CTDT 050313

Foundation CT mal by Siambellis. His very broad dorsal hinted at the possibility of DT carrier.

No picture of the dam. Dam was bred by Sieg Illig, and was a turquoise blue female DT. She had a bumpy topline, but full and even lobes with a slight bump on the peduncle. She carried grizzle.

Spawn 102012

Back cross to the foundation male above.

I attributed her greatly unbalanced body and finnage to her terrible rearing, and decided to give the backcross a shot.

CTDT from Justin (Ocean Aquarium)

My favorite betta bred to date!

With this outcross, I hope to help even up the lobes of the DT split without sacrificing the crowntail webbing reduction. I am also quite enamored with the beautifully straight and thick body of the male, along with his impressively smooth topline. His lobes are fairly even if the split is not all the way down to the peduncle. HIs dorsal has only 2 short rays in the front, and mirrores his level anal nicely. He has full ventrals, and all the unpaired fins are beautifully balanced. Really an amazing find!! I hope that the female passes on her complementary beautiful topline, full dorsal, and triband coloration. I hope that they produce some gorgeous CTDTs and CTdts!

080213 Update - Growing well! Will move to a planted tank ASAP, as some fighting is starting to happen...

Fry update 081513

One really good CTDT! Can't wait to watch this little guy grow up!

I'm experimenting with jarring a few of them really early. The finnage already looks better, but I hope the bodies continue to grow.

The DT influence is easy to see in the jarred ones.

Update 091013

These guys are growing fast! Hopefully fast enough to show in the California Betta Society show that is rapidly approaching!

The triband pattern appears once again! Hopefully this guy doesnt curl toom much (like his poor brother did).

Doing the boogie

My favorite female from this spawn. Very wide extended dorsal!

I like the dorsal and body on this one, too. Little tank.

Really like this guy. Wish his rays were thicker.

Major, major fin curling :/

Actually the females are kind of hard to tell apart lol.

Butterfly in the caudal and dorsal - may develop on the anal still. Very showy girl!

Update 121513

I fiiiiinally got around to photographing the adult CTDT females from this spawn. They took quite a bit longer to develop but are now normal-sized.

I especially like this one :) Good attitude as well!

Smaller than her sister, and tends to be more shy

Both females have relatively even lobes with passable division down to the peduncle. However, the edges of the caudals are rounded, which prevent them from achieving a full 180 spread. There are several short rays at the front of the dorsal that give an unattractive stair-stepping effect. However, the webbing reduction is fairly good all around. My main concern is that both of these females have minor to moderate spinal curvature and caudal peduncle bumps.

I am still wrestling with the decision to either continue or discontinue the CTDT project. I still have in my mind the image of a big, beautiful male with oodles of thick flowing tri-banded rays swirling about his long, straight body, kind of like a freshwater lionfish...but what if half of all those rays are kinked ?? There is nothing more frustrating than jarring potential males and watching their long rays kink like curly fries :(