What is Black Devil Betta? A comprehensive guide to Breeding

Many years ago, in Victoria's article on black bettas, there was mention of the "GreatBetta's Black Devil". It was a black betta with a characteristic red stain on its tail, making this color combination particularly attractive. Given the reputation of the site Bettyplendens, I believe that almost everyone is aware of the Black Devil and many people have tried to breed it. However, frankly, we have yet to see any impressive results - even from the original GreatBetta breeder himself. Recently some friends wanted to experience this exciting adventure. So let's dig deeper.

1. What is Black Devil betta?

Based on the original Black Devil, we can construct some of the following characteristics:

The black caudal margin, meaning the caudal ray including the base ray, its branch rays, and the fin membrane between the branch rays, is all black.

The fin membrane between the two caudal rays is red, which is roughly called "fan blades". This is a familiar image of wild fish like Betta imbellis with iridescence on a red background. However, in Black Devil, it appears as red on a black background. Remember that in blackfish, which are mostly marble-based, the infection of red is usually in the form of “rusty”, that is to say, black on red. As such, the red color will be faint and less vivid. However, the red in Black Devil expresses very bright: red on black (unless the image has been edited—then the ideal Black Devil never existed or it may not shine as much as we see it).

Fully fanning spokes requires a moderate number of originating rays and delayed branching. Most wild or domesticated fish branch in the middle and a moderate number of rays make the fan blades quite full. While most modern fish are affected by the double tail effect, the number of root rays increases, branching more quickly and sooner. As a result, the fan spokes become narrower and less impressive.

In the modern tail form with many and early branches, the fan blades are atrophied, less impressive: (A1) Black Devil; (A2) Super Black; (A3) Red Devil/Super Red

(B1) GreatBetta's legendary Black Devil; (B2) Super Black branched early and heavily, causing the metallic fan blades to shrivel; (B3) GreatBetta's Red Devil with shriveled metallic fan blades.

(C1) Rusty black fish makes the red less bright, in addition, the metallic fan blades are still subtle; (C2) Some native individuals have almost no iridescence in the tail, which can be used as breeding material.

2. Breeding Black Devil betta

Once we adhere to the definition, we will find that hybridization is not as straightforward as some of you might assume. Currently, with the emergence of social networks, we have many advantages when it comes to discovering hybrid materials. Nevertheless, the red and black lines available are all modern fish with unsteady fin rays. Therefore, you cannot construct a complete "fan spoke" without a clear direction.

Thus, the first step is to breed into ½ or ¼ Siamese blood with a primary branching. Thankfully, this is a dominant gene, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you to get rid of the strongly branched double-tail effect. There are many lines of Siamese fish that are inherently black; if carefully selected, you will not have to worry about color. It is possible to breed black fish with full iridescent spokes.

The second step is to reproduce the red blotch phenotype in the fins. Logically, we just need to blend red and black in a certain ratio, about ½ and ¼ of the total health, hoping that the black fish will spread the red. This is actually quite easy. We have observed some black fish with red stains on their tails. Through selective breeding, I believe we can limit the red smears to only the fan spokes. The problem then becomes how to bring more red to the top.

Most of the redfish that people use have a light background, such as Cambodian (no black) with a flat head, or Blonde (limited black). We suggest using dark red fish (red on black) or Red Devil. Try to choose those with very little iridescence. Some traditional fish seem to have no iridescence in their tails, which can be used for this purpose.

A picture of a black devil betta fish.

3. Share real experience

Some experts in the betta world, fascinated by this set of Black Devil phenotypes, prefer to domesticate as much of the genome as possible by selecting red-infected individuals in super Black flocks and then breeding them together, with one wish: to gradually increase the percentage of Black Devils in the swarm.

In fact, after a period of selective breeding, I can only breed about 30% Black Devil, 30% Super Black with mild red, and 40% Super Black in a cross between Super Blackfish and Black Devil.

Additionally, by leveraging the Black Devil phenotype it is possible to increase the "blackness" of the Super Black individuals in the herd. Those who have created a black dragon from nothing will understand the correlation between black and red. The red color will deepen the black, making it more aggressive and imparting a "key-tail" look to it.

Question: What if we don't have a pair of Super Black and Black Devil female chickens, but only have one male or only Super Black female chickens?

I will take a detour; it's a little hard work, but it's worth it if you're passionate about it.

Specifically, let's start with one Super Red and one Super Black. Let's breed these two together.

A Super Red betta fish

A Super Black betta fish

In the F1 life, we will have a fairly large base of phenotypes "almost like Siamese fish", but the body color is dark and black. Characteristically, the tail rays have a blue iridescence, the tail curtain is almost 100% red, and even the body has a little iridescence. If it's easy, you can call them RED DEVIL; if not, you can also call them “blue red”.

Note: there are some cases, even in the F1 life, where the Black Devil phenotype appears, but it is difficult to see the dark and beautiful black background color of the true Black Devil. In addition, there is a layer of iridescent iridescence, so it can be called BAD.

Next, in the crossbreed, select one with the Red Devil phenotype that has the "blackest possible" background, and breed it with a Super Blackfish. The goal is to push away the red background and enhance the black background.

In this F2 life, there is a high chance that we already have some beautiful Black Devils. However, because the current betta genotype is highly cross-bred, it is also possible to still produce many Red Devils without the Black Devil. At this point, calm down; select the best ones and breed them with Super Blackfish again.

Good luck.

A Red Devil betta fish

Conclusion

All of the above discussion is suggestive, not a guarantee of success. Once you use blackfish, you are using the marble gene. Marble does what it wants, where it wants, and when it wants! Transformation can happen at any time. It is also normal if you breed once and get results or do it all the time and get nothing. For example, you have bred Black and Blue (currently fashionable fish) and produced a fish that is very close to the definition of a Black Devil. Where has Blue gone? It's as if the non-blue gene has been activated. You can use this to evolve Black Devil, but nothing can be said. Just do it and see the results; joy lies in discovery.

Let's make an effort!