# A Critique for a Female Betta



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Hi guys,

We have a "fancy dragon" female coming from Thailand soon. She is a HMPK from Majcha Farm. I would like to hear some constructive criticism on her and suggestions for what type of males to breed her to, if anyone is willing. I do see some faults myself, but it would be nice to hear some other opinions. Thank you very much.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Hey Feng 

Okay, looks like her anal fin is slanted and her dorsal doesn't meet the caudal. Ventral fins looks fine other than they are split at the ends, I'm not sure how much of an easy fix that is, like I know getting the slant out of an anal fin is pretty hard. I'm going on what other's have said though.

Looks like she's 8 ray's? Hard to tell but looks like she's very close to becoming a rosetail which isn't good either. Her color looks nice though, no particular pattern but nice overall ^_^ And hard to tell from this photo but looks like her topline isn't too bad!


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Overall , she is really nice with only a couple minor faults. With the right male she would be good candidate for breeding. 

Her fins are fairly nice, and, as she is a hmpk, the slanted anal is acceptable. It seems to curve a little bit though. She has a short first ray on the dorsal. She also may or may not have split ventrals, it's hard to tell. The good news is that all of her faults are minor and can be bred out. 

Body shape and topline are good.

Her colour is a jumble of things but it's nice.


----------



## Coppermoon (May 8, 2012)

Nice girl 

Make sure the male has the correct anal point...some of the PK and HMPK being bred and shown right now don't even have the anal point.


----------



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Just as I thought. Thank you, everyone. I'm sorry the picture isn't that great. I forgot to save the other picture from her auction. 

What male do you think would suit her, colour-wise? Her pattern is so hard to describe.


----------



## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

I'd either go with an orange dragon to clear up the blue or just say to heck with it and breed her to a mustard gas type to accentuate it.


----------



## VictorP (Jun 5, 2012)

As others have said non sharp points and anal fin is not "full". Your result would be best to breed to a solid colour male.


----------



## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Looks like she has split ventrals and yeah as others have said, her anal isnt very good, especially the first few rays being too short. Also quite heavy branching

Would be cool to eventually get a dragon body, orange fins and blue/black edging


----------



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

I tracked down her auction page. Here's other shots of her:










I was not planning to breed her initially, so I did not pay attention all that much to her form (besides, my gf liked her so that was good enough). It is so hard to find a great female.


----------



## Vickytoria3112 (Jun 4, 2013)

All I can say is she's beautiful.

I know nothing about breeding nor what to look for nor do I plan on doing it. The others talking about all this stuff with fins and form. I'm simple, If it looks good to my eye then I like it. With that said, you girlfriend has good taste...lol.


----------



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Thank you very much, Vickytoria. 

Opinions on a potential pairing? 

I have a young male PK. He was skinny and sick when I got him. He made a surprising turn around and coloured up nicely though. Initially, he appeared to have cloudy eyes and vision problems, but that is all gone.

This picture was taken when he was still sick, but recovering (I need to take updated pictures). He has even black edging on all his fins now. I know he is not extremely striking for a PK. He does not even have a 180 degree spread. But the girl has too many rays as it is, so maybe they would balance out?

Pros: Clean white body, smooth topline, dragon

Cons: Fins really lacking... Would probably need to outcross spawn to a very nice HMDT.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Gorgeous fish.


----------



## Coppermoon (May 8, 2012)

Actually he is a very nice traditional pk . On a traditional pk, that "spoon head" is actually accepted...not in HUGE look, but a slight bull dog look is ok 

I think it would be a great cross with your female. Then choose the best male and female out of the spawn and breed those.

Good luck 

Lori


----------



## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

The female is showing feather type of rays - be careful

The above male should work - safe. Then breed siblings or you could go 2 routes - traditional and asymmetrical. Breed back to female for the later.

Or use a 4 ray male; yellow, orange, or white dragon.

Good Luck


----------



## Lynzee (Jun 21, 2013)

I know nothing about breeding/genetics, but he really is a beautiful fish! I absolutely love his color. =]


----------



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Thank you, Coppermoon, Indjo. I'll keep your suggestions in mind.

