# Elephant ear genetics?



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

So, I have a elephant ear betta and am considering breeding it in a while. I can not find the genetics of elephant ear bettas (how they work) anywhere, probably because they are rarer and new. So- how do the genes work? The most I can find is that it's recessive. What would happen in eexee and eexhm?


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Still too new.. and very recessive. You would get a low number of fry with actual dumbo ears when you have an EExEE.. you may get one or two if you do an EExHM.. but can breed a baby back with the parent that have the actual dumbo ears to increase the chance of the next spawn having a few more.. then back again, etc etc until you get a strong line going. 

Would be easier/quicker (the breeding part) to find an EE female (which are hard to find.. I found some beautiful ones recently, but the USPS messed up and they arrived DOA), been a few weeks and still haven't found any yet. 

I do believe there may still be some x-factoring going on with EEs though - not to the extreme as with rose/feathers, but there are still mutations happening with them.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I copied - pasted this from another thread:

Anything recessive bred to the same recessive trait should produce mostly that recessive trait. Theoretically it should produce 100% but in reality, it will only be a majority - depending on their actual genetic background. 

But it may take at least 3 generations to produce a recessive trait when crossed to a dominant trait. The punnet square for big ear would look something like this:

EE = regular ear/pectoral
ee = big ear

(F0) Regular x Big ear = 100% big ear geno
Parents ---- E ------ E
e ----------- Ee ---- Ee
e ----------- Ee ---- Ee

*Note :* They should look 100% regular, but IME bettas genetics is far from simple so they will show some rather big ears.
....................................

(F1) geno x geno
P --------- E --------- e
E --------- EE -------- Ee
e --------- Ee -------- ee
25% regular, 50% geno, 25% big ear
.......................................

(F2) Big ear x big ear = 100% big ear (F3)
p ---------- e --------- e
e ---------- ee -------- ee
e ---------- ee -------- ee

*** I need to emphasize that this is theoretical. To my experience betta genetics is far more complicated due to constant mix breeding and  possible mutations.
.........................

I wish to add that I agree with myates about ee possibly having the x factor. In some ee spawns, many fry looks odd. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN CONFIRMED - it's only my observation. I'm not sure whether the odd ones were due to multiple ray pairs or the ee gene. Just thought you should look into it.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Ok thanks for all your help! 

Myrates- I wish I could get a ee female, but I'm in Canada and am not really willing to spend 60$ to ship a fish haha. Very helpful answer though.

Indjo- Those examples were really helpful. How could I tell the genos and regulars apart?


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Keep in mind that I have NEVER worked with EE. . . .
Often genos are hard to detect. But if EE works similarly to DT (theoretically both have the same punnet square equation), the genos should have bigger pectorals - but not big enough to be an actual EE.


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