Quoted from www.bettatalk.com - "Well, I hate to break the news to you, but unless you have quality breeding stock to start with, you will NEVER produce any quality bettas. Considering the fact that it takes the same amount of time, space, money and work to raise a crop of crappy bettas or one of splendid specimens, it seems obvious (well, at least to ME LOL) that breeding quality stock is wiser. It is also easier to give away, trade, sell quality bettas than it is to unload bettas that look like Quasimodo (you know, the Hunchback of Notre Dame) on a bad day ."

I'm not disagreeing - but I've got this lovely bitzer-betta - he's a light blue with a green shimmer on top, he's VT, but he's also got little crowns (especially on his top fin, and on the back of the bottom veil) and to top it all off, he's got a double tail, although the bottom half is longer than the top part.

He's super keen to breed. Super keen. I'm going to have to put him in his own tank anyway as he thinks my cherry barb ladies are, well, keen.

My questions (finally): Is it a waste of time and energy to breed him, even if he's not perfect and it a bit of a mutt? What sort of result will there be? Is it likely all of his offspring will be very similar to him, or is he likely to throw out all kinds of madness?

Thanks in advance AL

I think if you can find a nice female to breed with your male then go for it I spawned two crowntails last year and I have found that most people are not too worried about fancy bettas, they just like the VT variety.

As long as the two fish you breed are healthy and well formed there should be no significant problems - you might get a few fish that need to be culled but that can happen with any betta spawn. The results can be quite surprising and unexpected! Thats what makes betta breeding so enjoyable IMO! :lol:

Mel

Thank you for such a positive answer! He really is lovely and if he stopped moving for more than 20 seconds, I would post a photo!

I guess I have to keep an eye out for a blue lady (my girls are red with a blue sheen) otherwise I'll get all red bubbas, right?

If he's a really nice fish I'd go for it. In my experience spawning with a blue male and a blue female doesn't guarantee blue fry. I have a spawn at the moment where both parents were dark blue and the fry are colouring up red or blue - it sometimes on the 'grandparents' colours. You can get a really mixed batch of colours in each spawn. Be prepared though - not all males/females are compatible, raising fry can be hard work and time consuming and if you get a big spawn you could end up with hundreds of bettas, the majority males, requiring jarring from a fairly early age. I don't attempt a spawn if I don't have at least 2-3 tanks that I know will be available within about 6-7 weeks.