Betta Splendens a.k.a Siamese Fighting Fish

[toothdoc]

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@the good$!!!
Pls check what kind of betta this is. Tnx

[The Good$!!!]

Confirmed bai...

Copper Red HM...

Sayanga sa fins, nganu mana?

Nindot rba jud bai...

Nindot jud... Sayanga...

E breed nlng na, sayang kaau iyang genes ky nka 180 degrees rba...

[The Good$!!!]

Annoying Things Bettas Love To Do

'Hold still, ya mad bugger!' Bettas seem to love ruining photographs.
1. Cluster around the end of the siphoning tube when you're trying to clean the fry tank.

2. Turn their backs to you every time you take a photograph.

3. Flare perfectly while you're looking the other way or when your camera jams.

4. Refuse to eat the food you paid top money for and that you know is good for them.

5. Refuse to eat mosqiuto larvae once in a while just on principle, to remind you who's boss.

6. Give you dirty looks when you try to feed them a new food.

7. Hide in the front edge of the spawning aquarium where you can't see them.

8. Change from brilliantly beautiful in the store to flat and colorless when you get them home.

9. Decide to become celibate when you want them to spawn like crazy.

10. Decide they like the taste of betta eggs.

11. Ditto for betta fry.

12. Swim around excitedly, flare, and show off for you then turn listless and dull as soon as you invite someone over to look at them.

[The Good$!!!]

BETTA POETRY


Water Butterflies

Colored water butterfly
of rainbow hue
i sit and watch you swim
with you endless river of blue.

Colored water butterfly
silky soft wings
your the color of the rain
your the image of my dream

splended small butterfly
you swim by my heart
seem to grab i and pull me in
to your beautiful ranbow cart.



With Beauty and grace,
from crowntail to black lace,
these swimming works of art
I will always hold in my heart

With colors from red to bright blue,
yellow, copper and even an opaque hue.
These fish will shine and glimmer,
though they may not be the best swimmers

Fish so intelligent and wise
they look at you straight in the eyes.
They seem to know what's on your mind,
and they are the best listeners you can find

Never knowing a fish could be
so smart and beautiful you didn't see.
But this is no ordinary fish,
for a betta splenden is what we wish.



Ode To The Beautimous Betta - A Shakespearian Sonnet

When little fishies catch a breeder's eye
With reds, and golds, and purples so unique
We cannot help but exhale one small sigh
And look to chaos fate has yet to wreak

A betta's love is fickle to be sure
I know his little wife is very cute
Caudals like that have oh so much allure
Such succulent and tasty snacks to boot!

And when done with domestic violence
Its not enough she looks like she's been shot
After the eggs are laid, is he that dense?!
NOW your male will doze for all he's got

They hatch! and so you think you're not outdone
Some lived, but now, he's eaten every one

...written because you KNOW you should know better by now... but you crazies keep breeding the durn things! ^.^



Mr Betta

Flashing, flaring, and darting
In a dashing dynamic display of colors
From satin red and royal blue
To sheen silver and glaring gold

All to impress the ladies
Biting, nibbling, like crazy
Sometime gentle, sometime detrimental
All for the transcendental vertical stripes

Finally the embrace of life
Then the strife to for the fries
Fry after fry and night after night
Before another flaring and darting display of life



Fins a flare and sailing through
Colors so rich and darkening hue
His body hesitates as hes gliding by
He hopes to catch that females eye

She colors up and bars reverse
How many times has this been rehearsed
Ive watched them both grow since they were fry
Ill watch them both till the day they die

Am I the only one who will enjoy this sight
Fins fully opened like wind filled kites
I hope many will pass my way
So they can see, what will they say



The crystal flowing
Rising half moon blossoms
Blue eye glint



Betta Haiku (owner's perspective)

My crimson betta
Swims, flaring at his mirror
Rival! Be gone from here!

