# What I guess is a male Halfmoon Mustard Gas



## triton0212 (Nov 8, 2017)

Hi everyone. This is my first post. The thing is that I just bought my first pair of Bettas at Petco. They look pretty nice, healthy gills, bright colors, etc. The female is obviously a Koi Betta, I have no doubt of that. But the male is supposed to be a Paradise Betta like this one https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/paradise-betta

Sincerely I couldn't find any other info but the one offered by Petco and some people online saying that is a made-up term by Petco. So... doing a little research online and comparing some pics I think that my betta is a Halfmoon Mustard Gas. Whatever he is i'm okay with that. I'd just like to know. My other question is if anybody has bred anything like this before (male Halfmoon Mustard Gas / female Koi) to have an idea of what could come out of this mix. :nerd::nerd:

Here's a video that way you guys can see him better. Thank u guys for ur replies. :grin2::grin2::grin2:


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Female looks like a Red Koi HMPK, male is a Blue Bicolor, possibly MG (@lilnaugrim , explain the MG thing please?) HM. Both are beautiful. Are you breeding them?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Mustard Gas is a coloration coined by Jude Als, he placed a trademark on it (previously everyone thought it was a patent) which prevents companies from using the name. PetCo then made up Bumblebee and Paradise (part of the Finding Dory movie promotion) Betta's to join us cool kids who have all the fancy names lol. All coloration names are made up at first anyway so in the end, it doesn't matter as much but you'll find much more on Mustard Gas than you will on Bumblebee/Paradise since it's more widely used.


Mustard Gas should be a blue bodied fish with yellow/orange fins (original was pale yellow) and a black or blue outlining band around the fins. Many will call it a Bi or Tricolor due to the fact that, even though the trademark ran out, Als never renewed it, it became so popular that the trademark is still sort of in effect. The problem with calling it a Bi or Tricolor (blue, yellow, black) is that Mustard Gas does now encompass a little more variation off the original MG fish line. Now it includes Metallic scaled (thick) fish, orange fins instead of yellow and a blue or black band. So the original MG were all Tricolor: blue, yellow, and black. But many of the MG's now are only blue and orange or blue and yellow since their outlining band is blue instead of black so there can be some confusion there. Especially since a Blue bodied fish with entirely yellow fins or orange fins can also be called a Chocolate  So it gets confusing with the fancy names and reducing them down to the bare pattern.


But in the end, yes, you can call your fish a Mustard Gas since he does adhere to the patterning. He actually looks very similar to the original MG as well which you can see if you google "Mustard Gas Betta original".


As far as breeding, his fins are gorgeous for an HM but his body needs a lot of work since he's deformed. He may have trouble wrapping the female if she's close to his size. She looks like she's a short fin; HMPK which means you're going to end up with varying fin lengths. And breeding red and yellow tends to null the other out so you'll end up with a grab bag of fish colors, nothing very specific.


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## triton0212 (Nov 8, 2017)

Hey ThatFishThough thank u so much for ur reply. I don't know anything about bettas but what I read online the last few days. But based on some online info including Betta splendens - variations - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki I figured out he was a HM Mustard Gas if we're talking about colors {which is a bi-color pattern as u stated in ur reply}. Thanks again ;-) and yes... I'm planning to breed em. Just need to read a little bit more that way I don't mess up anything. Have an awesome day!


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## triton0212 (Nov 8, 2017)

lilnaugrim thanks a lot for ur time and patience. Looks like I came to the right place ;-) I read both of ur replies which helped me a lot, and now I understand why that pattern is so "deformed" (looking at online pics). I'm happy that mine looks pretty much at the original MG. Just a couple of more questions {since they're free of charge ;-) and no Credit Card is needed ;-)}. U say he's deformed and I'd like to know if u're talking about his body size or any other thing that I don't know like eyes too big... or... idk. I mean; when I bought him I paid attention to healthy gills/scales/fins, bright and solid colors, etc. That's the only thing I knew to look for. In case he's small (he looks normal size to me).... would I have the chance for him to grow more since he could still be in a growing stage? I should mention that she's way smaller than him. And now that I think about it, they might be still growing because it doesn't make sense for a breeder to keep feeding a lot of fishes when they reached a salable size. I'm gonna try breeding this pair and let's see what happens. If i'm successful by doing that then I'll go forward with something fancier. I have em in 1 gallon jar btw. Sometimes I think that they're too tight but then I see those Betta farms in Thailand with thousand of bettas in little bottles and then I don't know what's too big or too small for them (I guess never is too big). Last thing I'd like to know is if I could put em in a community tank because I have two of em; a 30 and 50 gallons respectively. I would put em in the 30 because I just have live-bearers there and a pair of angelfish but they're not mean at all. That way they have more space to swim. I know the male could get mean. In that case... could I put around 3 females in that tank so I don't have to have more jars to take care of? Thanks a lot once again for all this great info. Have an amazing day! ;-)


