I realised that I've never seen a crowntail doubletail plakat. (Edit: Well ok, thanks to the Betta Forum, now I have.) I've seen a crowntail plakat (no, the pic isn't a good example but it's the best I could find,) and a doubletail plakat, and the nice people on the Betta Forum found a picture of a crowntail doubletail for me, but I've never seen all three traits combined in one betta before.... Can you tell where I'm going with this? That's right; I'm inspired.
The way I figure it, I can breed a doubletail plakat with a crowntail, then breed two siblings from the resulting spawn together to get... well... every tail type under the rainbow! Like the above edit says, I now know that doubletail crowntails have been produced before, but the tail type apparently hasn't caught on yet, so it's still very appealing. Besides that, I'd love to have a pair that threw random combinations of tail types! How awesome would that be??

Anyway, being that I am obsessed with genetics, I spent several hours mapping out a trihybrid punnett spare representing a cross of the sibling bettas from the CT x DT plakat spawn. I then made a couple of tables to organize the genotypic and phenotypic data, and voila! A complicated document that only biology nerds would be interested in.
I really, really want to try this spawn since I love crowntails and plakats... and I really love crowntail plakats! It would be awesome to get so many different tail types out of just one spawn. As soon as the babies from the Mini spawn (Mini being the name and size of their mother, not a description of the spawn size) are grown, I'm going to try to breed Lil again, since his rightful owner wants fry from him, then maybe jump right into this project. I also need to breed the pairs I bought at the betta show though.

*Over-dramatic sigh* So many bettas, so little time.

I went to a betta show in Dallas this weekend, presented by the Texas Betta Society. I wrote quite a bit about it on Arsenic Tea, so all I'll say here is that it was the most fun I've had in a long time. There were tons of gorgeous fish for me to drool over, and I think Megan liked it a lot better than she thought she would. The bad news is that two of my bettas, A'albiel and Asmoday, died while I was gone. Their bowls sit close together on either side of Mini's 5 gallon, and since they were perfectly healthy when I left Friday, the absolute only thing that could have happened is that our cleaning lady came by that Friday and cleaned the glass desk they sit on with Windex. It doesn't take much of a foreign chemical to kill a fish, and both A'albiel and Asmoday showed signs of chemical burn, including red and inflamed gills. The only possible explanation is that some Windex made its way into their water and poisoned them. They will be missed.

There is good news too, though. My fry are 5 days old now, and free-swimming! I can see their little speck-like bodies moving about the water. Everything looks good, and I don't see any dead fry on the bottom (though admittedly, it would be hard to tell).
Also, I made out like a bandit at the show, so now I present to you pics and a little info about my new babies. I'm planning on using all of them as breeding stock in the future. Some of their tanks are pretty bare because I was just trying to get them out of their bags as soon as possible; I'll finish decorating and making them beautiful homes in a few days.

Copper/black/red male. He looks like a red butterfly with a copper overlay. Just look at those rays on his tail! I think he got 2nd in his division, but I don't really remember how they placed. He has a wild personality and flares at everything. Starting bid of $20. No one bid against me on this one.

Turquoise male. Again, just look at those rays! I wanted these males for the rose-ish look of their fins. This one is much more docile as compared to the other. 3rd in his division, if I remember correctly. Bidding started at $6, but I had to fight for it so I got him at a very reasonable $25. Both males are either halfmoon or very close; I haven't made them flare to check yet.

This female is a strange colour, and looked even stranger while at the show. No one really knew what to call her. She was kind of drab at the show, but if everyone could have seen her under the light, they'd be shocked at what they missed!! She's gorgeous, and a steal at $5.
Steel blue beauty I got for $3. An 8 ray female for $3, can you believe it?? She looks very clean, too; no redwash on the anal fin, but there is a little on her ventrals.

Another steel blue female, but this time a doubletail. Very cute little girly, and only $6.

Last but not least, the wild-caught pair of Betta imbellis. I was planning on a pair of Betta smaragdina, but I saw these two and just fell in love! They're so docile as compared to Betta splendens it's unbelieveable. I got the pair for the $20 starting bid. They're MUCH more beautiful when they're not stressed and have their colour, so I'll try to upload a pic of that when they settle down in a couple of days.

I decided to try breeding Mini with my new boy, Ipos, before trying her with Lil again because I'm just too darn afraid he's going to eat the eggs. I will try breeding him again, but I want to have one successful spawn under my belt beforehand. Anyway, the point is that Mini and Ipos spawned tonight and there are roughly 75 eggs sitting in their little (BIG) bubblenest! Ipos build one huge nest, then found a better location and built another equally huge nest. That boy is one nest building maniac! I think 75 is about the maximum number of eggs Mini is ever going to put out at one time, being that she's half the size of a normal female and can't carry all that many at one time. I really, really hope I get fry this time... oh please God, let the eggs hatch and not be eaten. My live food cultures are ready and waiting for babies; the stage is set. Let's get on with the show!

I got the little "emerald betta" from the pet shop, but on closer inspection, I realised he didn't look very much like any of the pictures of Betta smaragdina I had ever seen, and the Fish Forums confirmed this. He's actually a little copper spadetail plakat, but still stunning and, by popular opinion on the forum, worth more than the price I paid for him. I think I'll breed Mini to him next time rather than Lil because I'm afraid of Lil eating the eggs again and I'd like to have a successful spawn as soon as possible... but I will try to breed Lil again as well, since his owner (he's on loan to me) said she'd like to have some of his offspring and doesn't mind me keeping him a while longer to accomplish this. He really is a pretty fish and would probably produce some nice fry; plus, there's no telling what the colours would end up being like and I like surprises.

