# Mustard Gas?



## MadMay (Dec 18, 2010)

Ok I know you are all probably tired of seeing pics of Shelly but here are more! lol I think he/she may turn out to be an MG. Not sure though what do you all think.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Beautiful fish, but she is not a mustard gas. Mustard gas is a very overused and inaccurate term. The original breeder of true mustard gases trademarked the term and using it is disrespectful. True mustard gases were created by Jude al in the 90's to describe a line of fish he put over 15 years of work into.

http://bettysplendens.com/articles/p...articleid=1256


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## MadMay (Dec 18, 2010)

Your link isnt working, but I have read in the past on that subject and that trademark was canceled in 2009 and there for to my knowledge the term can be used. I dont believe that I or others refer to yellow bicolors as mg to be dishonest or for people to assume that this fish came from that persons line. I think more people think of mg as a yellow bicolor than as that persons personal strain of fish so while I do know that it is alot of work to create your own strain I think that it was a little petty to put out a trade mark on such thing. As again from what I can tell people use it to decribe a yellow bicolor not to advertise that it is a from Jude Als strain. 

So to clarify by asking if people thought Shelly would mature to a mustard gas I am referring to a yellow bicolor and I am not claiming in anyway that he is from any particular breeders personal strain. If ever I use the term mustard gas I am referring to the commonly accepted term for a yellow bicolor and again not referring to a persons individual strain and unless clearly stating that persons name and giving them credit. So I hope that clears everything up for people.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

http://bettysplendens.com/articles/page.imp?articleid=1256

Apparently your article was moved, Mattsbettas.

the status of said trademark:
http://www.markhound.com/trademark/search/3ckyxNdRD

"Registration cancelled because registrant did not file an acceptable declaration under Section 8." - Oct 17, 2009


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Yes, but its still using the name of a breeders personal line. I highly doubt that you would be fine with the name of something that you put *15 years of your life* into being widely misused and spread. If it is a yellow bicolor, then why not call it that? To be honest the trademark only prevents people from selling non mustard gases as mustard gases. It doesn't make it polite or right to call a fish a mustard gas if it isn't. I am sorry if I come across as rude, but I am trying to stop the spread of mis information.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

I agree that it's being misused in the sense that the original mustard gas bettas have dark (almost a black) smudges around the edges of their fins.

HOWEVER, it wouldn't be any different than someone trying to trademark any potentially random trait that would show up. That's like when Paris Hilton tried to trademark the phrase "that's hot". It's too random.

Without that smudge, I would call it a bi-color. But really by the end of the day, mustard gas is only a bi-colored butterfly. And it ISN'T trademarked, so being rude isn't going to make it any less legally moot than it already is, despite spending 15 years on it. That's the chance you take when you breed livestock, especially when you sell or give away without a contract.


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## Option (Oct 20, 2012)

MattsBettas said:


> Beautiful fish, but she is not a mustard gas. Mustard gas is a very overused and inaccurate term. The original breeder of true mustard gases trademarked the term and using it is disrespectful. True mustard gases were created by Jude al in the 90's to describe a line of fish he put over 15 years of work into.
> 
> http://bettysplendens.com/articles/p...articleid=1256


Matt, seriously...who died and made you boss? Unless you tell me Jude himself I'm calling you out on this. You are like the MG patrol and whenever anyone posts a mustard gas (omg I used the term!) betta you seem to spring up out of the wood works and repost this exact post! :roll::roll::roll:


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## MadMay (Dec 18, 2010)

Skyewillow in my original response I had intended to mention about the "thats hot" trade mark but decided to take it out. Im glad I am not the only one that the situations were similar in absurdity!


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

^_^

By the way, she could decide to completely change color on you, she looks pretty young yet, and when I brought my boy Skerries home a little smaller than that, he looked like he was going to be reddish. However, now that he's all grown up, he's a marvelous turquoise!! lol


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## MadMay (Dec 18, 2010)

X C Everyone is calling her a she! lol Yeah Im aware its just kind of fun to guess!


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## rabidbetta (Feb 23, 2013)

I'm a betta noob, so I can't comment on color, etc. I just wanted to say she's adorable!


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## caissacrowntails (Mar 10, 2013)

Dark Iridescent non-red bicolors LOL, I personally think when it comes to colors..using the "inventor" 's trademark is in no way "degrading" their efforts, on the contrary I think (If one day I "invented" new color and name it, I would feel happy and honored if everyone use the name for that kind of color)..especially if it's not "officially registered", unless they're declaring something like.."the original "name" from "inventor" 's line and try to deceive others or making profit with it. And not just "mustard gas", take "dragon/lavender/salamander etc." for example. Imagine what will happen if no one can use other's _color's term_ ( I personally prefer to think it this way), then maybe u can see "dragons/crocodile/pearl/or whatever names the owner comes up with" for same color fishes..I think that will be confusing LOL. just my 2 cents though.


