# Black dragon male HMPK x Black female plakat



## Fish Ed (Nov 24, 2014)

I'm wanting to buy these pair from a friend just to try breeding them.
But after a long research, I've found out that black females(melano) are infertile. But I don't know if the black female is truly melano. The breeder told me the parents of the black female were marble/fancy. If I'm not mistaken, to spawn a melano, it must have the melano gene in it and the colors must be black lace male x blue female? Can someone help me shed some light on this. I lost the page

What would the offspring look like:
Black dragon male x black female(if fertile)
Black dragon male x Gold dragon female(second option)


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

If the parents are marble, it's more likely to either be marble based black or super black. I'd try, as long as the cost isn't too high.

As far as melano goes...
Melano is a simple recessive. Both parents must be carrying the gene for any offspring to be melano. They do not have to be black. Melano has no requirement to be bred to blue or to steel - _any color can carry melano_. As a matter of fact, the practice of breeding to metallics has led to the degradation of the melano lines; melanos should have as little iridescence as possible, so breeding melano males to copper, steel, or blue females has created a look that isn't black...it's blue/black bicolor. There's some discussion about using non-metallics. In fact, there's at least one documented instance where crossing with red created fertile melano females, a few generations down the line.

Melano females with heavy iridescence are fertile, "true" melano females are sterile.


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## Fish Ed (Nov 24, 2014)

Thanks for the information! I needed that.

Anyways, it doesn't cost a lot. I might also get a female gold dragon? Any thoughts on the offspring?

This is the black female. Doesn't look like it has iridescences


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

No, she definitely doesn't. I love the intensity of that color. Do you know how your friend knows she's melano? I'm voting for super black for that one...but I definitely could be wrong. Remember that not all black bettas are melano black. To my recollection, there are three basic kinds:

Melano
Super Black
Black Lace

She's definitely not black lace - the black lace fins edge towards transparency and aren't usually all that intense. Which leaves super black or melano.


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## Fish Ed (Nov 24, 2014)

I don't think my friend knows if it's a true melano, unless if theres anyway of asking? I've already tried asking about the parents of the female, which were marbles. 

Well he also said there was only about a couple of these black bettas in the batch. Does this mean something?


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## Nimble (Aug 31, 2014)

She's probably a marble-based Black or Super Black. I don't think Melano at all.

You can tell, because if you look at her coloration, she still shows traces of marbling, albeit slight. If she were a Melano, her coloration would be MUCH darker, and look faintly brown, as opposed to that more grey pigmentation that she shows.

If you want to breed the Black Dragon female to the Gold Dragon female, you'll wind up with LOTS of iridescence in the offpsring, probably mostly Metallics.. If you want to create more clean blacks, then I wouldn't use your Black Dragon male, because Draconscaling/Metallics is a result of HEAVY iridescence. If you just want to breed to see results, either pairing would work.


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## Fish Ed (Nov 24, 2014)

Nimble said:


> If you want to breed the Black Dragon female to the Gold Dragon female, you'll wind up with LOTS of iridescence in the offpsring


Hmm not sure if that's possible.:rofl:

Anyways thanks for the info, hopefully you're right about it not being melano. 

Well it looks like I'm not gonna breed it with gold dragon.
Any idea about black dragon male x black female


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## sharkettelaw1 (Mar 6, 2013)

that's a melano.. I know this because I have two females that look like mirror images of the photo you posted and not just that but also because black lace is very rarely that black so it probably isn't. It isn't super black because the black is much too light, and lots of super blacks will show a slight copper irid on the tail. But that female is melano..im sure of it. And yes they do tend to be infertile but I've only come across fertile ones so far including my two girls. I don't know if its just my luck but I always make sure about the fertility status before assuming infertile.


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## Fish Ed (Nov 24, 2014)

Dammit, my hopes were up. Well then it looks like I would try to attempt to breed the black then if fails, gold dragon. Unless someone have a rebuttal.


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