CS-11: The Origin of the Marble Betta - International Betta Congress

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THE ORIGIN OF THE MARBLE BETTA
Rollie Hansen
CS-11
I think a little ancient history might be of help to Betta breeders who are currently
working with strains of marble Bettas. In the beginning, there were only what we called "lethal
gene" black Bettas. A mating between two black phenotype Bettas would result in a nest full of
fungused eggs. The only way to obtain black Bettas was to mate a male fish (the blackest one
you had) to one his sisters, daughters, or mother who did not show black. Generally, I selected
the female which displayed the least amount of red and the most steel blue. This cut down on
the red (which changed the fins to a brownish cast) and the blue and green iridocytes. In 1969,
my blacks won the international using this approach. There was one other black fish to take a
place that year. It was a brother to the others, and was sold by me to the owner. That was in
Detroit.
About that time, Walt Maurus was selling a selling a strain of fish called "golden
Something or other," and he supplied these to me. This strain had the peculiar habit of having a
type of pigmentation grow up over its eyes as it aged, and the eyes bulged a bit to give it a
goggle-eyed appearance. If that wasn't what we today call the "opaque factor", I miss my guess.
The crossing of these fish with the black strain, which I had developed, resulted in the
standard blacks which were common throughout the late 1960's and early 1970's. If they came
from me, they all had the opaque factor. At the same time, I also had an agreement with Walt.
Many or all of the black phenotype or genotype fish which he sold were drop shipped out of my
fish room.
About that same time, I also had some lousy yellows. They were almost clear white with
blue eyes and were referred to as cellophanes. Anyway, I did cross melano black with the
opaque factor to these cellophane Bettas. This resulted in a very small percentage of the clear
cream bodied fish with black fins.
I offered these fish in FLARES stock shop as black Cambodians. This terminology was
immediately shot to pieces as a contradiction in terms. Cambodia is the reduction of black
pigmentation, I was told. Black Cambodians couldn't be, but I had them.
The more I look back on those initial breedings, I wonder is I just wasn't lucky enough to
partially eliminate the black pigment from the body and to concentrate it in the fins.
It should be noted that from my earliest work with blacks I was continually eliminating
red. These cream bodied fish with black fins possess greater and lesser amounts of black in
their fins, and occasionally there were flecks of black on the body. However, there was rarely
any red. I was already toying with the term: marble. This is why I objected to Jim Sonnier's
statement that a bit of red in marbles was preferred.
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Don't overlook the fact that this entire lineage was that of standard black, also known as
melano, and carried the lethal gene. Whenever line breeding was used, you wound up with
fungused eggs. There was a brick wall. You had to take one or two steps backward, as it were,
to go one step forward.
At the 1970 IBC convention held in Cincinnati, Ohio, a wonder appeared. It wasn't at the
show, but in the fish room of a guy named Jean Roche. I was unable to obtain any of the
particular fish from him, but Gene Lucas did get some. I owe it to Gene Lucas (as we all do) that
fertile blacks were propagated. I don't know who else may have bred them, but I had thousands.
These fish were different from the regular standard blacks in that black fish could be
bred to black fish, and by gosh, you got black fish. Usually. Some of them were speckled with
black and otherwise were white (fish flesh colored). These I immediately tagged "marble."
Others had a greater amount of black on the body and fins but had white heads, and I named
them "piebald." I swear to this day that until those fish put in an appearance, I had never heard
the terms marble or piebald applied to Bettas.
Now another thing happened. At the auction of another IBC international convention, I
purchased the only fish I have ever bought at an auction. It was a male Indonesian fish with
green and yellow fins. It also had a very unique feature- a double caudal. Gene Lucas allowed
me to out bid him on this fish in the way that Gene is able to do. I blew a whole five-dollar bill on
the first non-red double tail male Betta this country had ever seen. Gene knew immediately what
it was, and he let me have it. I owe Gene Lucas many things, and this is one of them. (Although
I'll never forgive him for requesting red Bettas that were really red, and me sending them to him
by the dozen only to find out years later that he was boiling them to get red pigment.)
Now I had another cornerstone. Not wasting time, that non-red, green doubletail was
bred to the fertile black strain. It began to save a lot of time when your first mating produced
what you wanted in plain view. I got doubletailed blacks and doubletailed whites within two
generations, and then it was just a matter of cleaning them up of iridocytes. There never was
any red, and if there was, it was eliminated by the non-red gene with the doubletailed
Indonesian obviously displayed.
Now let's go back to several questions that have recently popped up. To differentiate
between a black lace Betta and a melano black with the opaque factor, we look at them. That
will probably not satisfy you, but that is all you would need to do.
The standard black which carried the lethal gene did not have any of the lacy
appearance of the later fertile black which, on the other hand, almost always displayed that
characteristic. The black of the standard black was usually an even gradation of the black
coloration. The fertile black seemed to have rectangular specks of black on clearer fin material.
Basically, the standard black was smoked evenly, and the fertile black had a lace-like
appearance.
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The two types can also be differentiated by spawning them. Since standard black carried
the lethal gene as well as the opaque factor, then only the black lace Betta will reproduce
phenotype to phenotype.
This brings us to the question of spawning marbles. As you have seen, there are two
types of marbles, if by this time one or the other hasn't been completely screwed up. One is
from standard black, and the other is from the fertile black. The fertile blacks are the easiest to
work with since a mating of a black appearing female to a black appearing male will produce
eggs that hatch. The offspring will be black (all black), black and white (marbles) white and
black (still marbles), and a very few all white (cellophanes). A very few of those which are black
and white or white and black will have a white head and a great deal of black on the body, and
although they are known as piebalds, they are only a color variation.
If you have fish derived from fertile black to a standard black, you have problems
because the lethal gene has been bred into both of your fish, male and female, and a black
appearing male mated to a black appearing female will not produce viable eggs. You will now
have to mate a black male to one of his sisters, daughters, or mother which does not look blacka
black genotype. This brings you back to breeding them like standard blacks.
Now we are down to the possibility that your fish come from purebred standard blacks
and your batch of fry comes from a black male which was mated to a direct lineage female
which was of any other appearance but black (and if you got the tip earlier that a dark sister with
the least red and either steel blue or opaque in appearance rather than green or blue) hang on.
The black color is not there in the first few weeks, but begins to develop generally after six to
eight weeks.
In conclusion, the manner in which you propagate marbles depends on what line you are
working and how pure it is. It may or may not take two generations. If you're working with pure
fertile, you get them on the first try. If you didn't, then you will have to use the blackest male with
the best looking female from the hatch which is not black in appearance.
I've had a lot of fun reminiscing through ancient and medieval history. It has brought
back many pleasant memories which I hope will help many of you to better understand marbles.
Retyped from original article on 01/22/02 by the Page Family
Public Relations Committee ~ technical assistance library ~ retyping team
Original document date ~ Unknown
Illustrations ~ None
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