# breeding question



## neb123 (Feb 3, 2005)

k this might be a dumb ? but if i breed bettas, can i breed two from the same spawn and produce healthy fry, or will i have inbreeding problems, common sense tells me this is a bad idea?


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Not at all, that is actually how it's done. It's called selective breeding or line breeding, where you pick a male and female from a spawn that possess traits you're looking for in your breeding goal and breed them together to bring these traits out even more in the next generation. A backcross to the father or mother is also a possiblity, neither is "harmful" to the offspring. It is very common to breed up to 6 generations of siblings together w/o outcrossing (breeding to a unrelated fish). After that, there is a chance of "unwanted mutations" if the line does not get an injection of fresh DNA. (How many generations exactly depends on the line, 6 generations is like a magic number many breeders follow.)

PS: A great article on the subject: http://bettasonli.netfirms.com/article5.html


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## neb123 (Feb 3, 2005)

ok great thanks for the help! that makes things a lot easier for me


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Quick Question, If I breed a short fin male with a female (who also appears to be of the short fin variety even though i know females don't have pretty long fins) will I only get short finned fry?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

yes. Short fin is recessive so for a fish to be short finned it can't carry long finned so all fry from 2 short finned fish will be all short finned.


RC


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Damn. though I might get lucky, I don't know what the female's parents were like, she might have been the result of a spawn with a long finned male, so therefore could I possible get some long finned out of the bunch even though the male is short finned?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

If the female is long finned then you will get 100% long finned. If the female is long finned but carries short finned you will get 50% long finned. If the female was short finned you will get 100% short finned.


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Well I'm not sure which female was spawned coz I had 2 in there with him until I noticed the eggs. Obviously they both appear short finned coz the females don't have pretty long fins like the males, but I am assuming the females could have been the result of a long finned male spawn so therefore carry the long fin gene just don't exhibit it coz females just don't coz they are plainer or something right? I'm sure i'll know in a few weeks anyway. only takes them a month or so to start to develop into mini looking adults right?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

It can be longer before you know if you have plakats because at amonth they will all look like plakats before the long fins start developing.


RC


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

OK another quick question, is it common for the male and female that are interested in spawning to do a sort of dance with each other? I noticed my male and female swimming past each other and kinda wagging and brushing their tails against each other and then they'd grab each other by the lips and look asthough they were wrestling. and also the male wld swim next to her and bite her on her side. Does this sound like normal courting behaviour?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

sounds normal


RC


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Cool, that means the one I'm worried about actually being a short finned male also is most likely a female as she and my male ( the one I spawned) did that kinda dance with each other and she's missing alot of scales along her sides also. thansk again RC


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