The female is 4 months old. I don't know the exact age of the male, but my rough estimate is around 3-4 months and the female dwarfs him anyway. If I have a chance in the upcoming months, I might try this pairing.

Here he is today to show his true colours. White body, black fins. Sorry, I am having a hard time getting a still flaring shot.


----------



## Coppermoon (May 8, 2012)

indjo said:


> The female is showing feather type of rays - be careful
> 
> The above male should work - safe. Then breed siblings or you could go 2 routes - traditional and asymmetrical. Breed back to female for the later.
> 
> ...


I'd say more rose tail then feather tail...but glad you pointed that out...totally missed it!!!

I also agree with the 2 routes...he is a traditional PK, and she is more of a show plakat (HMPK). What you will look for in either line is the anal point that he has (both male and female need to have it). For a male, the point actually needs to extend down more then his does. Both anals should slope from the front to the back (to the point). Her's doesn't as much as it should. I'll have to look back at the show standards to see if the three short spines on the anal are a fault (I'm apprenticing to be a judge so I need to do this anyway..lol). The only main difference between the two will be the caudal (tail) fin. Show PK is a HMPK tail and the traditional is more of a rounded tail. THEN you get into the Short Finned HM...that is a HM with a HMPK looking tail but the anal is straight from ventrals to caudal with no slope. The ventrals are not as long as the PK (which should be 2/3 the body length I think...again I need to look at my standards).

Looking forward to seeing fry!!!

Lori


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

The female dwarf's him? As in, she's much bigger? In which case, he may have some trouble wrapping her.


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

He'll grow. But yes, breeding a pair with a larger female is not usually suggested.


----------



## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

This may sound cruel, but this is a strategy used by many breeders, including myself;
If the female is older/ bigger, keep her in a smaller container. I often use 1-2ltr bottles. Deliberately stunt her growth. But the male must go in a big tank so he can grow faster. Feed the male excessively (I use frozen bloodworms). You can also use this method anytime you plan to breed back to mom.

Make sure the male has clean white body, not silverish-grey. Black dragons usually have silverish-grey body. Bred to clean white body may produce silver body with what ever light colored fins or may have "dirty" looking body.


----------



## Coppermoon (May 8, 2012)

indjo said:


> This may sound cruel, but this is a strategy used by many breeders, including myself;
> If the female is older/ bigger, keep her in a smaller container. I often use 1-2ltr bottles. Deliberately stunt her growth. But the male must go in a big tank so he can grow faster. Feed the male excessively (I use frozen bloodworms). You can also use this method anytime you plan to breed back to mom.
> 
> Make sure the male has clean white body, not silverish-grey. Black dragons usually have silverish-grey body. Bred to clean white body may produce silver body with what ever light colored fins or may have "dirty" looking body.


I do this too...females in a small container (unless they are runts...then they go into a large container...lol), males should go into at least a 1g. Water needs to be kept around 83*-86*F to also help with growth. High Protein foods (IMO bw tend to pollute the water too fast...BUT I will feed them the morning of a water change!!!). I prefer live foods that I gut load with other foods.

She is a PK, so he MUST be her size before you attempt to spawn them. With her being bigger, she will be to aggressive for him. I'd also get her bored with other fish...keep him where he can't see fish. She will be less likely to be aggressive if she is bored looking at her "friends".


----------



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Hadn't been able to compare them side by side yet, but I believe so. She has just been introduced to the sorority tank and is the same size as our 1.5 _year_ old female. The male spent over a month of his life in a plastic cup and was starved because he couldn't eat, so I'm not sure if he is stunted or not. He has a very long body though. Maybe he just needs to put on some weight. 

Is this clean white?


----------



## Coppermoon (May 8, 2012)

He is a really cute guy!!! Feed him 4x a day...up his temp as suggested...50% water change daily. I'd say in about a month he might be big enough to spawn with her.

Can't wait to see babies!!!


----------



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Will do.  I can harvest mosquito larvae too. I have a pond full of them the last I checked and it has been raining heavily the last few days.

The female is extremely aggressive. Already took the place of the dominant 1.5 year old female in the sorority. She chases everyone around, but hadn't hurt any of the other females yet.


----------



## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Most recent picture if the male. He tore a ventral though.


----------

