# Blue Rim PK (M) x Red PK (F)



## Zellie

New to breeding but have been obsessing over betta fish for a long time. I got both Max (Male Blue Rim PK) and Ginny (Female Red PK) from Betta California in February. He breeds as well as sells imports from Vietnam. Before the pandemic hit I was able to visit his home where he kept all his bettas for sale. I was like a kid at a candy store to say the least. This project has kept me sane and happy through these tough times. My main goal is to discover first hand how color, fin, and body shape is passed on.

Max








Ginny after breeding (fins a bit torn and stressed but she is better now).









February 15, 2020

Took home Max and Ginny
April 14, 2020

Moved Ginny to breeding tank.
Max was already there.
April 18, 2020

Released Ginny
Covered the tank for privacy
April 19, 2020

The Embrace
Apri 20, 2020

Successful mating
many white eggs on the bubble nest
Ginny scooped out of breeding tank
April 21, 2020

Eggs started hatching
many tails hanging from nest
April 22, 2020

some fry are beginning to swim horizontally
April 23, 2020

Max scooped out of tank
first feeding with microworms and BBS
like some posts in this forum it took a while for the fry to figure out that the microworms sink but they eventually got there.
Max was a diligent father. Always on the lookout for babies falling off and making more bubbles. (it was a pleasure watching him)
*1 week old fry*

so smol......
I had a hydra problem! Some fry didn't make it. I manually removed the hydra by carefully scraping and siphoning with air hose and feeding less BBS.
They like to sleep like this on the corner of the tank.










*3 week old fry*

one of the biggest fry started getting this translucent iridescent blue color.









*Today: 5 week old fry*

started feeding frozen Daphnia along with microworms and BBS
I have about 30-40 fry
40% are large, ~ 3/4 in
30% are medium, 1/2 in
30% are small, <1/2 in




































Current set up:
fry tank on the bottom.


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## CosmicSyringe

So cute! Love your set up. Glad you got rid of the hydra. ❤ Max and Ginny are gorgeous!


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## Rana

Gorgeous parents, and the fry are so cute!! I can't wait to see how they grow up.


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## Zellie

CosmicSyringe said:


> So cute! Love your set up. Glad you got rid of the hydra. ❤ Max and Ginny are gorgeous!


Yes, they are gone now. That gave me nightmares for a little bit. I thought I was going to loose this spawn.


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## Zellie

Rana said:


> Gorgeous parents, and the fry are so cute!! I can't wait to see how they grow up.


Thank you.


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## Zellie

A 6.5 week old fry update. They have become ravenous. Within seconds all the BBS I put is gone so I've been putting 3x more food. I've started feeding frozen food as well. How much and how often should I be feeding them at this age? Should I keep feeding until they have bulging bellies or is that too much? I feed them 2x a day sometimes 3x. 

There is one biggest fry, about 1 in long. He/she is loosing the blue tint and starting to develop white iridescent scales like the dad and the blue rim around the caudal and anal fins (pictured). Most of the fry are still blueish and around 1/2-3/4in. A handful are teeny tiny still. 

When should I start separating the biggest ones to a new tank? It's starting to look crowded in the 10 gallon. I have another 10 gallon that i've started cycling.


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## indjo

Feeding 2-3x a day is fine. 
Same as adults, frequent small feedings are better than one big ration. 

Depending on space (available tanks), I'd like to separate as soon as possible. If separated when bigger, they often become aggressive. Especially if food is scarce.

If not disturbed/no stress since small, whether from moving, water changing, or lack of food, they usually stay docile longer - usually until they become sexually mature and want to spawn. And spawning instincts may kick in at a later age.

Moving the size of 1" sometimes makes them aggressive. Try not to stress - lure with food. When they approach, scoop gently with cup and move (make sure water temp in both tanks are similar). 

It takes much longer and demands patience. But to me, it's better than having to jar tens to hundreds, which in the long run means more work and longer time to feed individually.


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## Zellie

indjo said:


> Feeding 2-3x a day is fine.
> Same as adults, frequent small feedings are better than one big ration.
> 
> Depending on space (available tanks), I'd like to separate as soon as possible. If separated when bigger, they often become aggressive. Especially if food is scarce.
> 
> If not disturbed/no stress since small, whether from moving, water changing, or lack of food, they usually stay docile longer - usually until they become sexually mature and want to spawn. And spawning instincts may kick in at a later age.
> 
> Moving the size of 1" sometimes makes them aggressive. Try not to stress - lure with food. When they approach, scoop gently with cup and move (make sure water temp in both tanks are similar).
> 
> It takes much longer and demands patience. But to me, it's better than having to jar tens to hundreds, which in the long run means more work and longer time to feed individually.


Ok. Thank you. I will start moving the bigger ones to the other tank.


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## Zellie

More photos. Love love watching them eat, zoom around, hide between the roots, and explore the tank.


