VERA

The fry has developed into a more active mass of youngsters from morning to evening. Here are some shots of these baby Coppers (or hopefully so), on their second day of life.

Fry mass in just a small part of the bubble nest.

Fry Close Up

Fry Super Close Up

Fry tend to hide under the riccia.

Well done Tinkerbell.

VERA

Thanks a lot for your comments :)

Yes, both with the other HMPK Lace and this spawn, I included Riccia in the spawning tank and it has worked miracles for the fry. It's a safe haven for them.

The parallel stripes are the spine vera. At this stage no colouration is apparent; this will develop only later after many more weeks to come.

This is becoming so ever more exciting with every passing day!

I stated before that I only know one generation of this pair's lineage. I do not have any knowledge as to the parentage of the mother and father of my pair. So I am trying to half guess / half work out the numbers here.

The cambodian gene plays a big part on the fish's appearance. It basically promotes the loss of colouration on the body, however still pertains bright coloured finns, with the most traditional cambodian appearance being a white body and bright red finnage. This is caused due to the total loss of black pigmentation. This gene has been sometimes incorrectly attributed to albinism, however this does not hold true.

As Victoria Parnell states in her very interested paper,

'There are four important things that must occur for the 'ideal' Cambodian betta to be produced: there should be no black on the black colour layer, no red on the body on the red layer, no iridescence on the iridescent layer, and no yellow on the yellow layer.'

Sounds a bit complicated :)

It all boils down to guessing whether the grand grand parents of my pair did infact carry the Cambo-gene, which is a recessive trait.

A bit of more mind boggling and it all looks as follows:

The Cambodian betta is known as {cc}
The Normal betta is knows as {CC)

Crossing out Full Cambodian with a Normal Betta produces all 100% {Cc} fry, Normal looking fry with the Cambodian geno. This shows the cambo gene in its recessive placement as not being evident but only carried by the fish. Thus from cc x CC grand parents, the parents of my pair were all from a Cc fry, infact the parents of my pair were both light bodied (Father - Copper Yellow and Mother - Yellow). Yellow carries the Cambodian trait.

Interbreeding the Cc will give 25% Cambodian (cc), 50% Cambodian geno carries (Cc), and 25% Normal Bettas (CC). From this interbreeding spawn, my pair formed part of the 50% Cambodian Carriers Cc, fact of this are the light bodied fry in my spawn.

So, in easier terms, if I will have Cambo's in my spawn, and up to now it seems that I will, then the Cambodian gene has always run through the lineage, until we arrive to the starting point of a full Cambodian bred with a Normal Betta.

More importantly, a fish has to carry a double copy of the cambodian gene for it to become apparent as a phenotype. Since fry inherit one gene from each parent, with all the possible combinations this may bring, if some did inherit the c & c from mother and father, it brings them to (cc) cambodian phenotype.

My mind is hurting so I'll stop trying to explain now, but I've tried my best to make it look simple

I'll have to research a bit the possibility of the Cambodian dragon, I don't know whether this one could happen. However, white dragons have been around and they are very beautiful fish too. Still it does not mean that they are Cambodians.

Correct me if i'm wrong Tinkerbell. If you are lucky both the male and the female of this spawn (being siblings) could carry the cambodian recessice gene. I made a little diagram to illustrate this where c is the cambodian recessive gene.

This would happen if both the parents carry the cambodian gene.
25% of the fry would be cambodian.

Dug a little deeper (I'm loving this ) If just ONE of the parents carries the recessive cambodian gene c as a result half the fry would carry this gene but none would be affected and no cambodian fry would result.

So let's just hope that the parents both carry this gene
Thanks again Tinkerbell and keep the good work going!

The diagrams look right as per my description in writing above. Thanks for simplifying the notes with diagrams

With regards to the Dragons, since this spawns parents are both Dragons, and considering that the Dragon is a dominant trait, then it is likely that Dragons will appear amid the fry. If some of the Dragons will be carrying the Cambodian gene as phenotype, then the result would be a lightbodied (flesh coloured) Dragon carrying the iridiscence layer.

Another question props up since on Victoria Parnell's article, she states that the iridiscence layer should be non existent in a Cambodian. I have asked a reputable breeder about this and her explanation is based upon a true Cambodian which is flesh coloured body with red finnage. However the cambodian gene as a trait does not necessarily reduce the iridiscence but only acts on the black pigmentation of the fish. Lightbodied fish such as pastels, yellow and opaques carry this trait. One could delve even deeper in the Cambodian gene and include the extended colour genes. For example an extended red Cambodian based fish is supposed to have flesh coloured body with red finnage, however since the red gene is extended then the body too will be red.

So much to learn!!

Day 4

Yesterday the male was netted out and put in a breeder in the same tank (since I was in a hurry and short of time). The fry were all free swimming and invaded all the four corners of the tank. Practically, they could be seen anywhere I looked leading to my decision of taking out the male. Unfortunately, the male was not patient enough to stay in the breeder for a day and managed to jump in the fry tank again.

To my great relief, he did not eat any of the fry, but guess they were bored to death with their father picking them and putting them back at starting point :) So the male was netted out again today, and all fry are doing well! This spawn is proving to be bigger in number than the Lace Spawn, hopefully remaining so while the fry grow up.

Today a major event occured when at just 4 days of life, most of the fry accepted bbs as food. Some fry was chasing bbs but was too little to eat it however, others just gulped it down. I was not planning on feeding them bbs so early, due to the success I witnessed with the Lace spawn being fed microworms. However, since these Copper fry were seen chasing some cyclops introduced with the infusoria, then I decided upon feeding them bbs with a successful outcome.

This implies that this spawn will be fed with less microworms and more frequent bbs feedings. Unfortunately no photos could be taken but will definately upload photos during the weekend of this spawn meanwhile another video, this time of the male tending to the newly hatched fry is undergoing 'gabs' editing touch and will be posted soon.

As promised, here is a video update (thanks a million gabs!!) of the Copper male tending to the newly hatched fry. This is some days ago, since fry are now free swimming. The usual routine of picking up fallen fry or fry that would have gone out of nest zone is clearly seen, proceeding with him putting them back in the bubble nest, breathing air from surface and producing bubbles under the nest.

This routine goes on for 2 - 3 days until fry are free swimming.