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

triton0212 said:


> lilnaugrim thanks a lot for ur time and patience. Looks like I came to the right place ;-) I read both of ur replies which helped me a lot, and now I understand why that pattern is so "deformed" (looking at online pics). I'm happy that mine looks pretty much at the original MG. Just a couple of more questions {since they're free of charge ;-) and no Credit Card is needed ;-)}. U say he's deformed and I'd like to know if u're talking about his body size or any other thing that I don't know like eyes too big... or... idk. I mean; when I bought him I paid attention to healthy gills/scales/fins, bright and solid colors, etc. That's the only thing I knew to look for.



What I mean is that his spine is deformed which causes it not to bend properly. It won't hurt him or anything but it may pass to his offspring. He is what we call a "spoon head" which means that the jaw goes upwards more which allows for a stronger bite. They used this a lot when they fight Betta's. In breeding standards, we don't want to see that as we are breeding for quality of life and for prettiness and what is closer to Wild Betta body type. 


This picture show's Spoonhead better. His "Topline"--that's the back or spine of the fish, goes in a really nice arch as it should, but the mouth is turned upwards too much and makes like a spoon.












This is how a Betta's topline should look:


















Here is a pretty decent model of a "perfect" Halfmoon (HM) which is what you want to shoot for but is hard to obtain in just one or two generations:














triton0212 said:


> In case he's small (he looks normal size to me).... would I have the chance for him to grow more since he could still be in a growing stage? I should mention that she's way smaller than him. And now that I think about it, they might be still growing because it doesn't make sense for a breeder to keep feeding a lot of fishes when they reached a salable size. I'm gonna try breeding this pair and let's see what happens. If i'm successful by doing that then I'll go forward with something fancier.



He looks small to me but I'd need something to compare him to, like a ruler or something we all have like a glass thermometer, something along those lines. Betta body should be around 2 inches in length, tail is separate measurement.


If you've just bought them then yes, they are very young, around 3 months of age currently and still have plenty to grow. Feed lots of good, high quality food like New Life Spectrum Grow (only available in big containers unfortunately) or Small Fish Formula. And do lots of water changes, keep temperatures up around 82 degrees and they should both grow for you more. You want the boy to be bigger than the girl so that he can wrap her properly to breed.








triton0212 said:


> I have em in 1 gallon jar btw. Sometimes I think that they're too tight but then I see those Betta farms in Thailand with thousand of bettas in little bottles and then I don't know what's too big or too small for them (I guess never is too big).



Many will tell you it's too small or inadequate. But if you can keep it clean and heated, then it's no problem. Betta's are tropical species and need heat of 78-82 ideally, higher especially for growth. 






triton0212 said:


> Last thing I'd like to know is if I could put em in a community tank because I have two of em; a 30 and 50 gallons respectively. I would put em in the 30 because I just have live-bearers there and a pair of angelfish but they're not mean at all. That way they have more space to swim. I know the male could get mean. In that case... could I put around 3 females in that tank so I don't have to have more jars to take care of? Thanks a lot once again for all this great info. Have an amazing day! ;-)




No Betta's with Angelfish, it is not a good mix. Angels will get aggressive and hurt the Betta; not worth the risk.


If you are speaking about putting three unrelated females into one tank, do not do it. The sorority minimum is 5 females and 15 gallons at least. But, sororities are very stressful for the fish and for the fish keeper often. A mother who has been bred is often too aggressive to rejoin the sorority afterwards. Sometimes it can be done but most often, not.


Breeding is a very big project. You need lots of spaces, tanks, and jars. All the jars need to be heated as well either by ambient room heat or by heat-tape is what we often use on racks. One spawn could get you 100-500 eggs roughly. I've seen spawns upwards of 1000 as well. The fish have to be conditioned for about 2 weeks beforehand after you've set up the breeding tank which should be a 10 gallon or 20 gallon long with about 4-6 inches of water in it, heated, and filtered. So, there's lots to it but definitely start reading here in our breeding section and asking questions (search the question first to see if it's already been answered, if not, then go ahead and write up a post), we'll do our best to answer them for you and work with you!


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## triton0212 (Nov 8, 2017)

Thanks again lilnaugrim for all that info and those great pics. Now I have a pattern to follow and know what to look for. Regards!


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