# Critique Needed



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

So I have been eyeing this boy for quite some time and I am considering purchasing him just to have him as extra blood for my blue line. I would love to hear all of your thoughts and opinions on him ;-) ( I can get a sibling female with him as well.)

From what I can see he is nicely balanced but I will be breeding him to a 4-ray female to make those first rays longer and stronger because they are pretty darn stubby. I love his ventrals and his anal is nice and short which I am really finicky about.











-Sincerely


----------



## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

he looks decent enough. Nice blending from fin to fin and really nice color.


----------



## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

He looks great, balanced fins, and perfect ventrals. You need to reduce his rays to make the fins look nice and neat. Pairing him to a 4 ray female should do the trick. If possible work on making his dorsal and anal lean forward. If you don't get any good candidates from his offspring, try introducing DT genes - that has long front ray dorsal.

Good luck.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

He"s very pretty.


----------



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

So I may have found a female to complement him nicely, she is a HMPK female and she seems to hit all the notes nicely, what do you think?










-Sincerely

P.S. I noticed that short first dorsal ray, I was thinking I may get a good female for him out of my spawn that is growing out but I would like to have another blue female anyways just for back up ;-)


----------



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

So I found a female I like even better, here is her photo.










-Sincerely


----------



## Delta (May 18, 2012)

I like the male. He has good finnage and I, like you, especially love the fact his anal isn't long. Though his back seems to have a bit of a hunch to it.

I like that second female too, she's a marble though. So if you get her she's probably going to change colors a bit. The marble gene is dominant in fry too, I believe.


----------



## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

I wouldnt use either of the female


----------



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

Could you tell me why you would not use them? I am still learning so any advice is appreciated. I looked at HM females and many of them have extensive branching so that is why I was looking into HMPK females, also I notice now the females I chose have 2 ray branching but good spread, the second one with the better spread but seems to be influenced by something other than blue.

I was thinking of using the female I have now but I do not want to use her because after her first branching (which is nice and long) it becomes very extensive and could possibly lead to rosetail if I bred her to him.

If any of you have been browsing Aquabid and see a good female
I would love to look at her. Trying to learn female conformation better.

Thank you all for your help so far, it is appreciated :-D

-Sincerely


----------



## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Those are more of a tradiction Pk 
Round edge
Uneven ray
It will get kind of messy if u cross those two


----------



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

Okay I see what you're saying about the rounded edges on the females, still unsure as to what you mean by uneven rays..I can see that more on the first female but not so much on the second.

How about this female? She seems to have a straighter edge than the previous two and has 4 ray branching.










-Sincerely


----------



## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

She looks good to me.


----------



## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

The male is very nice and that last female is amazing!


----------



## Martinismommy (Dec 2, 2010)

The male is outstanding! I'd look for a nice blue HM female though...I wouldn't breed him to a PK...


----------



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

Alright then, I will continue my quest for a HM female. The only blues ones up for auction right now seem to have extensive branching but poor spread. Although I could breed him to Pandora, I rather see if I could get another blue HM female just for back up.

Thank you all for your feedback! I feel a little more confident in my selection of males...still need to work on that female conformation. 

-Sincerely


----------



## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

or a green mask hm female will work


----------



## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

@sincerely: look at martinismom's avatar - look at the front ray of his dorsal. That's what you're aiming for. You will unlikely find a female of that form for sale though. 

Your male has an upright dorsal. So you want a female with at least similar dorsal. Though she may have short front rays, you should produce some upright dorsals. If not, then breed back to daddy for F2. You should get some by now. Then take those F2 and breed to a DT - hopefully you will get those ideal dorsal.

Your male has excessive ray branching. It is safer to breed to a 4 ray female. But excessive ray females would be fine as long as you carefully select F1 or breed out (meaning getting new bettas). Don't breed the ones that show rose traits (btw, excessive rays doesn't always mean rose traits).
Your female doesn't have to be HM. She could be a super delta with 4 rays. BUT make sure she has pointy caudal edges. And above all make sure she has balanced overall fins

IMO caudal spread is the least of your worries since most have been bred to be HM, thus most at least carry the genes (including delta T). But the leaning forward dorsal and anal is something you can't easily find thus should concentrate on maintaining them. Try not to pair him to a female whose dorsal is too (sorry don't know the term) .... like the first or third female. Look for dorsals that opens like a fan.

Good luck


----------



## Junglist (Feb 23, 2012)

Sincerely said:


> Okay I see what you're saying about the rounded edges on the females, still unsure as to what you mean by uneven rays..I can see that more on the first female but not so much on the second.
> 
> How about this female? She seems to have a straighter edge than the previous two and has 4 ray branching.
> 
> ...


Oh my! that female in the back is a "must have" for me...


----------



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

So I think I found the female for this male, she is a DT female. What do you guys think? I dont know how to judge the dorsal and anal of a female DT's very well. I like her color very much and she has the ray length I like also she seems to have a nice, long body.










-Sincerely


----------



## Sincerely (Apr 22, 2012)

So, I have been reading more about female conformation since I looked into the IBC official standards and have been comparing females from the standard to ones on Aquabid, one of the HM females I was originally thinking about purchasing has too much "Male Finnage" and so I kept on looking for a match.


The DT girl I was thinking about, more I looked the more I didn't like her, I had seen another DT female specimen and she was better looking in every way (Too bad she wasn't blue, green or steel :-?)


Chaba recently posted this girl and I think I'm going to snap her up before someone else does. She seems to have the dorsal and branching I am looking for. Since I have heard purchasing a female with a long first dorsal ray is pretty rare I am going to say this female is matching what I need pretty well. The only thing I can see is that she has somewhat of a short body but it could be the picture.











-Sincerely


----------