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## Zellie




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## Zellie

Transferred the larger fry into a new tank. I counted 25.


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## CosmicSyringe

They're so pretty!


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## Zellie

Woke up today and found that I forgot to turn the heater back on after the water change yesterday!!!!!! The fry look like they are doing ok but the temp was at 70. I feel horrible. Are they going to be ok?


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## maeusespeck

They will be okay, maybe a short break in growing. But the water had slowly loose the temperature so there was no temperatur shock for them and their not super new fry anymore. You could also rise betta at a low temperature, but higher provides better and faster growth.


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## indjo

If they look ok, they should be fine. 

Problems occur if temp fluctuates too quickly or if it stays too low for too long.


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## CosmicSyringe

they should be okay! ❤ sorry I didn't check in sooner. If your fry were younger/smaller the temperature drop would have probably been a bigger risk.


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## Zellie

The fry are about 2months old now. It’s very very interesting to see them change colors. The biggest one (about 1/4 inch bigger than everyone) for example used to be light blue as pictured above but in the past week he/she turned cellophane and started developing barely visible orange patches. I’ll call him/her #1








Here is a blurry pic because they swim so fast









There is another fry that stands out who must be a boy because he is very aggressive, nipping at the others. So I isolated him in the floating breeding box. He was completely royal blue but quickly reverse marbled overnight (is that e right term). He is looking violet at the moment. He will be called #2.









A lot of the fry are still blue some very dark blue as #2 once was. Others are turning a beautiful shade of Iridescent white with a tint of purple.









This one is wearing blue lipstick. Behind blue lipstick is a pretty iridescent light purple. It’s hard to capture the color in photo but I have some videos I will uplo









more pictures of my babies:


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## CosmicSyringe

Oh my - what beauties! 😍


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## Zellie

More pictures from today
This is #2, temporarily out of water for water change. You can really see his iridescent beauty here








Others look like this: they look unreal like, the Lisa frank collection.


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## Zellie

Video link:

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/comments/hhmtaw


__
https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/comments/hhn5z1


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## Zellie

10 week old fry.
Started separating some. 
One lucky fry will get to grow in this tank. Giving it as a gift to my sister-in-law.








Petsmart Is currently having a 
curbside pickup sale for 5.5 gallon top fin starter kits for 21$. So I bought 5 to give away as package deal with some fish.









Here is #2
So pretty

















more photos


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## CosmicSyringe

What a bunch of cuties! Growing so fast.
What a brilliant idea to give away 5.5 gallons with fish! That should help people learn to not put them im vases.


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## X skully X

Lots of good looking bettas! That’s really nice of you to set up a tank for your sister 💜 looks great


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## Zellie

Yes, I wish there were more betta kits with a heater that are 5 gallons but under 25$.


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## Zellie

I’m going to be on the look out for those tanks and maybe buy in wholesale and sell as a betta kit along with the betta... let me know if you find a good deal.


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## fishowner550

I have the ten gallon version of that and I love it!


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## Zellie

fishowner550 said:


> I have the ten gallon version of that and I love it!


Nice. Always good to hear a good review from an experienced fish keeper.


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## Zellie

Separated them yesterday. I think I have a lot of males because of aggressiveness. I might need another bucket


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## AndreaPond

You've done some incredible work and I love being able to read about the progression. Thank you!


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## CosmicSyringe

I use 2 buckets cuz they each only fit up to 15 cups. If I have too many for the buckets, I float them in my tanks.


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## CameronsBettas

CosmicSyringe said:


> I use 2 buckets cuz they each only fit up to 15 cups. If I have too many for the buckets, I float them in my tanks.


Empty tanks or tanks with fish?


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## CosmicSyringe

CameronsBettas said:


> Empty tanks or tanks with fish?


Tanks with their sibling fish growing out in them.


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## CameronsBettas

CosmicSyringe said:


> Tanks with their sibling fish growing out in them.


How do you keep them afloat? Im probably not going to have enough space for all my males in my betta rack so im going to have to float some in my grow out tank too


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## CosmicSyringe

CameronsBettas said:


> How do you keep them afloat? Im probably not going to have enough space for all my males in my betta rack so im going to have to float some in my grow out tank too


Mine stay afloat well on their own but putting lids on would help, because air would be in the top. I think it depends what types of cups you use. With mine, as long the water level isn't too high inside the cup, they float. I hope this helps! Im always available to answer more questions ✌


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## Zellie

AndreaPond said:


> You've done some incredible work and I love being able to read about the progression. Thank you!


Thank you. I appreciate that.


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## Zellie

Zellie said:


> Thank you. I appreciate that.





CosmicSyringe said:


> I use 2 buckets cuz they each only fit up to 15 cups. If I have too many for the buckets, I float them in my tanks.


yes, I need to get another bucket. I really like DIY projects and setting up tanks. Looking forward to it.