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## MadMay (Dec 18, 2010)

Here are some more pictures I should tell everyone that the green is not at all visible without flash but today I noticed blue iridescence Here are some picture all of these are with natural light and how you would see him normally. The third one and the last one are his/her attempt at flaring so cute!


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Those pictures make him/her look more like the blue irid chocolate that I used to have.


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## caissacrowntails (Mar 10, 2013)

If my eyes don't deceive me..I think I can see tiny white "spot" under her belly, behind her ventral fins? if that's true..then I'm 99% sure that it's a she


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## MoonShadow (Feb 29, 2012)

Many young males can display that white spot too. At this point the length of the ventrals are making me think boy! But a gorgeous baby either way! As for color right now little shelly looks like a chocolate with blue/green iridescence like skyewillow said, but time will tell!


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## Bekazzled (Apr 27, 2012)

Hey, I know this is an old thread but I'm interested in how she/he turned out! Gotta say it looks like a she, and I'd also say it's a "mustard gas". But maybe for different reasons than others. 

Skyewillow and others have a point. My sister's had Judge Judy on pretty much constant TV rotation at the moment, and Al's argument about claiming the name Mustard Gas doesn't really hold up. What would JJ say if Al brought Marianne to court? No evidence of an agreement that she wouldn't breed and when you give someone a fish they have the right to breed it. Or not. 

The point is that many new fighting fish owner are flooding the market, seeing a beautiful blue and yellow bicolour with halfmoon fins, thinking, "Woah!" and asking someone (store owner/online seller/owner of fish) "what is that?" and the person will inevitably say, "it's a mustard gas, halfmoon."

The term is now in such common usage it's pointless for one person who came up with it to continually insist others don't use it. If it's recognition Als wants, he has it: because of all the furore he's caused, most breeders are well aware that he was the original MG father. We've all read about it, discussed it. It's the whole, "what's in a name?" argument. Because MG fish all have blue and yellow bicolouration and the non-red gene, they all resemble each other. And it's easier for the owner of such a fish to say, "my mustard gas," rather than, "my bicolour blue and yellow fish that people think is a mustard gas but technically isn't according to the self-proclaimed laws laid down by one fish breeder over a decade ago."

Als also has to reckon with globalization: Malaysian and Thai sellers of show fish are calling any fish that resembles the original MG a "mustard gas" and selling these all over the world via aquabid. (I live in Australia and I have a few myself.) Local aquariums are calling bicolour blue-yellows "mustard gas" fish, including high end stores, not just pet shops. The name is so rampant you can't contain it. And why does Als care so much that he must own the name? In his place, after all those years of research, too, I'd be proud that a) my fish flourished and survived and became dominant and b) that most breeders would know I was the original breeder, and leave it at that. With dignity. 

I’m saying that Als could have claimed Option B by simply stating he was the original breeder as he did - and then let the issue go. We get it. You made them. However, words change their meaning over time and you can't stop it (look at the old-fashioned and current meanings of the words, "romantic", "pathetic", "sorry", "what", "fool", "sentimental" etc etc - all had different meanings once, changed over time to current meanings and new global social conditions). Fish acquire new genes as breeders around the world try new combinations. People need a name to give to these fish, and as the MG was the one name used to describe blue-yellow bicolour people are going to keep using "Mustard Gas" because it's easier to say and remember. And because most sellers will use this term to describe such a fish. 

It's out of Als' hands now. Yes, I know how protective and proud we are of our little babies. They mean the world to us breeders. But you have to look at the environment, change, and the fact that it's just a term now. As I said, most breeders know the Als story, so really in the end he ended up getting more credit for the term Mustard Gas than any other breeder has for different types of fish (e.g. I don't know who came up with the term halfmoon to begin with. That's how famous the Als story is in fish history). Continued efforts to insist on his rights to the name just seem... ludicrous and obscenely self-congratulatory. Especially if they involve threats sent to the person he willingly gave one of these original MG fish to in the first place.

Reminds me of the story of the ragdoll cat. Anyone who doesn't know should wikipedia the term "Ragdoll cat", it's pretty ridiculous. The original breeder trademarked the name and created a lot of trouble over it after she gave one of the offspring away and the cat bred. These cats were bred to hang limply, like a ragdoll. My mother owns two of them; but it's only been recently that you can legally call these cats "ragdoll". I mean... seriously? What else did the original breeder want us to call these “not pure” animals that act and look exactly like a ragdoll cat? "I have a Hanging Cloth cat!" A cat that looks like a ragdoll and acts like a ragdoll is going to be called one, I'm afraid, and that's a fact.

I acknowledge 99.999% recurring of fish breeders don’t know what it’s like to create their own breed and set it out into the breeding world, so we don’t know how emotional we’d get about that. But it’s been so long now, Als has what he wants (recognition) and the term MG is rampant.


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