Copper Gas Darklord Halfmoon

Sharing another piece from one of my copper lines. Here's a darkish halfmoon ( HM ) male virgin aged around 3+ months. This fish is already sold.

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Turbo Dragon OHMPK

From one of my secret projects, popped out a pair of interesting looking plakats. Out of the whole surviving fishes from a spawn of around 150, there were only two looking like this. I was fortunate enough as they were a male and a female! The fish seem to be cambo based with a red body, have metallic dragon scales and mostly cello finnage. I'm also very proud about the form and finnage of the pair, not very far from show grade IMO. Here's the male:

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The most attractive part to me, is the caudal pattern. Some may say it looks like petals of a flower, as you can see that the "petals" are solid metallic white with red outline, and beyond the outline its cello. But to me it looks like flames bursting out from the rear! :) Hence, I decided to name this Turbo Dragon.

Well, I'm aware that this kind of pattern is not new, and I've seen other variations of such "petal" pattern (altho not exactly the same) in other colors from other breeders. I strongly believe that this is caused by the marbling gene. The parents are non-marbles, but I do suspect that the mother carries and passed on this marbling gene. Whatever it is, tho as much as I want to keep and develop this line, the pair has been sold to another local Malaysian breeder as I am facing space constraints. I really hope that he would have considerable success in "fixing" this unique pattern, and perhaps refining other details. It will definitely be a challenging task, as we breeders are aware that the marbling gene can be quite unpredictable. However, I think the reward will be great if this project is successful. Who knows, such pattern will be popular and well-loved among betta hobbyists in the future. With this, I wish the breeder all the best!

Yellow Gold Dusty Dragon OHM

This is a rather decent piece from one of my Gold Projects, a Yellow Gold Dragon Over Halfmoon male. This betta is almost 4 month old at the time picture was taken. Despite the heavy branching and soft rays, this fish is quite balanced overall and masking is decent. It is good to note that the scales are pretty even, which is a good thing, as bad scaling normally comes together with heavy branching. Fish was put up for auction a few days ago, and is already sold.

 

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Orange Dragon HM

Here's a recent piece from one of my secret projects. This Platinum Orange Dragon Halfmoon came from parents which are phonetically without orange. Nor do the parents display the whitish dragon scaling. Fish is approximately 3.5 months when picture was taken.

 

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Red Bronze Metallic Dragon HM

This interesting piece is one of the results from one of my spawns, a Red Bronze Metallic Dragon Halfmoon male. The bronze effect on the fins was achieved by the combination of the metallic layer over the red base colour. Fish is approximately 3.5 months at the time picture was taken.

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Superb Super Red HMPK !

This exciting male Super Red Halfmoon Plakat (HMPK) is bred by Jit Sin, a local Malaysian breeder. If you are a breeder from Malaysia and you don't know who he is, go kick urself on your own forehead... hahaha... Anyways, this is a piece with great finnage, superb deportment, very intense red which covers almost the entire fish, no black scales, and very very little irids. The photo seem to show a bit too much shine since I used very bright lighting for this photoshoot, but believe me, iridescence  is almost undetectable on the actual fish. For those who think that his anal is too long, please go get yourself a copy of IBC standards and read it. Haha... ;) If you say that the anal is slightly long, I may agree, but definitely it is not too long.

 

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If you are talking about Malaysian bettas, in my opinion, one of the best reds in the South-east Asian region are bred by Malaysian breeders. I'm not saying this just because I'm Malaysian, but the quality of the several lines that we have at the moment is simply outstanding. Therefore, in my humble opinion, Malaysians should be aware of this, and should be proud of this achievement. For those residing in other countries, you are very much welcomed to come to Malaysia for your vacation so that you can stop by and look at these gorgeous red bettas yourself! :)

One of my early Gold Dragon HMs

Here I would like to share one of the male gold dragon halfmoons (HMs) that I've spawned. This piece has good broad body, fantastic dragon masking, good color separation and above all outstanding gold hue and shine. He is sold and now belongs to a new local Malaysian owner.
 

