Date: Unknown CS-39

Crescent Wrench Tactics for Better Blacks

By John E. Burdick

Melanos or BLACKS as they are called are quite a challenge. Just as an

example, say you get a batch of 100 fry. Fifty percent or usually less will be melano
black, let’s say you get 45. I usually get more females than males, say 30 females and
15 males. These males range from poor to good with most being mediocre so if you end
up with 4 or 5 good melano black males that’s not bad. The odds aren’t very good even
if you pick the right breeders. If you didn’t pick the right breeders you probably made
Oscar happy.

Phenotype melano males are fairly easy to pick, the standards spell it out and
also have a good example as to how they are judged. So in my opinion the female is
very important because she is the genotype. Genotype is basically described as the
genes the animal is known to carry but doesn’t show. Using a genotype female is like
taking an educated shot in the dark. The terms Phenotype and Genotype tend to
surround like a yes/no, either/or type situation. Let me toss a right hand crescent wrench
into the works. As a good example, a doubletail (DT) genotype sometimes shows that it
is carrying the DT trait by having extra dorsal fin rays or in other words a wider dorsal.
So basically a genotype can show its phenotype to some degree. Genotype melanos
can show their phenotype to some degree. What we want is a genotype melano female
show shows her phenotype the best. This female must have a genotype melano and as
black as possible. Identification of this female from melano phenotype can be a problem.
The secret to finding one is to know what to look for and to use a good flashlight. To date
I have determined there are four important factors to get a good genotype melano
female.

The four are:

1. STEEL BLUE seems to be necessary to maintain dark black coloration, too much will
ruin a spawn, a little not a lot.

2. RED also seems to be necessary to maintain dark black. Not bright red, very light,
low key. Again, a little not a lot.

3. OVERLAP – A genotype female which shows her phenotype to the highest degree
(gray to almost black hopefully).

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4. My secret and most important thing to look for is a STEEL BLUE eye fleck. This fleck
is a good sign that this female is a genotype, not a phenotype. Phenotype melano
female eggs do not hatch. Shine the flashlight into the eye, the eye fleck is in the
lower portion of the eye. It’s reflective, similar to that of glitter. I have found
phenotype melano female’s eyes have a blank, “nobody’s home” look to them. This
is a good trick to determine whether a female is genotype or phenotype melano
female. Figure 1 is a genotype eye, what you are looking for in a genotype melano
female. The bottom portion is where t he eye fleck should appear. Figure 2 is a
phenotype eye, no shiny fleck. This eye fleck method is probably not fool proof but it
has worked for me so far and I have avoided unnecessary spawning attempts with
phenotype melano females. Remember even if you find a genotype melano female
with the right amount of factors 1 and 2 and shows 3 and 4, she still will produce only
50% or less melanos when bred with a nice melano phenotype male. This should be
a betta step in the right direction. Then again, a right-handed crescent wrench,
maybe a lefty can use it too.

John E. Burdick
8639 S. Main Street
Eden, NY 14057

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