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Betta Genetics

Here is a list of all known and confirmed traits, their dominance status and also some crossing results:

 

Tail shapes and spread
Trait	Dominance Status	Comments	Crossing Results
Single Tail (DT)	Dominant with respect to (wrt) double-tail (dt)	The "normal" kind of tail. =)	Homozygous Single Tail (DT DT) x DT DT = all DT DT Heterozygous Single Tail (DT dt) x DT dt = 75% Single Tail (25% DT DT, 50% DT dt) and 25% double-tails.
Double Tail (dt)	Recessive wrt Single Tail (DT)	The tail, instead of being in one entire "piece" as seen in single-tails, has a split somewhere in the middle, hence resulting in 2 lobes. Depth of split is a continuous variation, and the more fully-split it is, the more desirable. Also, full and even lobes are also preferred in shows.	Homozygous Double Tail (dt dt) x dt dt = 100% dt dt. This cross, however, has not been preferred by breeders as it has been reputed to throw a fairly large percentage of deformed fry with bent spines. A preferred way to obtain double tails would be to cross 2 heterozygous single-tail fish or a het. single-tail fish with a homozygous double-tail. dt dt x DT dt = 50% single-tail (DT dt) and 50% dt dt.
Short Tail	Recessive wrt. long-tail versions listed below.	Present on the wild-type/plakats	plakat x veil/delta = long-tailed fish.
Veiltail	Possibly continuous variation wrt delta tail, or dominant	Commonly seen in pet-shop bettas, where the tails taper to a point and droop a little somehow	Veil x veil = 100% veils, with some fish having better finnage than others. Based on this, the veil and delta tails can be considered as a continuous variation. Veil x Delta = mostly veils with somewhat improved finnage - they tend to droop less than the original veils.
Delta Tail	Possibly continuous variation wrt veiltail, or recessive	Fans outwards in a triangular shape	As above
Halfmoon	Possibly multiple-allelic inheritance	Believed to be very recessive, a true HM only appears rarely in each spawn. The maximum percentage of true HM fries I've heard was 30% in very strong lines. HMs are characterised by a full 180º spread of the caudal (tail) fin, with straight outer rays. Anything slightly less are commonly called super-deltas.	HM x HM = plenty of deltas, some superdeltas and, if any at all, a very small percentage of true HMs. The deltas resulting from this spawn may be referred to as Hm genos. However, it would be very much preferred if breeders could indicate the true finnage of the parents instead of calling their fry "HM genos", since in a multiple-allelic inheritance like this it is extremely difficult and grossly inaccurate to claim that any of the fry have the necessary genes to be called a HM geno.

Colours and patterns
Trait	Dominance Status	Comments	Cross Results
Royal Blue	Incomplete dominance	Let Bl be the dominant allele coding for blue, and bl be the recessive allele coding for blue. Bl Bl = Turquoise Bl bl = Royal Blue bl bl = steel blue In most cases only one type of blue colour will be exhibited on a single fish. However, if the marble gene is present, it is possible for, let's say, turquoise and royal blue to co-exist on the same fish.	Bl Bl x Bl Bl = 100% turquoise (Bl Bl) Bl Bl x Bl bl = 50% turquoise, 50% royal blue Bl Bl x bl bl = 100% royal blue Bl bl x Bl bl = 50% turquoise, 50% royal blue Bl bl x bl bl = 50% royal blue, 50% steel blue bl bl x bl bl = 100% steel blue
Turquoise	Incomplete dominance
Steel Blue	Incomplete dominance
Red (NR)	Dominant wrt to yellow (nr) Co-dominant wrt to blue	Unless you are working exclusively with red fish, this is a most irritating colour that keeps popping up in other colour lines due to it's strong co-dominance!
Yellow (nr)	Recessive wrt to red (NR) May be codominant wrt to blue, as seen in Jude Als' Mustard Gas fish.
Melano (m)	Recessive	Melano females are infertile - they lay eggs but the eggs never develop. Therefore, to get blacks, most breeders cross to steel blues as they have the least striking iridescence.	Melano male (mm) x melano female (mm) = infertile eggs Melano male (mm **) x steel blue female (** bl bl) = all steel blues, melano geno (m* bl*)