Betta Haiku (Betta's perspective)

Gnashing, Crashing, Flare!
I puff out my fins at you
I win! The Card returns.

Worms! Oh delicious!
I chase them, I slurp them down
I laugh at flake food

[Allister]

sir tagpila na ang plain white nga betta? kanang pair na.

[toothdoc]

Confirmed bai...

Copper Red HM...

Sayanga sa fins, nganu mana?

Nindot rba jud bai...

Nindot jud... Sayanga...

E breed nlng na, sayang kaau iyang genes ky nka 180 degrees rba...

Lagi, mao ni kabugno ato red HM naa ila edgar.
sayang lagi ang tail, motubo pa ni?

[The Good$!!!]

sir tagpila na ang plain white nga betta? kanang pair na.

Wla pa ta ana nga stock bai...

Mga 1k+ ang pair for quality specimens... 1.5k+ for show type pairs...

[The Good$!!!]

Lagi, mao ni kabugno ato red HM naa ila edgar.
sayang lagi ang tail, motubo pa ni?

Minimal rman damage bai...

Mutubo na pero dli na jud pareha saona... If sa tawo pa ky uwat...

Butangi lang Talisay leaves bai then live foods pra high protein...

Constant water change and a pinch of Rock Salt... Also maintain water cleanliness by siphoning Betta crap...

[The Good$!!!]

Historical Article Bettas, by Innes
By: William T. Innes, LHD
Submitted: 4/11/2008


Pronounced Bet'ta (not bay-ta) splen'dens -- Popular name, Siamese Fighting Fish -- Meaning of name: Betta, after a local native name, Ikan bettah; splendens, brilliant

With all due respect to the Guppy for having aroused the interest of an enormous number of persons in aquarium study, there seems little doubt that the modern Veiltail betta launched the hobby in a big way in America. Its extraordinary, spectacular beauty made instantaneous conquests among those who would never have looked twice at any other fish, but who are now dyed-in-the-wool fanciers and doing all in their power to interest others in the hobby.

But let us leave superlatives for a moment and have a look at the humble ancestor of this flashy fish. It is shown further on as Original Betta splendens. Its body is yellowish brown with a few indistinct horizontal bands. At breeding time the male becomes darker and rows of metallic green scales on his sides become plainer. Dorsal, metallic green tipped with red; anal, red tipped blue. Ventrals always fiery red, tipped white. All fins of moderate size, tail being rounded.

Suddenly there appeared in our aquarium world a new comet -- a cream-colored Betta with fiery, flowing fins. Two varieties, a dark and a light one, were in the shipment. These were brought into San Francisco in 1927 from Siam. Thinking he had a new species, Mr. Locke, the consignee who received and bred the fishes, called the light one Betta cambodia. This has since been proved, as have all the now numerous color variants, to be a race of Betta splendens. Other importations in varying colors soon followed, some of them coming through Europe. Breeders aimed for the darker colors and soon established the famous "Cornflower Blue," and finally a solid, rich purplish blue. There are now so many shades of this fish in blues, lavenders, greens and reds that a decorator could almost find specimens to match the color scheme of any room, but nearly all of them hold to the pair of drooping, fiery red ventral fins.

The specimen used in the color illustration is by no means the highest form of fin development reached by these fishes, probably not by 50 per cent.

Much misinformation exists as to the fighting qualities of this fish, some of it so amusing that we present it, even at risk of too much length.

The late Dr. Hugh M. Smith, ichthyologist and writer, former U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries and one-time Adviser in Fisheries to the Siamese Government, was qualified to speak on this fish from any standpoint, esepcially as he had taken a particular interest in the species and personally brought to the United States some of the original Veiltail Betta stock. In response to a letter askng him to settle a point as to whether the fishes are especially bred for fighting or are caught from the wild for the purpose, the following extracts from his interesting and amusing reply should decide the matter finally, not only for newspaper columnists, but for aquarium writers, too.

