Veryyyy excited. I mated a female that looks just like the pair in the 3rd pic down on this link: http://www.bettatalk.com/how_bettas_spawn.htm with a male that's like... a solid matte plum color. I kind of randomly picked them. Not really breeding them for show, just for kicks. Is this where the Cambodian coloration comes from? (In simplest terms). How long will the eggs take to hatch?

Woohoo! haha

In two to three days. But they'll be really short kicks if you haven't got anything for the babies to eat. Did you get your infusoria started ages ago and get some microworms or vinegar eels ready?

congrats on the eggs, you should check out d_golems topic in this section

Research revealed mixed reviews on infusoria, and the general notion that whilst vinegar eels are an easy option, they aren't as beneficial as microworms. So, microworms it is. Believe me, this was no surprise spawn...

Great to see you're prepared. Microworms are the easiest to breed too... but they invoke bottom feeding and related ventral problems and syphoning is such a pain when half the spawn goes up the syphon too.

But you said it was a red spawn? They usually have less ventral problems anyway. Older colour, I think. Tougher.

Well hmph. I had noooo idea about ventral issues, but that makes sense. Wouldn't they feed that way in the wild though? More muck on the bottom of puddles than in the middle of puddles haha. Or perhaps in a wild pondy puddle scenario, there are more organisms swimming about with them, and they'd feed on those?

As far as colors go, yeah, the male is, I suppose, a variant of red. There's no irridescence at all, which comes from the blue layer, yes? But I don't get how a red betta would be hardier than anything else, since it's a middle color. Yellow, black, red, blue. Unlesssss stabilizing selection occurred for some reason, and there are more red phenotypes than the extremes. I mean like, maybe you're right, and there's actually a reason why the reds were hardier, regardless of their position in the layering. Anyone know the most prevelant betta color - (trying to disregard breeders' power in creating bettas of certain colors)? But I mean, most common color in nature?

Edit: sp... prevalent? Haha I don't know if I've ever typed that word. It's ugly either way.