# F2 Steel melano geno hm



## Trilo (Jun 26, 2016)

Finally got round to setting up f2 for my melanos :-D
Father is a steel blue hm, mother is steel marble hm.
From this spawn I expect steel, marbles and a 25% chance of melano. If Im extra lucky I might get some hmpk since grandma was a pk carrier. 
Parents are out of this spawn 
http://www.bettafish.com/148-betta-spawn-logs/626482-melano-%D7-royal-blue-melano-geno.html

Heres the parents










Love at first sight









The nest is pretty full









Fry have started free swimming today and have had their first meal of vinegar eels


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## Trilo (Jun 26, 2016)

A couple more photos of the parents


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Sensational pair. I love the colouring on the female.

Beautiful photos as always, especially that first photo.


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Oh WOW


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## Trilo (Jun 26, 2016)

LittleBettaFish said:


> Sensational pair. I love the colouring on the female.
> 
> Beautiful photos as always, especially that first photo.


Thanks Im very excited for this pair :-D 

Lol that first photo is just a sneaky photoshop job sticking two photos next to each other, makes it easier to for me to organise my spawn photos/folders if theyre in one pic

So far babies are doing well, just like their parents before them, these two have given me heaps of fry


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## Trilo (Jun 26, 2016)




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## SilviaAndScales (Jan 14, 2016)

Wow! The mom's finnage is amazing! Subscribed!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I thought melano was black? The male looks blue?


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## Trilo (Jun 26, 2016)

Mystic, yep hes steel blue not a melano. Hes melano geno though, so hes only carrying the melano gene, not showing it, so is the mother  so 2 melano carriers should result in 25% melano

Thanks SilviaandScales. Yeah shes quite pretty. I really hope her daughters inherit her looks


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

With the moms colors I'm expecting marble lol these guys are stunning


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## SilviaAndScales (Jan 14, 2016)

MysticSky22301 said:


> I thought melano was black? The male looks blue?


Because melano's have sneaky genes haha. Their melano gene is recessive. This is probably why he looks blue and why they need a pair that both have this gene. Here's a section from bettysplendens.com about it. 

"In melano bettas, a mutant gene has caused the black pigment to be greatly increased in density and coverage area. The mutated gene that causes increased black color is recessive to the normal black gene. This means that if a melano betta were spawned to a normal betta that does not have the mutated black gene all of the offspring would be multicolored. These offspring would be carrying the gene for melanism, but it would not show in their coloration. These are called 'melano genos' and they are indistinguishable from normal multicolored bettas. Recessive characteristics only become visible if both parents pass down the mutant gene to their offspring."
Link to the rest of the article about betta color genes here if you're interested.


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## SilviaAndScales (Jan 14, 2016)

Trilo said:


> Mystic, yep hes steel blue not a melano. Hes melano geno though, so hes only carrying the melano gene, not showing it, so is the mother  so 2 melano carriers should result in 25% melano
> 
> Thanks SilviaandScales. Yeah shes quite pretty. I really hope her daughters inherit her looks


Whoops, you beat me to it while I was grabbing that article! I'm so excited to see these fry grow. Hope there's some black ones in there!


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## Trilo (Jun 26, 2016)

SilviaAndScales said:


> Whoops, you beat me to it while I was grabbing that article! I'm so excited to see these fry grow. Hope there's some black ones in there!


Lol you explained it much better than I did!
Me too! last spawn gave me runt blacks so hopefully this one gives me normal sized blacks

Mystic, I hope I get some nice marbles too, really loving the steel/white combo


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

I finally found my way on here! I didn't realize we had to change our passwords... But I somehow managed to navigate myself! One of the first things I remembered when logging on was your absolute, awesome spawn logs! Found it!  How are you Trilo? (New account?)


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I'm attempting to condition my marble pair they Both rather mellow but the male really doesn't like my male gourami I think the gourami was picking on him... the female isn't stressing as much but I have never gotten her to flare so it's hard to say if she's interested


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## Trilo (Jun 26, 2016)

BlueInkFish said:


> I finally found my way on here! I didn't realize we had to change our passwords... But I somehow managed to navigate myself! One of the first things I remembered when logging on was your absolute, awesome spawn logs! Found it!  How are you Trilo? (New account?)


Hey Blu! Ive been pretty good, a bit slack with my spawns though....but Ive finally got my a into g. Howve you been?
Lol yeah me either, all of a sudden I couldnt log into to my account and for a second I thought Id been banned or something lol. I think the password must have been sent to a long extinct email account...

Good luck on your conditioning Mystic! If it was me Id take the male away from every fish, you want him to think hes the strongest guy and has everything in control

Nothing to really update so far. Fry are eating bbs and vinegar eels. I gave them a few tiny aquapearls which they ate...so hopefully theyll be easy when I have to wean them off live
They also had their first proper water change ~80% which I think they were pleased about


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Trilo said:


> Hey Blu! Ive been pretty good, a bit slack with my spawns though....but Ive finally got my a into g. Howve you been?
> Lol yeah me either, all of a sudden I couldnt log into to my account and for a second I thought Id been banned or something lol. I think the password must have been sent to a long extinct email account...
> 
> Good luck on your conditioning Mystic! If it was me Id take the male away from every fish, you want him to think hes the strongest guy and has everything in control
> ...


I'm doing just fine. I only have 1 betta left.. and he's just a runt. I'm in the middle of a renovation, the whole house but the bathroom and my room haven't been taken down yet.. I do have a empty 10 gallon tank in there.. ITS SO TEMPTING!!!!!!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Thanks trilo I am going to have to change females but it's ok ^^ the orchid girl will be interesting paired with a marble dragon


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Yay I got my old account back :-D



BlueInkFish said:


> I'm doing just fine. I only have 1 betta left.. and he's just a runt. I'm in the middle of a renovation, the whole house but the bathroom and my room haven't been taken down yet.. I do have a empty 10 gallon tank in there.. ITS SO TEMPTING!!!!!!


