on facebook too, aussie aquarium auctions is usually what I use. But I can sell here (only within aus though), basically if you see something you like just flick me a message 

I can ship to melb, but Ive moved into a rural town so shipping wont be overnight unfortunately... its the main reason Im so nervous about sending to the upcoming show...

Blu me either!! their fins are sooo slow at growing, another reason pk are cooler, theyre pretty much awesome as soon as you jar lol none of this waiting around business :lol:


----------



## trilobite

Exciting times! One of the biggest bum dragging melanos has finally got his act together and can swim normally so hes back in the growout :-D The others are look like theyre starting to show improvement too. It amazing what a bit of starvation and shallow water can do

Aaaand I found a baby melano that I really like, plus hes can actually swim and has some shiny blue scales on his body already :-D. Still tiny but Im keeping an eye on him


----------



## dcg

LOL, a seemingly endless run of gorgeous fishes. Even the runts are beautiful.


----------



## trilobite

dcg said:


> LOL, a seemingly endless run of gorgeous fishes. Even the runts are beautiful.


Haha only the pretty ones are allowed photos, the boring ones just stay hidden away :lol:

Heres my fave melano baby so far
View attachment 771457


----------



## dcg

trilobite said:


> Haha only the pretty ones are allowed photos, the boring ones just stay hidden away :lol:


Hehe, we all pull this stunt but... sshh... keep that dark secret between us.


----------



## BettaNard

Keep them photos coming!! I'm still interested in a blue/white fishy from you


----------



## liamthen

more photos please lol, if you put more photos i will too put many photos in XD


----------



## BlueInkFish

Stunning Melano!


----------



## trilobite

Haha Dcg! :shock: Im so ashamed of myself for letting the secret slip! :lol: 

BettaNard the blue/whites are turning into my faves too, theyre pretty much the only ones I can tell apart. Hopefully Ive got something worthy 



liamthen said:


> more photos please lol, if you put more photos i will too put many photos in XD


Youve got yourself a deal! :-D 
I will cry if I dont see heaps of photos from your spawns soon

Thanks Blu  so happy that I have melanos...now whats the chances of all the good ones being females lol


----------



## dcg

trilobite said:


> Youve got yourself a deal! :lol:
> I will cry if I dont see heaps of photos from your spawns soon


So many spawns from both of you. The gauntlet is on the table. This is the beginning of a beautiful betta nuke war photo. Me digging. :lol:


----------



## liamthen

i would post more of them actually but when uploading i can't use ctrl+click to select all the files and upload them in one time, i must upload one by one, it takes quite a time , but i will try my best


----------



## trilobite

Lol took some photos, excuse the poor quality of some of them, I lost motivation halfway through :lol: 

First up is 2 melano boys
This one is quite ugly, but I like his colour
View attachment 774617

View attachment 774369

And this one is a recently recovered tail dragger, still a little bit of drag left but its almost gone
View attachment 774377


The rest look almost the same as each other, so arent very exciting. Plus most are in an awkward phase of growing their fins

Start with the marbles because at least they look interesting 
This is my fave one colourwise
View attachment 774385
View attachment 774393


View attachment 774401

View attachment 774409

Telling off a nosy bird
View attachment 774417


Theres also this tiny boy whos still in the runt tub
View attachment 774609


And these 2 whove been sold 
View attachment 774593

View attachment 774601


Now for all the clones... Prepared to be bored
View attachment 774425
View attachment 774433
View attachment 774441
View attachment 774457
View attachment 774481
View attachment 774489

View attachment 774497
View attachment 774505
View attachment 774513
View attachment 774545
View attachment 774577
View attachment 774585


Theres still a few more but seriously they all look like these pics, hopefully they become more balanced as they get older
Females all look the same too which makes it pretty hard choosing who to keep


----------



## BlueInkFish

Bored? No way, the color blue is what I live for. Haha. You have very stunning fish! :-D


----------



## MysticSky22301

If I wouldn't have to import them I'd ask about some of the females! Bleh import sucks


----------



## trilobite

> Bored? No way, the color blue is what I live for. Haha. You have very stunning fish!


 Haha blue is where it at! Hopefully next gen will be more exciting, if I do royal x royal I can get all 3 blues coming back :-D
I still havent chosen my keepers (other than Big Blue because hes a cool dude) and I keep changing my mind about females I like... maybe I should just jar them all and stare at them until Ive made up my mind



> If I wouldn't have to import them I'd ask about some of the females! Bleh import sucks


Import does suck! Australias recently changed its import laws so the overseas farms need to jump through hoops and sign papers saying the fish on their farms are clear of iridovirus (which they need to pay for) So understandably import/betta prices will skyrocket and most sellers wont bother with Australia... but hey, at least its still better than New Zealand lol!

Anyway heres Big Blue, who I *hate* taking photos of, he goes from nice, full flare to bum swish in less than a second, as a result he still doesnt has a full flare shot. The genius has also blown his dorsal a bit because flaring at every pellet you get given is always the way to go

Here he is in all his spoon headed, long analed, heavy finnaged glory
View attachment 775993

View attachment 776001

View attachment 776009


This female was very impressed with him though, she keeps popping up in photos because nice and gentle which encourages others to flare
View attachment 776017

View attachment 776025


And this girl has some cute little speckles
View attachment 776033


Annnd m m more melano..
View attachment 776041


This dude has such a grot bod  
View attachment 776049


Heres an ugly little girl one
View attachment 776057


Luckily almost all of my fish are melano carriers now so hopefully Im able to smooth out some toplines with more distantly related fish


----------



## dcg

trilobite said:


> The genius has also blown his dorsal a bit because flaring at every pellet you get given is always the way to go


I absolutely have to add this: :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


----------



## alecmerkel

Such an amazing spawn!! I'm sure you mentioned this already but I forgot at what page, are these f2's or f3's?

