The bigger batch of seperated fry from this spawn has now started to be jarred. Some aggressive behaviour in the rearing tank was noticed, so ten little bettas have been jarred up to now, of which photos will soon be posted on this thread.

Once jarred, they will start immediately to enhance their territorial traits, and hopefully this will bring out some nice specimens. Waiting earnestly to see what comes out !

As promised, here is a photo update of the copper dragons fry. In the photos are the biggest of the fry that have been seperated in breeders. An unfortunate incident occured this past week when one of the jarred youngsters decided to pay a visit to his breeder-neighbour. They ended up fighting as expected and this resulted in the loss of one of them. Luckily the other one is doing well (and boasting his triumph).

On another note, some new colours have been ovserved. Some individual fry are already showing off gold scaling while others are boasting some nice copper and silver shimmers. Red, yellow and melano black were also observed in the fry. Will be posting photos of these very soon.

Whilst admitting that I did not have enough spare time to dedicate to this beautiful hobby due to studies, I have been wanting to post a little update on this wonderful spawn for quite some time now.

The spawn is proving to be a very successful one with loads of different betta specimens popping out every now and then. Approximately, half of the spawn has made it into fully developed stage with all the characteristics showing, whilst the other half is still growing strong but is still too young to take any photos of. Due to the biggest specimens of this spawn being relocated in a tank that's not at home, I could not find the time to take a lot of photos but here are two specimens which I particularly am very fond of.

The first one is a Black Red Dragon. I particularly like this one because of the red pigment dispersion on the finnage and the neat scaling on the body. Needless to say the photo speaks for itself when it comes to dragon scaling. The armour like silver scaling stands out on it's black body.

The second specimen is what would be defined as an Extreme Feather Tail. Only one specimen from this spawn has shown this trait. Apart from the feather tail property, this betta sports quite long finnage, bearing in mind that the parents were short finned plakats. This tells me that most probably, in the parents lineage, there must have been an outcross to a Half Moon (long finned) betta of which, this long finned gene has been carried hidden making its way up to this bettas parents. It's beautiful to see a plakat sporting fins that are half way the length of a long finned one, yet not short as in a common plakat. This trait, together with this betta's silvery dragon scaling and the feather tail make one complete special specimen, or at least, that is my humble opinion.

Unfortunately the colours of both bettas did not really pop out in these photos as I had to leave them in their breeders not to cause havoc. As you rightly said rams, the copper hues are truly wonderful, however I am still waiting for the best opportunity to take more photos of other bettas, on which the copper glistens like gold...truly wonderful. Am really excited to see this spawn grown up as adult stage and ready to go !!

http://www.aquariummalta.com/classified_info.asp?id=1089

They are beautiful Tink.
Would really love to see some more pictures of these beauties posted in this thread.

Red White Butterfly Half Moon - best traits: The only butterfly that has popped out from this spawn up to now. It's long finnage and distinct red / white butterfly design makes it a unique flourishing youngster in this spawn. Finnage has grown up but still needs to grow its colour back on the anal fin since it has been involved in a light accidental scuffle with another male plakat.

Black Copper Dragon - best traits: This plakat has one of nicest finnage patters in the entire spawn. The long anal fin speaks for itself and the symmetrical 180 degrees half moon seals the deal. In this photo the caudal is not fully opened. The robust black body and dragon silver coppery scaling makes this fish one of the best male youngsters in this spawn.

Black Red Half Moon Dragon - best traits: The colouration on this half moon plakat speaks for itself. Vibrant red on a black robust body complete with a vast expansion of silvery dragon scaling make this male a feisty and dominant character in this spawn. The red finnage is lined with a black rim on all the edges.

Copper Halfmoon Feathertail - best traits: By far the most interesting fish in the entire spawn up to now. It's finnage speaks for itself, it's the only plakat that has developed such a unique finnage pattern in the entire spawn. Moreover, it's robust and strong body together with its dragon scaling (full mask) make it a very breedable contender. It's a very feisty male with a strong character, hence the little rips in his finnage due to being involved in a short accidental brawl when another male jumped into his breeder!

This spawn has brought very satisfying results up to now, with very strong and unique fish. Who knows, there may be more surprises in the near future since the next lot of youngsters are just now developing into more mature males. Still over a hundred smaller palakts from this spawn that are slowly popping out very nice males as well as females from time to time. Will let time do it's job and be patient hehe.