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## Zellie

Update. Fry are almost ready for their glamour photo shoot. Hoping to do those end of July.

I’m really enjoying watching them change color and grow. This has been a lot of work. I think it will be my one and only betta breeding project. I found love for planted tanks along the way and I will continue to set up planted tanks for myself and friends/family.

#1 is a female!!!!! She is kind of like a koi with orange/cello but also has blue on her tail. What a surprise- she was the biggest one of them all from the start. Now, some of the boys are bigger or about the same size as her.

#2 is for sure a lavender male with beautiful red highlights. I’ve got a handful of lavenders and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are beautiful and I’m wonderfully surprised at the color.

I also have some blue and white marbles, koi, whites, cello, blue, red with blue rims- but might still change color over time. We will see.

As for body shape- I’ve noticed that those I separated early on have longer and more symmetrical fins. I’ve got males that have beautiful symmetry. Their ventral fins are long and come to just one point. The anal fins are like a skirt and the tip are as long as the ventrals. The caudal are nice and D shaped when flared. The dorsal stands up straight. The head shape has a nice slope. Very pleasing so far but I’m no judge. And maybe a bit biased because I love them so much. Lol.

I’ll try to get good profile pics in the next few weeks. Until then my betta fish friends. Stay safe and
just keep swimming.


These are mostly girls. The big girl in the middle right is #1. Look at those eggs!









this is #2. A beautiful lavender male with red highlights. He is so majestic and I can’t wait to do his glamour photo shoot.


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## Zellie

Here are the first 18 fry. 
















this guy started developing this orange stripe down the middle about a week ago.


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## Zellie




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## Zellie

Some of them have ventrals that fan out. Does anyone know what this means? Why they got it? The parents don’t have it. 
Fun fact- M11 will shake his ventrals like a Polaroid picture during an aggressive dance. kinda cute


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## RussellTheShihTzu

Gorgeous spawn with amazing colors. Would be hard to choose.

Don't forget AquaBid if you decide to do some online selling. Aren't many nice Betta bred in the US on that site. You only pay a fee on sales $50.00+. They do ask for the occasional donation to help keep the site running.

I sold 20 x more Cholla on AquaBid than I did on eBay.'

BTW, what do you mean by "fan out?" That they don't come to a point?


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## CosmicSyringe

Wow they're stunning!


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## Zellie

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Gorgeous spawn with amazing colors. Would be hard to choose.
> 
> Don't forget AquaBid if you decide to do some online selling. Aren't many nice Betta bred in the US on that site. You only pay a fee on sales $50.00+. They do ask for the occasional donation to help keep the site running.
> 
> I sold 20 x more Cholla on AquaBid than I did on eBay.'
> 
> BTW, what do you mean by "fan out?" That they don't come to a point?


Yes, they don’t come to a point. It’s more claw like.


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## Zellie

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Gorgeous spawn with amazing colors. Would be hard to choose.
> 
> Don't forget AquaBid if you decide to do some online selling. Aren't many nice Betta bred in the US on that site. You only pay a fee on sales $50.00+. They do ask for the occasional donation to help keep the site running.
> 
> I sold 20 x more Cholla on AquaBid than I did on eBay.'
> 
> BTW, what do you mean by "fan out?" That they don't come to a point?


Thanks for the Aqua Bid advice. I’ll keep that in mind.


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## Sergeant Betta

Asome!


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## Zellie

More babies.
I’ve also complied all the photos on Instagram @zelbetta

I’ve got a 10gallon tank with females, most are still coloring up. 
another 10gallon for the smaller fry.


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## Zellie

I jarred 7 more fry. Their pictures to come soon.


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## Sergeant Betta




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## indjo

Zellie said:


> Some of them have ventrals that fan out. Does anyone know what this means? Why they got it? The parents don’t have it.
> Fun fact- M11 will shake his ventrals like a Polaroid picture during an aggressive dance. kinda cute


You want ventrals as wide as possible and ending at a point - as long as the longest anal fin ray. When flaring, they should be parrallel.

Your babies with wider ventrals may eventually split (I see more than one point). And some of those with thin ventrals may grow a bit long (longer than anal). But most of them show parallel ventrals.

Congrats.


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## Zellie

Good news, I set up a tent at the swap meet and sold some yesterday.
M2 and M4 went to families who also bought a starter tank, heater, water conditioner. I gave them a couple of free catapa leaves and a packet of food for free. I also made a kid friendly little care sheet card.
Also sold to adult fish lovers are M5 and F6.

M4 is going to my mom, I'm setting up a 5g planted tank for her.
M3 went to my sister in law also with a planted tank.

local fish store will buy a couple today.

It's warm now where I live so I'm more confident in leaving the fry in jars without a heater. It's nice seeing the fruits of my labor this way until they sell.


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