New fish - unique coloration

I visited a not so local pet store recently and found about 6 of these orangish colored Bettas on the shelf. I usually just look at the petshop Bettas but this time I grabbed two of them. The shop owner commented that these were banana boat Bettas. The coloring at first looks dark yellow but if you look closely it appears to be an orange shade. I have had various yellows in the past and have had lines going from Jeff Hillers stock and Rita Ebys.

Those fish were always a lighter shade of yellow and never approached this coloration. Let me assure you these are not typical yellows! They are light bodied therefore possess the cambodian gene "c". The scales on the body are edged in black making a striking pattern.
See image at right. Click for closeup.

A similar fish was developed by Lee and Walt Johnson but seems to be dark bodied. "Snerticus" posted a picture of a fish named "Charile Brown" on the Yahoo Betta Splendens club. This fish has a light iridescent sheen to it similar to the blueberry pie strain. I have also received some new photos of a dark bodied orangish finned fish from Snerticus. Images posted at right.

Gilbert Limhengco developed the orange strain a few years ago that is presently being worked by many breeders throughout the country. I recently saw a photo of his fish and was amazed at the incredible vivid orange coloring. These fish are nothing compared to the Gilbert strain. It is felt that orange is controlled by a gene similar to the "nr" gene that halts the red pigmentation at the yellow stage or quite possibly by two. The orange gene is often referred to as "nr2". The orange fish developed by Gilbert are not controlled by a single recessive gene. Gilbert has stated that if outcrossed to non orange fish it takes up to three generations to obtain orange fish again.