Check out the new male halfmoon show imports that are available now
See them all in the For Sale section!
Jul
19
Apr
19
Acclimatising your new Betta
Acclimatising your Imported Betta
Line bred Bettas are much more delicate than your local fish shop Betta. When they are imported they go through days in a dark box in the same water without any food, add in the possibility of rough handling and it’s not surprising they may not be feeling at their best when they reach the transhipper never mind the additional moving and re-bagging for another journey to you.
New fish should always be quarantined for at least 14 days if they are going into a community or a divided tank that contains other fish!!!
The transhipper will unpack the fish on arrival and put them into tanks until they are repacked and forwarded to the buyer. This can be the day after arrival into the country or it may be a few days. The biggest problem with acclimatising the new arrivals is pH differences. The bags of water they arrive in from Asia are usually between pH6-6.5 while the majority of people have tank and tap pH of 7 or more. If the fish is feeling poorly then a large pH difference can be enough to set off problems like fin rot and fungus or in the worst cases can cause death within the first few days of being in their new home.
Ensure your tank (if filtered) is fully cycled and don’t forget the dechlorinator!
Your fish have arrived..
- Open the box carefully and remove the wrapping from the fish bag.
- Should the unlikely event occur that your new fish is DOA take a photo of it in the shipping bag straight away and email it to the seller. It is important that you are aware of their DOA policy.
- Float the fish in their new tank for at least 15 minutes to let their water adjust to the new temperature.
- Open the bag, if the bag is particularly small then pour the fish and it’s water into a cup that you can clip to the inside of the tank. You will need to add the tank water slowly to the fish’s water.
Adding tank water
- Once the fish bag is to temperature you need to add tank water, the higher your tank pH the longer you should take over this process.
- Use a syringe or small container to pour a few drops of water from the tank into the fish’s water, do this every 10mins until the bag or cup is full (preferably you want this to take a minimum of 30mins but don’t hesitate to prolong this process if you have very high pH)
- When full let the cup or bag tip so it still floats but the water in the cup and the tank continue to mix. Let the fish out after 10 more minutes if they haven‘t already escaped!
What to expect when your Betta is released
Some will be more stressed than others, you may be lucky and they’re vibrantly coloured and active straight away but most will display some of the signs of their stressful trip. Try and have a good look over your fish while releasing, check for fungus, signs of white spot, velvet, pin holes in the fins and heavy breathing. Should any of these be evident over the first 2-3 days you will need to treat this ASAP.
Most will display one or more of the following symptoms on arrival/release..
- Some will promptly swim straight to the bottom and lie there.
- They may hang at the water surface and barely move.
- They may look very washed out and pale.
- There may be physical damage from tail biting.
- They won’t eat (it’s recommended to not even try to feed them until evening of the arrival day).
The above are all common reactions and the Betta should start to get back to normal colour and activity levels within about 2 hours. If they take longer than this then they are very susceptible to further illness.
Keep Betta tanks covered, they are excellent jumpers!
Having a lid also keeps the surface air temperature warm and humid, like their homeland.
If your fish shows obvious illnesses like fin rot then treat with a commercial treatment like myxazin at the regular dose.
Your new import is most likely to get ill within the first 7 days of arrival so there are a few things you can do to help reduce the chances of this occurring…
- Add a ¼ teaspoon of normal aquarium salt per ten litres of tank water. This helps ward off velvet and helps toughens their scales.
- Add a piece of Indian Almond leaf or tonic to their tank. Dried Oak leaves also have a similar effect. They contain anti-fungal properties.
- Add 1/2 strength of a general medicine on arrival day and let it dilute with water changes over the following weeks. (if you have carbon in your filter you should temporarily remove it when using meds for the first week). Meds containing malachite green and formalin are often used by Asian breeders all year round so the fish are less tolerant of bugs in normal water. Good ones to use are Tetra General Tonic or Myxazin.
- Offer a variety of foods, many imports will refuse flakes or pellets all together to begin with and may only eat live foods during the first few days. They will gradually get their full appetite back and should take the dried foods in time.
- Keep their water stats perfect. Any ammonia or nitrite spike in the early days can have serious consequences. If you don’t test your water then ensure you are doing adequate water changes!
If in doubt contact the seller or ask for help on one of the Betta Forums!
