# Orange Dalmation VT x Yellow VT Mix



## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

The male is an orange dalmatian VT with a cello body and no iridescence. He has a reverse butterfly pattern where the lack of pigment from his body extends to his fins. Dalmatian spots seem to be still coming in and are not very visible in his flare picture - I have heard that they increase with age, and it's interesting to see that it is true, because they are darker now than they were before he went in the spawn tub.

His name is "Fish Filet" due to his rather startling IRL resemblance to a side of tilapia. :lol:

The female (Catherine the Great) is a yellow VT with a bit of extra branching. She's product of (VT x HMPK) x HMPK. Crossing back to VT should give me all VT, although I am going to have to watch carefully for extra branching.

This wasn't the initial planned cross, which would have been to a pure VT female, but I think the results will be favorable.

Hoped for offspring: Orange dalmatians (predicted at about 30% when crossing dalmatian to solid orange), yellows, reds, cambodian patterns.

Let's see what happens! :-D


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Eggs from this pair, 3/29. Lots of tails 3/31, and dad out on 3/3/2015.

I've been feeding them vinegar eels until today, 4/10. Today I decided I'd try them on a mix of VE and frozen BBS, since I haven't started up a hatchery yet. To my delight, I did see a couple of the fry eating the frozen BBS. I'm going to have to be careful to clean the bottom of the tank tonight of any leftovers.

The fry are growing well. This is a pic from last weekend...I will get more when I clean their tank a bit tonight.

Forgive the mess!


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## EvaJupiterSkies (Oct 25, 2013)

Subbing! I'm so excited!


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## mashp (Feb 24, 2015)

me too, nice pair by the way


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Nice fish. Love how you can see all of her organs and especially the ovaries- that would make a great teaching pic. 

Worth noting that my orange dalmations spots FADED with age, to the point of having none. No other factors changed.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

How strange. They faded, really? Dalmatians are so interesting. I wonder how much information we get is actually dependent on a few related lines and doesn't cover all the bases.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

I did not take this particular picture of her, but if you'd like some with full permission to be reproduced for teaching, I can take a couple. Since I work with a lot of red / orange / yellow, I have a couple females with perfect, visible ovaries.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Will be interested to see how this one turns out!


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Lovely pair, following!


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

Subbing! Dalmatians are one of my favourite colours, I'm so excited to see how this spawn turns out  can I ask, how long do you feed VE for? I've read somewhere that's it's not good to feed the fry eels for longer than a few days but I'm not sure how true that is.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

I feed VE exclusively for the first week, then start adding other foods (like frozen or live BBS) at 1 week. The only "baby food" I no longer recommend is decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. I have noticed a large increase in SBD in spawns fed with that food, even if it is rehydrated first.

Well, I think there's something going on with my tap water, because there are only a few fry alive in there. I am quite frustrated - the water tests came out within normal parameters.

The only spawns I've had that _didn't _have massive die offs were bred in spring water. Even spawn #1 (Melano BF HM x Red VT) started off with 300+ fry and ended up at 200ish by 2 weeks.

Anyway. Look. A picture of a cute little tough-as-nails baby.


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

What are the symptoms of SBD in fry?


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Same as adults, basically. They either float or sink, and swim with jerky motions. With fry they usually seem to be "butt draggers," rather than "floaters."


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## mashp (Feb 24, 2015)

Is there a cure


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## Nimble (Aug 31, 2014)

Time, patience, and a change in diet.


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## mashp (Feb 24, 2015)

:-D right


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## Blackstar00 (Apr 21, 2015)

I will definately be keeping a close eye on this thread  I read an older one of yours and found it to be quite informative. I'm really just here for the baby fish pictures though


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

When doing a water change this morning, I noticed that there are three fry in there. I had thought there was only one. They aren't very energetic, but they're there. I will be very, very slowly switching their water over to replenished RO instead of tap. I'm pretty sure my tap water is killing my fish.


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## Nimble (Aug 31, 2014)

Is it ammonia issues, or just the intense minerality of it?


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

I don't know. When I was cleaning a tank on Friday to prep for a spawn attempt, we all noticed that the water from the tap wasn't clear. It's either a faint yellow or a faint green (I am leaning towards green). YEEECH. You can't tell when it's running from the tap, but if you fill a cup up, that's enough depth to see the tint.

Also.

I found the father of this spawn "down" on the bottom of his cup this morning. I have no idea what's wrong with him. Gave him a water change, antibiotics, and methylene blue. Cross your fingers for me - he's the only dalmatian I have!


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## NYorkieBetta (Apr 21, 2015)

hrutan - how is your dalmatian? And the fry? Hope all is well.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

The father died the day before yesterday. I do not know why.

As far as I can tell, there are still three itty bitty fry in there.


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## PurpleJay (Jan 4, 2015)

Aww, so sorry! He was a beauty. Hope his kids turn out like him!


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## Alaura123 (Jul 4, 2014)

Man thats a bummer  
It seems like a lot of deaths occur with breeding, I would breed but that is mostly the reason I don't.
I hope those fry turn out good, just wish there were more Orange dalmatians available in stores :/ They are one of my favs


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

I've got a line on another, but it's going to be expensive since I have to have him shipped. He won't be Filet, though.


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## NYorkieBetta (Apr 21, 2015)

So sorry... :-(


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