 

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Fantastic Gold HMPK Male

When I come across good golds, I become very excited. I've recently acquired this fabulous Gold Half-moon Plakat (HMPK), which I would love to share in this post. Even-though the finnage is not at all fantastic, it is easy to work with for breeders with long term goals in mind. Deportment of this fish is top-class, and the gold layer on this boy is not very far from my expectation of a perfect gold layer. Of course, this piece carries superb traits to be injected into my gold project lines, as I work towards achieving my ideal gold (super intense gold). Stay tuned for updates in the months to come! :)

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Orange Dragon HM Male

Sharing my male Orange Dragon Halfmoon. This boy has good finnage balance and very nice fin length.

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Black Copper HMPK Female

Got this Black Copper Half-moon Plakat ( HMPK ) Female from one our local Malaysian breeders, bro Ai Funkybetta. Was told that dragon was used to develop this line, but the dragon trait (the dragon scales) is no longer apparent in her physical appearance. I've already gotten two spawns from her, hope to get good results. Would love to share this beautiful betta with you:

 

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And I always try take photos of females while they are still virgins (I think you betta breeders out there know exactly why!), and of course this picture was before I spawned her. ;)

Lazy Method of Culturing Microworms

I would like to share with all betta and fish hobbyists on the method I use to culture microworms. Ever since I purchased my first microworm culture more than half a year ago, I have successfully kept the culture going to this date. The method I use is rather simple (and lazy!), and I call it “The Lazy Way of Culturing Microworms”. It is very easy, and it might just be the easiest of all the microworm culturing methods. For my method, there is no need for any cooking/boiling nor is there need to add any yeast. All you need is a container, water and some wholemeal bread (also known as whole-grain or whole-wheat bread). My method is presented in the picture below. Hope you can try my method, and do let me know what you think about it. I wish you fun and all the best culturing your microworms! :) So, here goes: The BettaMas Lazy Way on How to Culture Microworms:-

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Super Gold HM Betta ( Male )

I'm really excited about this piece, a Super Gold Half-moon Male. Of course, the term "Super Gold" is coined up, but to me this betta is quite superb, as I would say that the gold is pretty intense. However, my ideal gold would be that of a real gold bar, and that will be my objective, if that is achievable. A fellow Malaysian breeder and friend, Jit bought him while scouting for decent bettas in the market during one of his recent visits to Bangkok, Thailand. His deportment is good too, and he is born to pose in front of the camera; photographing him was surely enjoyable!

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It is possible that he carries some dragon genes, as the scales look pretty solid, not transparent. I am impressed by his excellent gold metallic spread. Finnage can be improved further, but my problem is that I do not have a good gold female HM to pair him with at the moment. I will use what I have at this point of time, and hope for the best, so wish me luck in spawning him. Stay tuned for developments in a couple of months' time! :)

Two Male HMs from my Gold project

Here are two Half-Moon (HM) males from my Gold project. Intending to use both of them for spawning.

The dusty gold piece has a metallic layer very similar to the father, but lacks the yellow intensity of its father. Finnage is still quite poor. However, my objective is to work on the gold intensity and spread, I am not very particular about finnage at this stage.

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The dark-bodied gold has pretty decent finnage balance, but is entering into the "rose zone". My first thought is to pair him up with a sibling with rounded caudal edge and reduced rays, in order to counter the rose effect. Wish me luck. I like the way the metallic gold layer covers body and part of the fins. However, I do admit that he is a little on the copper-ish side with some green hues. Hope to extend the metallic gold spread on the fins, though I must admit that this "mustard gas" kinda look is rather attractive.

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Dusty Gold Female HM

Here's the female that I got from Thai breeder Sanya Ponpal for my gold line project. Colour is toward darker tone of gold, with some "dusty" appearance. Not so obvious in this photo though... Anal is quite long, so need to work on that in the upcoming generations.

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She has now bore me a spawn : fry are almost 7 weeks old. I can see some intense coloured potentials in there. Recently got a few pieces of very solid "Super Gold" line. Hope to cross that line with this, and observe the results. Hope this combination will give improved gold intensity. Something to note, I can see and strongly believe that both line carry dragon genetics as I observe a coating over their scales, similar to that of the dragon. To me, this does play a part in improving the metallic look, as compared to non-dragon golds.

Blackhead Steel Blue HMPK

Just got my breeder pair of Blackhead Steels from a local breeder, Jason, last week. The male is gorgeous. Would love to work on the caudal in my next project, but I've yet to find a good female for that. Anyway, here is the male:

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