# Good Female Breeder



## Pixielator (Jul 22, 2012)

Hi, everyone. I am going to be breeding soon. In the future I would like to participate in IBC shows. For the most part I know what to look for in a male betta, but females look so different from males and seem to be judged a little differently than males are judged. So my question is what makes a good female breeder for future show bettas? If anyone has some pictures that would help too. Thanks in advance.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

You want a female that will compliment your male. 
Here are three of my current breeder females:


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## Pixielator (Jul 22, 2012)

Thanks for the pictures. It looks like the first and last ones are females and the one middle is the male, right? More specifically, what is it about the females that you think compliments the male, and vice versa? What is it that you are trying to improve in the offspring? Form, finnage? Topline? Alignment? Please be as specific as you can be.

-EDIT-
Also I looked the spawn log in your signature. I'm sorry about your male. Beautiful parents and offspring. I noticed that you said all of the offspring were female. How exactly does that happen? Is that some strange phenomenon that happens randomly sometimes, or is it something that can be controlled by temperature or something else?


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

The pics above are of all HM females.
By complimenting I mean you want your female to be strong where your male is weak. For example, if you have a male with rou7nded caudal edges, you want a female with a very sharp caudal edge. 
Male with a long anal fin should be paired with a female with a shorter anal fin. 
Etc, etc, etc. 
General judging standards apply to both male and female. 
My males are pretty strong, just like the girls so I really look forward to fish with excellent form. Once I get my F1 going with the fish I have now, then I will start selecting my strongest for continuing the line.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

I have no idea why it happened but I've heard that there are many factors that influence your female to male ratio, like water temp and chemistry. Of course, those were from the surviving fry which were around 20 of them. 

I'm no expert in genetics and the best way to learn is to join the IBC and talk with breeders who have been doing this for years. Once you join, you will have access to the IBC handbook which is an amazing tool for learning about form and finnage standards.
Also check out BasementBettas.com, Sherolyn has been working hard in making a lot of this info available.


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## Pixielator (Jul 22, 2012)

Oh, thats embarrasing. I thought it was a PK male. I thought you were saying that you were going to breed him (which is actually a her) to the 2 females. I see what you're saying now. How do I join the IBC?


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

LOL! That's ok. Finny females can be confusing.
The male in my avatar is only 14 weeks old and I can't wait to breed him to the first female! He's just a little too small so I'm beefing him up!
This is the IBC website: http://ibcbettas.org/


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## Basement Bettas (May 12, 2012)

vilmarisv said:


> I have no idea why it happened but I've heard that there are many factors that influence your female to male ratio, like water temp and chemistry. Of course, those were from the surviving fry which were around 20 of them.
> 
> I'm no expert in genetics and the best way to learn is to join the IBC and talk with breeders who have been doing this for years. Once you join, you will have access to the IBC handbook which is an amazing tool for learning about form and finnage standards.
> Also check out BasementBettas.com, Sherolyn has been working hard in making a lot of this info available.


OMG.. have we had ratio issues! 200+ spawns of FEMALES! I used to spawn in lower ph water and it really wasn't "balance" with proper minerals. We are now and all I see is young boys in the spawns coming. yeah me!! i also thin ammonia getting a bit high in a spawn tank may affect fertilization and growth of the eggs/fry. I stay on top of it and test every other day. I siphon and refill if ammonia climbs. Dom't know what factor is working.. but don't care. I may actually have some males to show next spring. :-D


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## Pixielator (Jul 22, 2012)

Thanks for the info guys. I'll definitely check out those sites. Someone should do an experiment to find out which factor it is that affects the gender ratio of the offspring. If nobody decides to do that by the time I've become somewhat established as a breeder, I'll probably perform the experiment myself. I've always loved biology.  If someone does (or I do) perform the expirement, the results could really be helpful when people are aiming for a certain desired m/f ratio in their spawns.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

vilmarisv said:


> LOL! That's ok. Finny females can be confusing.
> The male in my avatar is only 14 weeks old and I can't wait to breed him to the first female! He's just a little too small so I'm beefing him up!
> This is the IBC website: http://ibcbettas.org/


 You're so right! I have a female that I had with the males because I thought she was a he. She was a very long finned female. Keeping her for sure.


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