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...

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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.

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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.

Update: Red Halfmoon Spawn Log

Spawn Development

4/10/2021 - Fry are now 33 days old. Red pigmentation appearing on the larger ones, mainly on the fins. Not a very big spawn, estimated around plus minus 50 one-month old fry, with around 70/80% survival rate compared to free-swimming day. Within the first month, I noticed that all fry are lightbodied. This confirms that both the Sire and Dam are also genetically light-bodied (homozygous cambodian). Fry continue eating only moina since day one. I have left for outstation again today, and my budding breeders are taking over our fish room again! 😎

For info of the parents and log of thearly spawning stages, you can find them here:

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

Red Halfmoon Cross (Spawn Log)

I have always loved reading other breeders' spawn logs, but have actually never published one myself... I had a think over and thought it would be fun if I did... so.... I have now decided to do my first spawn log ever! 🤣

Here goes...

First, a bit about the breeding pair:

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⭐The Sire is a Red Halfmoon (Longfin) - from Thailand, specific breeder unknown. My kids named him Lance. 😁 His topline could be better and body ideally "stronger" and ray branching a little less. There are some black scales/pigmentation on his body, with small amounts of visible iridescence on his body, caudal and dorsal. The red pigmentation on his fins is good, with only small areas near the unpaired fin edges that is unpigmented. Red pigmentation on his body ideally could be better in terms of density (intensity) and coverage. Some of the things I like about him is his good unpaired fins balance, fin volume including the ventrals, good halfmoon fin shape especially the dorsal and anal, relatively strong straight rays, sharp caudal edge and long first dorsal rays.

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⭐The Dam is a Red Halfmoon (Longfin) - from Thailand, specific breeder unknown, and may be unrelated to Lance. My kids named her Mimi. 😍 Her topline ideally could be better (she has a slight "spoon") and ideally her first rays at the dorsal and anal could be longer. There is small amounts of visible iridescence on her body and caudal. The red pigmentation on her fins is good. Red pigmentation on her body ideally could be better in terms of density (intensity) and coverage. Some of the things I like about her is her good unpaired fins balance, non-excessive length for a longfin halfmoon female, good halfmoon fin shape especially the anal, relatively strong straight rays, sharp caudal edge.

📝What Do I Want to Achieve With This Cross?

- Short Term Objectives:

Achieve quality consistency in terms of balanced finnage, good shape of each fin, good straight rays especially at the dorsal, long first dorsal and anal rays,

- Long Term Objectives:

Good red intensity including the body, full red pigmentation coverage covering all areas of body and fins (include edges), minimal/no iridescence, minimal/no black scales/pigmentation, strong big bodies with good topline and top-bottom body symmetry.

🔥Inspiration:

The great Red Halfmoon lines of the past which were Champion/Grand Champion 🏆 lines by Malaysian breeders Bobby Chua, Wong Ah Toon (Uncle Wong), Choo Kon Meng (Uncle Choo). It will be a tall order for me to get there, possibly never - even after a few years (if I don't give up on this line 🤣), but their lines are a great inspiration nevertheless.

💕Spawning:

26/8/2021 - Chimney set up of the pair late at night.

27/8/2021 - Introduced Mimi (released her from Chimney) at about 7pm (nice sized bubblenest built at time of introduction). Lights off at 8pm.

28/8/2021 - No action 🤔

29/8/2021 - No action. 🥺 I was going outstation the next day, but I noticed Mimi's body language that she is very ready to spawn soon. So, I made the decision to leave her in the tank for one last day. Since I won't be home the next day, I asked my budding breeders (ie. my kids 💕) to remove her in the evening of 30/8 no matter what.

30/8/2021 - Kids removed Mimi from the spawn tank in the evening. Thankfully they knew how to distiguish between Lance and Mimi! 😅 (Otherwise, it would be potentially the mum vs the eggs! 😆)

2/9/2021 - I returned home from outstation. I see fry dangling from bubble nest! ✌️✌️✌️Based on my previous spawns, this would mean that 30/8 was the spawn date, and 1/9 was the hatch date.