"The literature of Betta as a fighting fish is replete with inaccuracies and absurdities. An unusually large number of these occur in a short paragraph in the article entitled 'The Heavenly-Royal City of Siam' by Florence Burgess Meehan (Asia, March, 1921).
" 'The fighting fish are about the size of goldfish. You catch one and put it into a bottle. Your neighbor does likewise. You put your bottle close to your neighbor's. Your fish becomes enraged. So does your neighbor's fish. They both flash all colors of the rainbow. They swell up. You bet on your fish. Your friends back you. After a time one fish or the other, hurling itself against the glass in a vain effort to reach its adversary, becomes so angry that it literally bursts. If it is your neighbor's fish that bursts, you win. If it is yours, you lose.'
"The writer of this paragraph certainly never saw what she was writing about, and the untrustworthiness of the account may be judged from the following facts:
"The Siamese fighting fish cannot properly be described as 'about the size of a goldfish' whatever may be the meaning of the expression. The fish are not matched while in separate 'bottles,' and when not fighting are usually kept in special rectangular jars about 4 inches square and 10 inches high, and a little larger at the top than at the bottom. When fighting, the fish do not 'flash all colors of the rainbow,' do not 'swell up,' do not 'hurl themselves against the glass,' and do not 'literally burst.'
"With these exceptions, the account quoted is nearly correct, but not quite. For instance, the impression is conveyed that if you wish to stage a fight, you and your neighbor go out and catch wild fish, whereas practically all the combats are between domesticated fish. Fighting fish have been cultivated and domesticated among the Siamese for many years, and all of the noteworthy combats on which sums of money are wagered are with selected, often pedigreed, stock. They all have short tail fins.
"There are in Bangkok 10 or 12 persons who breed fighting fish for sale, and about 1,000 persons who raise fighting fish for their own use. A dealer whom I recently visited reports an annual production of 50,000 young, but only a small percentage of these are carried to the fighting age and sold. For the best males the current retail price per fish is 1 to 2 ticals, females half price (1 tical equals 44 cents gold).
"The native wild fishes from which the ordinary cultivated fish has been derived rarely exceed 2 inches for the males, the females being smaller. The cultivated fish reach a length of 2 1/2 inches for the males.
"The way in which the male fish are matched and their method of fighting are well known. It will suffice to state that the combatants are placed together in a bowl or jar and quickly come into close quarters, expanding their fins and branchial membranes and displaying the gorgeous red, blue and green shades that have made the fighting fish famous. They approach one another quietly and may remain in close relation, side by side, for 10 to 15 seconds, or longer, without action. Then, in quick succession, or simultaneously, they launch an attack almost too swift for the observer's eye to follow, and this is repeated at short intervals during the continuance of the combat. The effect of the fierce onslaughts begins to be seen in the mutilation of the fins, which may soon present a ragged appearance and considerable loss of fin substance may occur. The branchial region (gills) may come in for attack, and blood may exceptionally be drawn. On two separate occasions my own fish locked jaws and remained in that position for a number of minutes. That fish is adjudged the victor which is ready to continue the fight while its opponent is no longer eager for the fray."

Dr. Smith's reference to the courage of the cultivated breed of Bettas may account for their truly remarkable absence of fear under a certain circumstance which frightens and intimidates nearly all other fishes, especially the fighting sorts. This is the sudden confinement of the fish in a very small space such, for instance, as a glass photographing cell, or a half-pint jar. Placed in such a situation he calmly surveys his miniature prison, makes a few eel-like turns in it, apparantly to see whether it can be done, and is then ready for each or both of his twin interests in life -- breeding and fighting. His movements are truly serpentine.

Owing to the intense fighting passion of the males, it is necessary, at the age of about 3 months, to rear them in individual jars or aquaria. That is the way all fine specimens are produced, for although fish fins recover from injuries, scars remain and the fish is never again perfect. For this reason the price of fine specimens will always remain fairly high.

[The Good$!!!]