# Breeding Orchids ?



## NeonELX (Nov 4, 2012)

Hi, I recently just got myself an Orchid(Plakat) Male the other day at a LFS . I was lucky to find this guy in a small stack and when purchasing him , they told me their Orchids are specially ordered. Well I was wondering what would be the outcome of the frys, color and tail types If I bred him to one of my females .








Both are HMPKs from what I see (4ray branching in their tails) Which female should I breed him to? The only thing about the blue one on the left is that she has a small deformed Pelvic fin. Her right pelvic has a 2nd layer point. The female to the right is fine. If I bred the female with a deformed fin to my orchid, will the outcome of the frys have deformed fins too ? ... Thanks 

Heres my Orchid Plakat male


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## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

I don't think he is an orchid,orchids have a bit blue in them right?
I may be confused.Your hmpk male also have rounded caudal fins.
Your females don't look like hmpks.Are they in full flare?
IMO,i think your male and females are pks.
I am confused about the pelvic fin,what is 2nd layer point?


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## NeonELX (Nov 4, 2012)

No my females arent . By second layer, Its kind of hard to describe and get a picture of it since its so small but she has another pelvic that is grown between one of them so basically the left side has one but the right side has 2 sticking out . I don't think they are be Plakats . Plakat females only have 2 rays . These females have 4 rays (hmpk) . And my male is a normal plakat . hes not an hmpk . He just has a wide spread caudal . He does have a little blue in him if you look closely , its hard to get a picture of him really close because hes really energetic and likes to move ALOT :]


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## Maddybelle (Sep 29, 2012)

Are you sure you aren't talking about the ventral fin? Pelvic fins are just behind the gills, ventral fins are beneath their heads. Your boy is beautiful!


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## NeonELX (Nov 4, 2012)

Maddybelle said:


> Are you sure you aren't talking about the ventral fin? Pelvic fins are just behind the gills, ventral fins are beneath their heads. Your boy is beautiful!


 I think you are right lol . Yeah its the ventrals  sorry, and Thanks :-D


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## Maddybelle (Sep 29, 2012)

Its okay, all those fins can get confusing! =) 
The royal blue female has better color, less red wash, but only one ventral.
The steel female has lots of red wash, and looks like no ventrals at all, but she has a better dorsal and better caudal branching.
It all depends on your goals and level of commitment: will this be a one-time breeding, or do you want to create your own line? Do you want to work on form first, or color? Personally, I'd pick the royal blue female.
There are lots of reasons for missing ventrals. They could have been bottom-dwellers as fry, and the bacteria on the bottom could have prevented them from developing. Or, they could have gotten munched on in the growout, and just never grown back. I'm not sure if there could be a genetic component?


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## NeonELX (Nov 4, 2012)

hmm... Im not really sure about that too. I got the blue fem from the same LFS as the male . Her ventrals aren't THAT bad but everything else seems fine and her colors are quite nice . With the steel fem , I know that red washes are hard to get rid of although her caudals and everything are nice . BUT since Im trying to focus on keeping an Orchid line going then maybe the royal blue fem is the best choice. I guess Im going to focus on color and then maybe for future out comes for frys I can work on form


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## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

I think you ment splited ventrals.They are ok anyway,most bettas have them.
You could breed them to the blue one.She can brighten the blue in the orchid.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

@NeonELX: can you get a picture of your male with a light/flash. He doesn't look "orchid". He looks more of a "super black" - a poorly colored SB has irid rays on fins and is often labelled as orchids. Actual orchids usually have irid dots(?) on body which the picture doesn't show. And their blackness are different (sorry can't explain - just looks different).

In any case, I'd pair him to the royal blue or any color that has little to no red.


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

i'm glad you posted this! I have a black orchid ct that i'm trying to breed but didnt know which color to breed him to to get the best chance of keeping color. And I was thinking the same thing, color now, form later lol!


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## Maddybelle (Sep 29, 2012)

Thats what I'm doing, too. Color now, then form. Though, I did get the best pair I could afford with the color I liked. Next, I'm thinking of breeding one of the best females from the spawn I'm currently working on to an orange HMPK import. There are so many nice ones on AB right now, its SO hard to wait!


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Haha I look at AB every day and yeah there are some pretty nice ones...too bad my debit card is in the mail still so I can't order any lol I also bought the best available in my price range so I don't really NEED anymore lol


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