The Sire is a 'Green' HMPK which was a kind gift from my friend Melanie Richter (Germany). Despite being already and old male he still is in good condition and shows some good characteristics to work with. The 'green' phenotype of the male likely has a turquoise base but there is a chance that he has a royal blue base and/or that the metallic trait is involved. The dame is royal blue HMPK with a good, strong bodyshape, a smooth mouth-to-dorsal topline and amazing finnage. She became Best of Show Female at the Virtual Bettas4all Show (August 2020).

With this cross I hope to fix the strong bodies, the smooth topline and the balanced finnage. The offspring (F1) depending on the genetic make up of the male can range from non-metallic and/or metallic turquoise, royal blue and steel blue based HMPK with a chance of red wash and marble to pop up.

15/01/21: The pair spawned.
16/01/21: The fry hatched.
18/01/21: The fry entered the free-swimming stage and the Sire was removed.
02/04/21: At 11 weeks of age the fry have nicely colored up. There are no steel blue fry which means the male must have a turquoise base (still not sure if the metallic trait is involved). Unfortunately some fry show also show less desirable characteristics such as excessive branching and asymmetrical scaling. Below you can see pictures of the normal and 'rosetail' siblings. 

18/09/21: Potential breeding pair at 35 weeks of age.