3/9/2021 - Free swimming day! 💪 Started feeding moina. Removed Daddy Lance at 11.45pm.

Doubletail Gold DTPK With Good Intensity

Today, allow me to share an intense DTPK (double tail plakad) male from my beloved gold line. The current condition of my DTPK line is still not up to my expectations. Let's see what the coming generations will bring... The journey of developing golds of the highest quality continues... Would love to hear what you think about the colour of this gold betta in the comments.

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Intense Gold Plakat Girl

Today, I would like to share one of my favourite gold betta females. She is from my symmetrical gold plakat line, and has a gorgeous broad dorsal. Her colour is beautifully intense.

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Good Form Gold Female HMPK

It's been a loooong while now, since my last post. To all my loyal visitors, sorry! 😓

Here, I will like to share a gold female halfmoon plakad with nice form...

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Young Junior Gold Betta HMPK Male

Happy Chinese New Year all! On this special day, allow me to share a young male gold plakat. He is approximately 2 months old, from one of my recent spawns. Just jarred and still small sized. Can see that he is still coloring up. I expect my fish to reach full potential only by at least 4 or 5 months. So, it will at least be another two more months before we can judge the true quality of the pieces from this batch, in terms of color and form/finnage.
I normally do not use the term Super Gold Betta. I see that many breeders are calling their golds "Super Gold", but honestly, in many cases I do not see anything super about those golds (in my humble opinion). Let me know what you think about this junior male and his quality so far. Would the term Super Gold suit him?

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Solid Gold Female HMPK

Sharing a Gold plakat from my line with good metallic.

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Intense Gold Plakat Male on Chinese New Year

Sharing one of my intense Gold Plakat Bettas during this festive season.

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Intense Gold Plakat Female

Sharing one of my darlings... A cute shortfin female betta with intense gold coloration.

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Gold Traditional Plakat Male

This Gold Male Betta from my line made me proud by winning 1st place in Aquafair 2013 IBC Competition. He was champion in the "Form Variation" class, where he is a traditional plakat. Photos here are of him a few weeks before the competition. During the competition he was larger and his fins length/size and colors have reached full potential.

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Gold Halfmoon Betta Female

This Gold HM female made me proud by achieving 2nd place in last week's Aquafair Betta Competition (IBC), which also happened to be the largest betta show ever to be held in Malaysia.

She won 2nd place in Solid Color HM/DT Female Class. Thought I'd share the joy. :D

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Gold Double-Tail Halfmoon Male

Hi all, here's a half-decent gold DTHM male from me. The form & finnage on this piece is pretty poor, but currently I think this could be the best DTHM that I've produced thus far. I said I think, because for past DTHMs I never really took care of the water/timing of jarring and their fins were pretty horrid ... :S  Maybe in the future, there will be nicer DTHMs popping out from this line.

 

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A recent Gold Halfmoon Male

Allow me to share a recent Gold HM male from my line that I've been working on for around 2.5 years now. Finally seeing some improvement in overall balance and anal shape, something still very rare in gold HM lines that I've seen around. Of course there are positives on this fish, but negatives are there as well. It is always challenging to juggle the development of all traits (form/finnage/balance & color/intensity), and hope that there will be further improvement in the future. Wish me luck!

I just entered him in a local show, and he achieved 3rd Place in the Light Metallic Halfmoon Class. Not bad huh? :) He has just been sold to a local betta enthusiast.

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Intense Gold Double-tail Betta

This is my proudest achievement so far. This male Doubletail Plakat (DTPK) from my line won champion in a recent IBC International Competition. He was placed 1st in the Double-tail Show Plakat class which were contended by 22 show bettas. Do you think that this is the best double tail plakad gold betta you have ever seen? :)

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Video of this male "shadow boxing":