Hi Zoekie,
Welcome to the forum
You can actually register blues with GCCF, they just can't compete for titles. They will be registered on the reference register & can even be shown on exhibition but not compete.
I recently spoke to the Bengal breed recorder for the Bengal Cat Club about this as I had a surprise blue snow born here.
I think the registration for a blue spotted would be 76 30a & in the description section put "blue spotted", but please check first with Frances Peace of Barijka Bengals to make sure that's right before you send your form into the GCCF.

Thanks Ren. I will confirm with her, and post on here for others who have same question.

You're very welcome & yes please do post here to confirm so that it helps others
Now we need photos of the little ones!

Blue Bengals can be registered with the GCCF but at the present time they will be registered on the Reference Register with breed numbers. Registration on the Reference Register means that Blue Bengals cannot be shown in competition but they can be shown on exhibition only.

All Bengal progeny from Blue Bengals regardless of their colour/pattern will also be placed on the Reference Register so they cannot be shown in competition either.

The breed numbers are as follows:
76 30a Blue Spotted Bengal
76 20a Blue Marbled Bengal
76a 30a Any Other Colour Eyed Blue Snow Spotted Bengal
76a 20a Any Other Colour Eyed Blue Snow Marbled Bengal
76b 30a Blue-Eyed Blue Snow Spotted Bengal
76b 20a Blue-Eyed Blue Snow Marbled Bengal

The Silver versions of these colours/patterns would have an "s" after the "a" attached to the "30" or "20".
eg 76b 20as Blue-Eyed Blue Silver Snow Marbled Bengal

At the present time, there are no plans for the Bengal Breed Advisory Committee to apply for Preliminary Recognition for the Blue Bengals (or for the Cinnamon and Fawns) but they and their Silver versions are covered by the GCCF Bengal Registration Policy which can be seen on the GCCF web site www.gccfcats.org via the Breeders Tab. Click on Registration policies and then scroll down to the Foreign Section and click on Bengal.

Frances Peace
Barijka Bengals
Find us at www.barijkabengals.com

Thanks very much for coming on & clarifying that for us Frances

Much later tham promised, but finally a picture of my blue girl. decided to keep her as she is an absolute sweetheart!

Im not sure if I will breed with her as yet. If I were to breed her with a brown spotted, am I likely to get brown spotties only? (sorry, still trying to get my head around the genetics )

If you breed her to a non-carrying brown all will be brown but all will be blue carriers.
If you breed her to a brown who carries blue then 1/2 will be blue and 1/2 will be browns, but again all the browns will be blue carriers.
Of course there is always the chance of snows or marbles depending on what the cats carry.

Blue is an "undesirable" colour in the Bengal, so in the interests of the breed, it is best IMO really to keep blue programs completely separate from brown programs.
Blues can be very nice, it is not that they aren't, it is just that they do not conform to the "small forest dwelling cat" set up on the breed standard, and I doubt they will ever be totally "acceptable" in the breed, any time soon.
Blue(dilute) is a recessive trait, therefore it is possible once introduced, to carry it for generations. It can be genetically tested for but for many brown breeders the thoughts are that "why should they have to?" as they did not deliberately introduce it to their program.

Blues do crop up every now and again sporadically, but the deliberate introduction to any brown program is not something to be recommended.

Thanks Elaine

Another question then, sorry...I have seen some breeders using melanistic cats in their breeding programme, but Im struggling to understand what benefit that would bring, if any?

Melanistic, snow, marble, blue, are all recessive traits, they can all be carried by cats unknowingly.

Melanistic, snow and blue can be DNA tested for but marble cannot.

In order to use a cat that is melanistic, blue, snow or marble and introduce it into a brown program then you should be aware that you will produce kittens that are all carriers for the trait.

That is fine if for instance your intention is to have a snow marble program, you breed your non-carrying browns to a snow marble, all kittens are then snow marble carriers and bred to a snow marble will give you half snow kittens, you choose the snow marbles and breed again to a snow marble and you then have a snow marble program. The unwanted brown cats (carriers) you can pet off or sell to another snow or marble program.

Where it gets complicated is when the cats show an "undesirable" trait ie melanistic or blue. By breeding with those cats, the progeny will all be carriers and that is fine if you are going to neuter them all as pets. If you sell those as breeders then you are continuing on the "undesirable" trait as they will also produce carriers.

There are blue programs and that is OK if their desire is to produce a better blue cat, I have no argument with that, however no-one I know has a melanistic program. I do not believe that a melanistic confers any more benefit to a line than a brown of similar breeding, but it can complicate matters if you end up with lots of smoke or melanistic kittens. The whole point of breeding is to select traits that you want, not to introduce elements that you don't want and then spend ages trying to get rid of them. It is possible in the case of snow, blue and melanistic to do a DNA test to find out what individual cats carry, so it is not a disaster, but a little forethought may prevent a lot of extra cost.

Silver is a lot easier as the cat is silver or it isn't; there is no carrier status, so far easier in one mating to select for it if you want it or select against if you want to rid your lines of it. (snow silvers can be more problematic).

If you definitely want to breed your blue girl then find a lovely blue stud to breed her to.

(by "undesirable" I do not mean they are ugly or horrible, I just mean from a purely breeding point of view those colours are not fully accepted by the Bengal breed and unlikely to be so in the near future)

_________________