# What to breed with my black orchid halfmoon male



## noobbettas (Aug 1, 2018)

Hello, I was wondering what kind of female betta (colors wise) would produce the best looking frys for my full black orchid halfmoon male?? Please from experience breeders only and provide pictures of the ending results would be helpful.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Welcome to the Forum!

You ask a lot without giving us any information.

Breeding Betta isn't simply putting two fish together any more than it should be when breeding purebred dogs or cats. You need to let us know what's your goal? You also need to post a full flaring photo of your male so he can be critiqued for his positive and negative attributes and to tell if he is a true Black Orchid. Then whomever chooses to answer will tell you what you need to look for in a female depending on what your goals.

Providing the ends results is impossible because so much depends on knowing the genetics of the parents, early care, etc.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

What is your goal? "Best looking fry" is personal preference.

Outcome highly depends on genetic background. Nowadays there are very limited to none genetically "pure" betta colors. What did your orchid come from - purely black spawn, mixed black . . . Or what. If from super black spawns, to my experience this line carries marble thus you might end up with a few marbles. Melanos MIGHT produce infertile females (though mixed bred). . . . And so on.

In general, black (what ever black) is recessive. It will mostly only influence color shade. Eg. If you breed to irids, say royal blue; you will mostly get irid colors, some darker than others (especially on fins), and some orchids.. . . . Gene pool is around 1000-1500 eggs - how many survived to adult. If unlucky, all orchids might not have survived. On the other hand, you might get lucky and produce about 50% black . . . . All we can do is pair accordingly and hope for the best. 

I've had 100% irid from irid x spr black.
90% irid + 10% orchid
Orchid x orchid from above = mostly irids
And after more than 4 generations of mix breeding to non marbles, I still get 1-2 marbles . . . . I avoid red but always get a few with a tint of red


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