Here's Ipos, the new boy:

Lil ate the eggs. Every last one. He also destroyed the bubble nest, and did so the day the eggs were due to hatch. I'm told that sometimes first time betta fathers will do that, so I'll give him another chance. I'm going to recondition the pair and try again, but I'm warning Lil... if he eats them this time Mini is just going to have to find a new beau.

The Texas Betta Society is having their international show next weekend, June 3rd, 4th, and 5th. The actual show starts 10:00 AM that Saturday, and the following Sunday at 10:00 or 11:00 will be the live auction. Megan and I are going to get to Dallas late that Friday and spend two nights in a hotel so we can get to the show early Saturday and Sunday. I'm really, really excited. I'm going to waste sooo much money. I'm planning to look for a few nice females since I've sorta become interested in breeding and the only female I have at this time is Mini. Some of the females I bought from Wal-Mart brought disease to my female betta community tank and wiped out all the bettas in it. I know, I should have quarantined them, but they all looked healthy and I've never had a betta bring diseases in before. Oh well, c'est la vie. I'm sure I'll also see some males I can't live without, but I'm going to try to buy no more than 5 fish total. I'm mainly looking for plakats, since I rarely see them around here and they're just so darn spunky.

Speaking of which, The Fish Gallery (a local aquatics shop,) got in two gorgeous black marble plakats today; one double tail and one single tail. It's a good thing I'm broke, because I would have probably walked out with at least one of them. Having time to think it over, though, I realise that I'll probably see fish I like even better at the upcoming betta show, so those little lovelies are just going to have to stay at the pet shop. This is not true for the other betta she got in this week -- a little Betta smaragdina, also known as an emerald betta!! The Siamese fighters we all know and love are actually the species Betta splendens, and I've been wanting a wild species like smaragdina forever! I'm going back to the shop tomorrow with some more cash and am taking that boy home. I don't think there are going to be any smaragdina at the betta show, and even if there are I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one bidding on them, so this is a great stroke of luck.

I'm totally stoked. After three tries (yes, three,) Mini has finally produced some eggs!! I tried her with Lil twice, then with that small red CT boy the nice lady from the Fish Forums sent me, and finally once again with Lil... I guess the third time was the charm! I had to remove her before they were finished spawning because every time they'd try to wrap they'd destroy part of the nest and knock some of the existing eggs down... and once they were down, Mini would eat them. Lil was too preoccupied with courting and showing off to fix the nest, so he'd just pick up the eggs and spit them back where the nest used to be, meaning they'd just fall down again at the slightest touch. Anyway, because of this, it's going to be a small spawn. It's hard to tell with any degree of accuracy how many eggs there actually are, but my best guess is 50, and some of those may not hatch. Mini was just dribbling eggs everywhere, so some of them fell several seconds after she wrapped with Lil, meaning they may not be fertile.
The eggs are due to start hatching late tomorrow, so I guess we'll see.

I have no idea what the babies are going to be like, so it will be neat to watch them grow and develop. Mini is a double tail plakat, so the babies will carry those genes for sure since both traits are recessive. Whether any of the babies are actually double tail or plakat themselves all depends on Lil's genetics, which neither I nor his owner know anything about. He's a delta tail, but he could easily be half double tail or even half plakat; we'll see.
The colours are what is going to be a real surprise. Mini is red cambodian and Lil is white opaque. Lil also has some red and blue wash, some blue "freckles" on his body which suggest marbling, and his spawn brother is mustard gas, so who knows! It's totally up in the air, and that's what makes it so fun. Can't wait for those colours! I'm hoping for something spectacular... which I probably won't get, but it's fun to dream *lol*

I also can't wait to see if I get any minis. I'll have to get someone else to judge that for me probably, since I see all my little bettas every day and am kinda used to their size. I don't think of them as being particularly small anymore, but Katherine came over the other day and said something to the effect of "Oh, how teeny!" so I guess they are. It'll be about 9 months before I can judge that for sure anyway... they'll all supposed to be mature by 6 months at the latest, but some are slow growers. If Mini's size is a mutation, I'm expecting about 50% minis, so we'll see. If I can successfully make a breeding line of minis I may start hybridizing them with Betta imbellis to make them more peaceful. Could you imagine a tank full of tiny long-finned male bettas who didn't constantly fight? Awesome.

The girl who sent me my mini betta was kind enough to send me a small red crowntail male to breed with the mini girl if Lil doesn't prove a good match. Mini and Lil didn't produce any eggs on their first try, so they are separated for a week or two to calm down, then I'll try it again one more time. If they don't spawn on the second attempt, I'll be trying it with the new boy. I really want to get some fry out of Mini to see if her size is genetic, so I'm hoping it works out one way or another.
The new boy ended up staying in the mailbox overnight. He was shipped on Wednesday and hadn't arrived yet by Friday, when my mother and I left to go to Canton and visit my grandmother. I thought dad would get the mail Saturday, but he didn't, so on Sunday my betta was still sitting in the mailbox. He's pretty obviously stressed and hasn't eaten anything yet, but he looks better today than he did yesterday, so I'm hoping that by tomorrow he'll be well enough to eat something. I've been keeping the light off in his tank so he can rest... the poor little thing had a long, difficult trip.

The Texas Betta Society is having an international show near Dallas June 3-5th. I'm hoping I can get Megan to go with me. My plan is to drive there on the 4th and spend the night nearby so I can be there when the auction starts on the 5th. I'm hoping there will be some wild species available for auction... I have my sights set on a pair of kapuas, though of course, I'd rather have Betta albimarginata. Can't say I'd mind getting a pair of Betta brownorum either! Heck, I like them all.