Feb
08
Betta Fry with Lock Jaw
All comments are useful if anyone can shed some light on this subject! Have been having a discussion on the bettabred forum and this is something I’ve not experienced much of…
I’ve not found anything conclusive on the net or elsewhere about reasons for lock jaw, especially in fry but it is supposedly weak bones or weak muscles (can be genetics, environmental and malnutrition caused) , parasite/bacteria/fungal or injury caused. Looks like anything can cause it!
Trying to eat food too big or to hard (gravel munch instead of food) causing the jaw to dislocate.
mycobacterium, hexamita and malnutrition seem to be the main causes in fry apart from bad genetics.
Large fish that delvelop it can sometimes be cured by popping the jaw back into place but i’d guess that’s dislocation more likely due to fighting, injury or eating something they shouldn’t.
I’ve known people who’ve had simultanous spawns with different genetic parents having it show in the different fry tanks simultaneously so for large numbers of fry having it I would put it as a mainly environmental or nutrition problems with fry.
I’ve only had about 6 fry that had lock jaw before and all been from pretty much otherwise healthy although small spawns.
I’m only going by what I’ve heard or read from others but when I think about it, the times I had the odd lock jaw or bent spines etc. they were all from my first year of spawning attempts when I wasn’t so good with the cultures and not so good with feeding regimes either for that matter.
My spawn that I’m starting to jar currently; I have noticed one with a slight tail kink but not seen any others with defects yet out of approx 30 fry. My white opaque spawn should be interesting since I’ve about 60 of them and a number are double tails which you have to expect a possible higher rate of deformaties in due to the mutated genes that create doubletails. (both parents are single tails but obviously must both carry the dt gene to give me approx 1/6th of the fry being dt).
If I can find anything scientific on the subject I’ll let you all know. If anyone can shed light on the subject please let me know!!!
Feb
07
Choosing a Breeding Pair
The secret is in the planning…
One of the biggest mistakes a new breeder makes is choosing the wrong match. You want to find the best line bred fish you can afford if you want to ensure a high quality spawn. Breed your local fish shop veil tail with caution as you are liable to be left with a lot of babies you can’t even give away.
Many people make this mistake with the belief that if they are going to attempt breeding for the first time they don’t want to take the risk with their more expensive fish and instead try to breed their fish shop ‘mongrels’.
There’s a few reasons why you really don’t want to do this
You will have much bigger and better egg to adult ratio with cross bred veil tails as their genes are so randomly mixed resulting in hardier fish. This may sound like a good thing but when you’re maybe stuck with 60 male fish you can’t even give away this ruins any plans of further breeding on a better quality scale just due to the sheer tank numbers required for housing these fish.
Veiltails at present are so easy and cheap to obtain there is no profit in them but they take just as much time and effort to raise as line bred quality fish.
You only need to raise and sell between 2-4 fry from a line bred spawn to cover the initial cost of the parents compared to 10 maybe even 20 veil tail fry.
If you do decide to do a spawn that may result in a lot of veil tail cross breed types then it’s worth checking a few pet shops to see if they would take any excess offspring before you breed!
So which pair should you choose?
As a beginner never attempt to mix tail types, it’s just not worth the work involved and it can take 3-4 generations before you get the defined tail type you were originally after. The first spawns will be mainly veil tails or have mismatched finnage. It takes time, knowledge and experience to be able to choose tail types to create a particular line from scratch. Definitely not the best way for a beginner to learn! The finnage is quite complicated so here’s the basics of what to expect.
Hm x Hm = Halfmoon, Super Deltas, Deltas, Over Halfmoons
Ct x Ct = Crowntails
Vt x Vt = Veiltails
Pk x Pk = Plakats
Ohm x Ohm = Over halfmoons, Halfmoons, Super Deltas and possibly Deltas
(Please breed excessive Ohm’s with caution as the bigger tail is usually a dominant gene and can result in fry with finnage so big that the fish cannot swim properly)
Hmpk x Hmpk = Hmpk and possibly Vt, Hm and Pk
(As Hmpk are a cross between Hm and Pk you want to ensure the parents have been line bred for atleast 3 generations to ensure Hmpk fry with little or no other tail types in the spawn).
