Update: Red Halfmoon Spawn Log - Second Selected Male

Greetings friends... Been really busy recently, so have not been updating much. Shot a male from my Red HM spawn a month ago, but hadn't had time to share. Finally found a bit of time, so here I am with some of his stills. This is also part of the Red HM spawn log update that I have been meaning to do.

Although not the best quality, this fish is my favourite male from the spawn. One of his ventrals was damaged in the growout, and never recovered properly after jarring. Despite his shortcomings (heavy branching, non-ideal topline with slight spoon-head, black pigmentation, non-full red coverage, iridescent presence etc), he is likely the best male overall in the entire spawn. His deportment and flaring stamina also is not as good as some of his brothers. However, I see in him potential in terms of F&F and colour for me to continue developing my uni-colour Red HM line. I am happy with his overall form (shape, balance, finnage volume, skyhawk dorsal, sharp caudal edges) and the red colour intensity & pigmentation spread (good enough for me at this stage). Of course, the early achievement of good traits are not from my work alone - Kudos to the previous breeder(s) who have done a great job at stabilizing the Halfmoon finnage balance, as I am getting consistent finnage quality throughout the entire spawn even at first generation. From what I have experienced, it is not easy at all to achieve such balance, shape and volume when developing halfmoons (longfin).

I may not have time to update the female results of this spawn. Maybe next time I use fish from this spawn, I will update you all with photos of the selected female (tell me in the comments if you are interested - gives me some motivation too. Haha)

More information about the spawn log:

Parents & early stage: http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2021/10/red-halfmoon-cross-spawn-log.html 

October 2021 update: http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2021/10/update-red-halfmoon-spawn-log.html 

January 2022 update: http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2022/01/4-january-2022-update-red-hm-spawn-log.html

A brother: http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2022/02/update-red-halfmoon-spawn-log-first.html

Update: Red Halfmoon Spawn Log - First Selected Male

Hi friends! Would like to start sharing some updates of the final spawn logging phase from my Red Halfmoon spawn... I have chosen a few individuals (males & females) that I consider decent quality. So, in this spawn log phase, I plan to share the selected pieces one by one with some commentary about their quality. The first one I am sharing is a male. Like all his other brothers, ray branching is heavy. 😔 Throughout the spawn, the undesirable iridescent and black pigmentation is clearly visible, and in this fish there is no exception. 🙁 Also, the red pigmentation on this male is less intense and relatively poor for the red class. However despite his shortcomings, I do consider him one of the best specimens produced from this spawn due to his form & finnage (nice shapes & volume on every fin, decent body shape, fin-to-fin balance & "skyhawk" dorsal). Hope you all enjoy following this spawn log so far, which is still in the early stage of Red Halfmoon line development..

More information about the spawn log: http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2021/10/red-halfmoon-cross-spawn-log.html

October 2021 update: http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2021/10/update-red-halfmoon-spawn-log.html

January 2022 update: http://bettamas.blogspot.com/2022/01/4-january-2022-update-red-hm-spawn-log.html

4 January 2022 UPDATE: Red HM Spawn Log

Hi all. Would like to update the spawn!

On 5th December 2021, I started jarring some males. I have not "carded" them to date, so they are not "flaring-on-demand" at the moment. Will be carding a few pretty soon.

On 4th January 2021, I started jarring some females.

Overall, the colours are pretty much what I expect, even though they will probably take another month or two to reach their full potential. The red is there, and pigmentation coverage is decent on the males. The red pigmentation on the body of the females is less pronounced (as expected for this type). Also as expected, they are not the super intense red of the established Super Red plakat lines of today (with extremely reduced irid & minimal black pigmentation), but it is good enough to work with and improve further colour wise. Looking at their finnage, I am quite happy with what I see so far - good branching, balanced finnage, nice fin volume. This is an indication that the parents came from very stable /established halfmoon lines. Body-wise, there will need more work further to improve on the topline curve & top-bottom symmetry (in coming generations). Will be interesting to see how they all look at full potential (I estimate maybe another 2 months plus minus from now).

Gold HMPK Male - Current Generation 2021

Allow me to share one of the best gold males from my current generation. The line still needs work especially in terms of colour, hopefully can improve the intensity, "cleanliness" and pigmentation spread further... As for the form, overall it is quite impressive, and IMO is good enough to pass off as show betta quality, although there are a few things form-wise that I would like to improve further in this line. Wish me luck guys...

click pic to view higher resolution

Kultur Microworm : Kaedah Malas

Izinkan saya kongsi cara mudah yg saya pakai untuk mengultur microworm. Boleh dikatakan cara ni cukup malas, tetapi berkesan bagi saya. Kalau ada breeder yang menggunakan microworm, mungkin info ini bermanfaat buat anda...

Terdapat pelbagai kaedeh mengultur microworm. Kaedah mudah ini telahpun digunapakai oleh saya untuk mengultur microworm bertahun-tahun tanpa pernah putus. Microworm adalah makanan bagus bagi anak betta, namun penggunaannya seharusnya tidak berlebihan. Penggunaan microworm bagi saya lebih sebagai makanan sampingan atau "backup", untuk fry usia lingkungan beberapa minggu pertama.

PS: Foto2 di sini sebenarnya dah sedekad dah - saya cilok daripada tutorial lama yang pernah saya kongsikan suatu masa dahulu...

Culturing Microworms : Lazy Method! (New Version)

Would like to share my method of culturing microworms. For those using microworms, I thought you may find my minimal effort method (ie. lazy way) interesting, or perhaps even useful.

click pic to view higher resolution

There are many methods of culturing microworm. This simple method is used by myself to successfully keep a hobbyist-scale culture going for years without ever losing the culture. Note that microworms are good first foods for betta fry, but should not be excessively used. I use microworms more as a secondary source of live food (backup food) for fry during their early life (first few weeks).

PS: I have actually shared this same tutorial about a decade ago. This is a "spruced up" version of the original tutorial, but the photos are the same ones from a decade ago.