# Are long fins on a betta fish a recessive gene?



## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Does anyone know? Any breeders out there?


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Hello and welcome to the forum!

To answer both your questions, YES there are actually MANY breeders on this forum.

And NO, the long finned gene is not recessive. The long finned gene is very dominant and the short finned gene is recessive.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

bettalover2033 said:


> Hello and welcome to the forum!
> 
> To answer both your questions, YES there are actually MANY breeders on this forum.
> 
> And NO, the long finned gene is not recessive. The long finned gene is very dominant and the short finned gene is recessive.


Hello! And thank you for the warm welcome! 

Anyway...that's interesting....so why do wild betta have short fins?


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

finnfinnfriend said:


> Hello! And thank you for the warm welcome!
> 
> Anyway...that's interesting....so why do wild betta have short fins?


Well that is a great question. Though my personal belief is that they have short fins to get away from their enemies faster and were built to survive otherwise they would be eaten and or killed. Just imagine if the average Halfmoon aka long finned betta was to be in the wild. They would never be Abe to swim fast enough to get away from predators.

It's like askin, why do people have feet?


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Think of it this way, how many long finned fish do you see in the wild? Long fins aren't good for survival.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

tpocicat said:


> Think of it this way, how many long finned fish do you see in the wild? Long fins aren't good for survival.


Exactly how I explained it.

If we didn't have long feet when we were in out earlier stages, would would never be albe to eat, thus we wouldn't have survived.

Okay I might have just made that a little more complicated.


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## CarmanDirda (Feb 20, 2012)

Long fins are dominant over short fins. In captivity, it grew to be an advantage (like with mating), while in the wild, it was a disadvantage and would often get them eaten. Same with colors.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

I think I worded that question wrong, lol. I meant if wild betta have short fins, then why are they a recessive gene?


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

finnfinnfriend said:


> I think I worded that question wrong, lol. I meant if wild betta have short fins, then why are they a recessive gene?


The newest species of bettas is the betta splendens which were created many years ago after selective breeding into a more aggressive species of betta.

The original wild bettas have different species within the wilds and are considered a "weaker" species in the sense of being compared to the splendens. Also during the breeding process.

There was actually an article about this.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I was going to let you guys work this out but someone asked me to answer this....

Wild bettas - I'm assuming you mean bettas that live in the wild regardless of their species - including the splendens. I don't think neither species are weaker than the other. They simply developed/evolved the way they did, each having their advantages and disadvantages (I haven't heard about the article).

Why bettas in the wild have short fin - simple: natural selection. I've seen 1 or 2 long finned bettas in the wild, in areas of little to no predators. This tells us that long finned bettas can't evade predators as good as their short finned cousins. After years of naturally selected breeding, they just don't show up much anymore (in the wild). But their genes exists and the form reappeared when domesticated which was then multiplied. 

I'm not sure if the ones I saw in the wild were man released or was a natural wild product. But I know that the long finned are slower and always stand out thus become an easy target for predators and humans alike.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

I will have to take a look into google to see if I find an article because I do remember reading something about something else. Not in the news or anything, but just an article that explained a little more in depth.

I was actually trying to answer another question. I read it and comprehended it wrong. I would agree with natural selection since it does make sense and I was just taught that in science.

But to add, short fins are recessive to any kind of betta species. I don't know about other fish, but for bettas yes.


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## Wolfboy51 (Oct 12, 2011)

(i dont know if this has been answered) do the male fish carry the dominant gene like humans?


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

I keep hearing that the genes have so much to do with age, and water temp.

Indo explained this on a thread called, male and female ratio by BeautifulBetta.


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## hedgehog (Sep 1, 2010)

Wolfboy51 said:


> (i dont know if this has been answered) do the male fish carry the dominant gene like humans?


Both sexes of fish carry the same genes. Its the combination of genes that occurs after fertilization of the eggs that determines the tail type. 

I don't know what you mean by male humans carrying the dominant gene. I think you may be referring to the sex determinant gene because males determine gender. In this case neither X or Y is dominant it just happens that sometimes the male fertilizes with a sperm containing the Y gene and sometimes its the X gene. This is a little different than the genes determining characteristics like hair color or fin length in fish mainly due to the fact that a female does not necessary have the same alleles and can provide a variety of combinations. For example if a Long finned female from a short finned lineage was bred her eggs could either have the gene for long fins or for short fins. The eggs don't all have to have the same genes either.


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## Wolfboy51 (Oct 12, 2011)

Yes i was talking about the gender gene women having XX and males having XY. So if you bred mixed breeds could you end up with completely different tail types? Like HM X VT


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Wolfboy51 said:


> Yes i was talking about the gender gene women having XX and males having XY. So if you bred mixed breeds could you end up with completely different tail types? Like HM X VT


Yes it's possible, but only if the pair has the VT or HM genes in them. We wouldn't be able to have black hair if everyone in our family had red hair or blonde, since no one has any black hair.


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## Wolfboy51 (Oct 12, 2011)

K, ty.


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