One exception to mixing tail types is when trying to achieve Halfmoon fry from Delta or Super deltas, then you may wish to have one parent Halfmoon or even better is Over Halfmoon which will help balance out between the two tail widths.
A second exception to breeding matching tail types is the Double tails. Double tails should be bred with single tailed partners especially Halfmoon to achieve the best finned fry. This will produce a mixture of double tailed fry and halfmoon fry.
The next thing to worry about is colours. Again stick to like coloured fish and don’t attempt to mix colours until you’ve read through the colour genetics section and have an understanding of what you are likely to get from different colour mixes if you want to maximise the quality of your fry.
Save a lot of stress and buy the best line bred matching pair you can afford from a reputable breeder, ask for advise on sourcing or pair selection on forums, there’s many betta specific forums to choose from so you’re bound to find one that suits you and your personality well.
Jan
29
Making mustard gas types
Crossing mg’s works similar to the blues
Blue/yellow x blue/yellow = 50% blue/yellow, 25% turquoise/yellow, 24% steel/yellow
Steel/yellow x steel/yellow = 100% steel/yellow
Turquoise/yellow x turquoise/yellow = 100% turquoise/yellow
Turquoise/yellow x steel/yellow = 100% blue/yellow
Blue/yellow x steel/yellow = 50% blue/yellow, 50% steel/yellow
Blue/yellow x turquoise/yellow = 50% blue/yellow, 50% turquoise/yellow
Black/yellow x steel/yellow = 50% black/yellow, 50% steel/yellow
Black/yellow x black/yellow = 100% black/yellow
Because yellow is non-red based results will be different if you use any other combo that doesn’t carry the non-red gene resulting in red bicolors and multicolors in the first generation.
Jan
29
Opaque and Pastel Bettas
Opaques
The I.B.C. define Opaque as Non-Red light bodied fish similiar in appearance to Pastels but with a powdery layer to give the opaqueness.
Opaque isn’t actually a color but a trait. Seen as a thick powdery layer. There are actually three types; steel blue, green and royal blue opaques. White opaque is actually steel blue opaque. Green and royal blue have a green or blue sheen instead of pure white colour. All lack dark undercolouration.
Pastels
Opaques thick powdery “white” pigment is what makes the difference between an opaque and a pastel betta. Pastels are iridescent but still pale coloured just like opaques.
Jan
29
Halfmoon
Halfmoon is the term used for long finned bettas with a caudal (tail) spread of 170 degrees or more.. the exact definition of halfmoon is 180 degree spread. They have atleast 4 ray branching but often much more.
We also have HMPK now which are the shorter tail type but are now starting to be bred with halfmoon caudals
Jan
29
OHM, Over half moon tail type
People have been so intent on perfecting the halfmoon that we now have over half moon mainly due to the fact that in a paired halfmoon spawn maybe only 15-20% of the spawn will be true halfmoon.
OHM are those that have a bigger tail (caudal) span than 180 degrees. These usually include feather tails and rose tails.
A feather tail.
A rose tail.
These fish are beautiful in their own right but it does come at a price, you may achieve a higher ratio of halfmoon fry but the excessive finnage can cuase problems swimming if they are excessively bred for the finnage spread. Regardless of this, there are more and more of these fish on the market because of their breeding potential and they are as highly prized by most, almost as much as the true hallfmoon.
Jan
29
The Black Betta
There are 5 types of blacks
Melano, Black lace, Black orchid, Double Black and Wild types black
Melano is the true black but unfortunately it’s rare to get a real melano as they don’t breed true. Melano females are infertile so the males must be outcrossed to one of the other types to get offspring. If you know for certain that the other female carries the melano gene then you could possibly get around 50% of the offspring with the melano colouring but again any of the melano females will be infertile.
Due to the difficulty in keeping this colour you can see why they are rare. They are solid dense black often with a slighty smoky hint. Any blue or other colours are considered a fault and they may not be full melano.
If you spawned a melano to any normal betta without the gene then you’d have no melano colouring in F1 offspring but hopefully they will carry the gene. If the f1 generation were spawned and you were lucky enough to use those that carried the gene then the melano should reappear in F2.