Lol do it! Give into the temptation!! After the renovations are complete youll have no excuse :-D

Steel irids are starting to develop


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

They already look blue


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

They are looking good Trilobite. You have been producing some top notch fish, and I hope they are finding their way into the hands of other breeders.


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Aw thanks  some hmpk girls are actually off to a breeder next week and Im really excited to see what they produce. I think its important for breeders to help each other out instead of hoarding and overcharging fish


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## magrathea (Dec 15, 2015)

Absolutely stunning parents! The fry are already gorgeous! I am so excited to see how this turns out!!!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Fishy swap! Haha yeah trading breeding stock would be great! Especially after getting things going I'm Working on my first spawn my marble Male is being stubborn and jumpy


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Fishy trades are the best kind of trade! Aw hopefully he gets his act together for you soon! Stubborn males are so frustrating

Thanks Magrathea! Im excited to see what the parents produce too :-D

Heres a vid of the fry, its not very exciting but it shows what the fry are up to


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## magrathea (Dec 15, 2015)

there's so many!! :0 it's times like this I get a little filled with trepidation on the matter of breeding, haha!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Lol theres a few hundred in there. But I need as many as I can get to increase my chance of melano appearing


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## Aluyasha (Sep 2, 2010)

Such stunning parents, cannot wait to see what the fry look like all grown up!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I'm definitely not ending up with that many lol


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

:evil: Caught in the act









Anal fins are starting to develop but I cant get a photo of them so heres a couple of blurry baby pics


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

There really is no way to keep them from eating the smallest fry is there


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## magrathea (Dec 15, 2015)

I don't think so, no.


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Unless you keep them fat, full and lazy all the time. I slept in and was late to feed them breakfast so they fed themselves... But a bit of natural selection never hurt


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Babies are getting bigger  Steel irids are becoming stronger. Looks like I have a mix of light and dark bodied fry

Today their bbs batch had an early death so it was a good opportunity for them to learn about decap... they couldnt quite figure it out though so resorted to eating ve instead. Hopefully the new bbs hatch soon, they arent very happy with me at the moment


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Grow grow grow! 
A few of them have caught on that most of the food usually starts in one corner, so they spend a lot of time waiting around it


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Some babies are developing red wash... :-/


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Omg, there's just so many of them! :shock: I'll take them all!!! :lol: Jk... But man, I can tell they'll be beauty even this little.


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Haha I have way too many of them!! :-o Thanks, I really hope so
Ive moved some of the bigger ones into a biggertub now which they seem happy about...and all I'll be able to see is the boring top view of these guys


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Aww


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Haha theyre finally starting to reach the cute stage! Im happy that 90% of them are eating dry food now, makes my job so much easier


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Yay!!! Can't wait to see how beautiful they'll look when older!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Ugly stage has begun :twisted:


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Glad they're growing happily!!!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

I was sorting through my females not long ago and found the perfect match colourwise for the male I used for this spawn... Much nicer balance and sharpness too... Oh well, I guess she can have a turn some other time


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Hi Trilo,

I took the painful road of resetting password just to laugh about your swarm. ))


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Hi dcg, how have you been? any new spawns happening

Haha yeah me too! I originally had to make a new account because I lost my old email and couldnt reset the password


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Lol, to lose e-mail before betta forum account, that's passion right there. 😉


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Haha true dedication. Logging spawns on here is pretty much the only way I can keep track of them


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Marbles have begun


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

So many pretty blues!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Haha heeeaps of them! but they all look the same


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

2 little marble boys


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Aww hey how old are these guys?


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

These guys are about 3 months


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Here are two of my favourites from this spawn



























This guy is pretty nice but he was determined not to flare for the camera









No melanos :-( there were a couple of runts but they were tiny so died off/got eaten/disapeared... Im not too upset about them though, I still have a few melanos from the last spawn who I can cross back to them

Next plan for these is to find a nice dt to improve the dorsals, quite a few in this spawn were very weak dorsalwise.

I havent even looked at the females yet....will need to do a sort out of them soon


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Holy Moly!!!!

I'd be patting myself on the back and insisting others pat my back, too, if I had this spawn!!!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

These guys are beautiful ^^ but before I out crossed I'd try a sibling cross with a melano. You don't want to have to guess who really carries the gene and who doesn't right? I've seen some beautiful dts on eBay lately, I've debated getting one for my own project a cherry super red <3


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Holy Moly!!!!
> 
> I'd be patting myself on the back and insisting others pat my back, too, if I had this spawn!!!


Thanks :-D although they werent all nice, it seemed like a perfect 50/50 split between terrible weak dorsals (3 stubby rays) and "normal" dorsals like the males I showed

Mystic, yeah thats the downside with melanos, wish there was a way to tell what ones are carriers.
I have 3 melano boys so I think I'll put 2 of them to genos and one to a possible geno from this spawn. I still really want to do a sibling cross of their great aunt/uncle, my original melano genos, if they are still keen.

Yeah there are some amazing dt out there. Its strange Ive never really liked dt, I was convinced it would be the one type I never own and here I am getting ready for a dt hunt lol


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I didn't like dt until I found some that don't look like boxes with fins lol, I hated the ones I saw that just didn't look like fish. I absolutely love my little dt Sebastian, even though he stresses easily, his personality is just adorable ^^


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