Would you risk bringing in another melano with better form? The colors are perfect right now.


----------



## trilobite

Unfortunately I dont think I'll be able to add any new melanos into the mix since the importing rules here have changed, so it seems Im stuck with what Ive got, hopefully I will be able to create a silk purse from a sows ear :lol:

These guys would be f1 since I added the Adithira boy, my other melano geno spawn is f2 since no new blood has been added. Eventually I will combine the two lines and weave them together to create my ultimate goal of copper melano hmpk.

This is their family tree so far 
View attachment 776329



Im planning on doing a few melano geno spawns once Ive chosen keepers

Another f2 from my original melano x hmpk spawn (but with a different pair) since my current one was very disappointing
f2 from this pair
And combine one from each spawn as well as use one of my hmpks to tidy up some of the hmpk I get from the melanos...


----------



## alecmerkel

Tril I can help you import. I live walking distance to my transhipper lol.

Maybe USA to AUS will be easier? What rules did they changed exactly?


----------



## MysticSky22301

I would still love to see some of the girls ^^ I wish I could help too

If we could figure out transshipping I might buy a couple girls I really need more black for my project but blue and green are lovely


----------



## trilobite

That must so handy living close by!

This is whats changed http://shoutout.wix.com/so/0LFf8lzH#/main 
From what Ive heard we cant get fish directly from USA for some reason :-( it needs to be sent to Thailand, then Aus, but thanks for the offer  theres so many American fish that Id just love to get my hands on. 

Mystic, I'll get to work giving them a photoshoot then lol. Most arent jarred so I wont be able to get nice full flare photos unfortunately but I'll try my best! But they are basically just solid royal or steel, 10% marbles and 1% melano runts


----------



## MysticSky22301

Melano females are supposed to be infertile? And what's the difference between malano and black?


----------



## trilobite

Yep melano girls are infertile, they are pretty little tank ornaments though. There are 2 main types of black that youll see, melano and black lace/orchid

Melanos typically have matte black fins with no irid in them, but often have high irids in the body like this guy, whos the main ancestor of my melanos
Their fins look "thick" and black because the melanophores "pile up" in these fish. These "sticky" melanophores are also thought to be the reason why the females are infertile




Black lace/orchid is not as thick or dense as melano, they often have black bodies but a few strips of irid in the fins like this guy.









Of course theres variations of these types of black, eg if you put dragon onto black lace you get black dragons, if you add more irid to the body you can get black orchid, if you breed away from the irids in the finnage you can get superblack.


----------



## MysticSky22301

Do melanos come in crown tails? I need to get a good pic of mouse his fins are really thick and opaque he has a slight burgundy band on his anal fin but it's barely visible


----------



## trilobite

Yep melano is just a colour and can come in any type. Id love to see a pic of him if possible, Ive never seen a melano ct before. Melanos dont have redwash so if he has a burgundy band he may not be, but we need to see pics to be sure :-D


----------



## MysticSky22301

I'll see if I can get one or 2 he was trying to build a nest yesterday it fell apart though


----------



## MysticSky22301

He looks more like a lace ^^


----------



## MysticSky22301

His bowl reflets light really bad I might have to float him in a cup in the guppy tank to get him to flare 

But this is mouse


----------



## trilobite

Oh hes gorgeous! yeah hes definitely a black lace/orchid


----------



## MysticSky22301

He's still going to help with my black project ^^ he has the color band that hallow is missing ^^ I might have a small problem getting the long fin HM with the crown in the line hmm... Well see ^^


----------



## trilobite

Thats the fun of bettas, especially projects where you create what you want. What project are you working in, black hm?


----------



## MysticSky22301

Black long finned HM EE butterfly yeah I'm looking to turn hallows orange fins into red down the line and eventually * maybe* adding Rose tail

I'm getting my EE pair bought this weekend pink and white with irids
What crossed my mind was breeding the pair and using them and their offspring to add the EE (I'm thinking it would be easier to add them to the Cambodian line than the black but who knows that's another project though)


----------



## trilobite

Oh now that will be a beautiful finished product. I hope youre going to post spawn logs so we can see them get closer to your goal 

Yeah Id personally breed the ees together so you can have a line of ee alongside the hm. From what Ive seen/heard the ee gene is fussy and can be hard to get back when outcrossed, so it might be helpful to be able to keep infusing it into the line when you need to, until you get a line of blacks producing consistent ee


----------



## MysticSky22301

Oh thank you for the tip! I was going to breed the EE pair a few times anyway ^^


----------



## trilobite

Final update most of these guys have gone, Im keeping 4 boys (2 royals and 2 steels) and a whole bunch of girls in the sorority. I still havent decided where to start for f2. I want to do royal x royal but theres not too many nice looking royal girls, all my pretty girls are steels. Ive got some sibling crosses, aunty/uncle (also melano geno) crosses, and crosses into my other melano geno line that I want to do...so many spawns for just one little goal....

Anywaaay heres some boys, basically all look like these, but the marbles are a bit more interesting



















































And a few jarred girls


----------



## RickyDgmZ

Wow phenomenal! Beautiful colors. They look so pure.


----------



## MysticSky22301

Very nice did any melanos teen out?


----------



## trilobite

Still tiny runts lol. Ive pretty much given up hope on them now so they are just having fun living in the runt tank


----------