Melano x melano = no viable offspring
Melano x multi (melano genotype) = 50% melano, 50% multi (melano geno)
Melano x blue = 100% multi (all melano geno)
Melano x red = 100% multi (all melano geno)
Multi (melano geno) x multi (melano geno) = 25% melano, 75% multi (most carrying the gene)
Multi (melano geno) x blue = 100% multi (50% carry gene)
Jan
29
Marble by Yono Wijaya
The Ever-Changing Marble
Written by Yono Wijaya
Friday, 10 October
It is easy to become intrigued with marble bettas. For one thing, they are among the most beautiful betta patterns in the world, with their splashy spotted color and variety. Those that decide to breed marbles are faced with one of the greatest challenges in Bettadom; that is the definitive instability of the gene. You can purchase a fantastic marble betta with a gorgeous high contrast pattern, and within a month of having him he might keep marbling or lose; until he is completely colorless (cellophane), darken until he is solid-colored (unmarble), or even change pattern and color until he looks like an entirely different fish! He might continue to morph and change his entire life; frustrating for some and provocative for others who may enjoy watching their betta morph.
Breeding them presents an even greater challenge, since any marble x marble spawn may produce any combination of marble, cellophane, butterfly, and solid.
Then, just about the time you’ve picked out your favorites from the spawn, they will begin to change: Marbles will gain color until they become Butterflies. The pattern of the Butterflies will fill in until they become solids.
Cellos may gain color to become marble, and solids may lose color entirely to become Cellos
So why does this happen?
The marble pattern exists because of transposable genetic elements, otherwise known as a Jumping Gene. These are certain genes which are capable of moving from one location to another on an organism’s chromosomes. Sometimes they will insert in places where they interfere with gene expression. This results in a cell’s (and its daughter cells’) inability to perform certain tasks associated with that gene.
Because the ‘jumping gene’s’ residence at a particular place in the chromosome is only temporary, the inability of the interfering gene to express itself is only temporary. This is what causes the change of pattern in a marble betta, and sometimes the complete and utter change of color.
If a jumping gene is present and it inserts itself into a gene responsible for producing a colored pigment, it stops the production of colored pigment, and all the Progeny cells will be unable to produce color. This results in a colorless patch appearing; looking like a white or cellophane patch. The reverse can happen too! If the cells are unable to produce color because the transposable genetic element is present and then the element leaves, the progeny of this cell will be able to produce color again (reverts) and a colored patch will appear.
Confused yet? Perhaps this will help to clarify things. The below series of photos was taken by fellow Breeder Ilse, of the Netherlands, and depicts a solid colored turquoise Crowntail marble betta that obviously carries the gene, although it is not evident in the first photo!
Here we see a pretty standard solid colored turquoise betta.
In this photo the fish is clearly getting a bit older (note the longer fins), and is still a nice little turquoise. But what’s that? THERE! On his head! This is about the time those hobbyists who had have limited experience with marble bettas think, Oh no, is my betta sick?
In another week or so the pale discoloration continues to grow. In spite of its appearance the betta still acts very healthy. This is usually about the time the amateur gets nervous and might be tempted to start medicating their fish for everything under the sun — DON’T!
Unless your betta is acting sick and lethargic or you can clearly diagnose what the trouble is, put the medication away. You could easily kill a perfectly healthy betta by unnecessarily medicating it. And you never know if next week your discolored betta might turn into…
Taaa-DAAAA! Even the amateur would be hard-put at this point to deny their betta has a marble gene. You can clearly see the way the discoloration has lightened into a flesh-colored patch and is beginning to spread over the torso. The jumping gene is also affecting certain areas of the finnage by creating streaks white and colorless.
This boy ain’t done yet! The Jumping Gene continues to eliminate the colored cells until the betta has a flesh colored body. It continues to affect the fins by reducing the expression of the turquoise and replacing it with white or clear. The red wash that was always present in this fish from the beginning now stands out more noticably, creating a very nice, contrasty, colorful tricolor marble!
A little later you can see how ruthless the Jumping Gene is in its quest to liberate this poor fish from its turquoise. The blue color appears to be literally melting away. The only thing unaffected was the red pigmentation scattered over the body and in the fins. And now, let’s take one last look at our boy:
The only thing unaffected was the red pigmentation scattered over the body and in the fins. And now, let’s take one last look at our boy:
Solid turquoise to Cambodian Butterfly?! That’s why we love the marble gene. You just never know what you’re gonna get. And get … and get … and get ….