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Betta Genetics In 1927, Frank Locke of San Francisco received a shipment of both dark bodied and lighter cream color variations of Siamese fighting fish. Thinking these light-bodied specimens were new species, he named them Betta cambodia. But it soon became evident that this particular variant was only another of the many-hued forms of Betta splendens. It was Dr Hugh M. Smith (*) who made the observation concerning this strain. He thought that the light-bodied fish with the brightly colored fins originated first in French Indochina in about 1900. The Siamese referred to them as 'pla kat khmer' or Cambodian biting fish. Table I: Crossing a "normal" wild-type betta with a cambodia betta Wild-type betta c+ c+ Cambodia c c+ c c+ c c c+ c c+ c The offspring will all be heterozygous for the cambodia gene, thus having a wild-type phenotype. Bettas recessive for the cambodia gene are light-colored. They resemble albino's. Most of the melanin in the skin is absent. As mentioned, this gene is recessive to the normal pigment-producing gene and is symbolized c. The typical cambodia betta has a cream or light body and red fins. Often Cambodias have red on the body and all have some iridescence. Usually, the males have more red on the body than the females, and even the females develop a some red spots on the body as they get older. Table II: Crossing a male and a female from the offspring from the cross in table I Wild-type betta c+ c Wild-type betta c+ c+ c+ c+ c c c+ c c  c See text of explanations. In the cross shown in Table II, two heterozygous bettas, having a wild-type phenotype, will give all possible combinations in the offspring. A part (75%) will be wild-type, while a quarter of the offspring will be cambodia. Of the wild-type bettas, two third will be heterozygous for the cambodia gene. Links: Rainbow-hued bettas have colorful history Kristen and Eric Schank's Home Page  Betta Talk (*) Dr Hugh M. Smith, The Fresh-water Fishes of Siam or Thailand, United States National Museum Bulletin No. 188

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