# One of my other hobbies (bettas, lots of pics)



## TessC (Oct 14, 2009)

Way before I ever discovered the world of handmade soap and turned into an addict, I fell in love with bettas. I've been keeping and breeding them for several years now, although I'm scaling way back on the breeding side for now. 

They're a bit trickier than livebearing fish to spawn, they're bubblenesters and highly aggressive. The courtship and mating process is brutal, sometimes resulting in damage to one or both of the parents, and the female has to be removed from the spawning tank as soon as they're finished, otherwise she'll snack on the eggs. The males construct a nest of bubbles where the eggs stay until they hatch, and he'll tend the eggs until they hatch then care for the fry until they're free-swimming. When they first hatch they're unable to swim on their own, so the male has to keep them up in the nest so that they don't drown. The little fry make his life difficult as they get restless, wriggling and dislodging themselves from the bubblenest and keeping the poor male in perpetual motion to catch the almost constant rain of fry.

 Once the young are free-swimming, the male has to come out or he'll start eating them. The fry can live together until they start to reach maturity (typically 6-8 weeks), then they have to be separated to keep them from maiming and killing each other.

Anyway, enough babbling, pics!

One of my favorite males, he's a copper halfmoon,













A pair during the conditioning process prior to being spawned, they can see each other at this point but they're not able to hurt each other through the glass (and that particular female is a vicious little heifer):











Poor tired male getting ready to scoop up one of the fry to return it to the nest:







One of my plakat (short finned) males patrolling under his nest. They're difficult to see, but there are tiny little transparent fry tails hanging down under the nest:







Same male, if you look very closely you'll spot a couple of the fry:







His kiddos:







Poor tired copper/red/black halfmoon male after being removed from the spawning tank. He's thin because he refuses food while he's babysitting, and those unruly kids keep him on the go almost nonstop. A day or so after being moved back into his own tank and being fed some good food, he perks back up and looks like his old self:







His usual perky self. One of the neat things about copper bettas is that their copper shows different with and without a flash. In the right lighting, a copper can look pure purple in pics, it can look greenish, or it can look orange-y:






One of his fry at a couple weeks old:







Growing up fast:







At 6 weeks old:







Some of them outside in the "big kid" growout ponds:







Their first bachelor pad apartments, they eventually grow into the jars being completely filled, then they're moved into their adult homes as they mature:







Copper crowntail male:


















Turquoise halfmoon male:






Anyway, that's what I'm doing when I'm not making soap or working on the kiddo's school, those guys all require frequent water changes to stay healthy, so they keep me busy.


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## wiccaronja (Oct 14, 2009)

Wow! What wonderful pictures! The colors are amazing.

Wish you a lot of fun with your fellows ;-)


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## vivcarm (Oct 14, 2009)

Wow, beautiful fish, but what a lot of work, but you obviously get a lot out of it though and are very much the proud "Mum"


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## topcat (Oct 14, 2009)

They are gorgeous and thank you for the fascination explanation.  My DD has been given a betta for her birthday and I am worried we are going to lose him.  Ambient RT atm is between 16 and 25 degrees and he is not eating (had him for 8 days, not eating for 3 - or so it seems.  We have removed everything from his bowl, replaced his water/conditioner, tried different food...everything we can think of.  He takes the food into his mouth then spits it out again.  If we lose him I have told DD that we will get a regular goldfish.  Fingers crossed he eats soon!

Tanya


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## TessC (Oct 14, 2009)

They're such neat fish, and terribly addictive. My poor savings account, I have a bit of cash set aside for soap stuff, but I've found a couple bettas that are sorely tempting. 

Shipping is pretty rough to get them from Thailand to here, mostly the inland shipping, so it's crazy to only order one fish. $35 shipping for one fish is just horrible, $35 for shipping 6 fish doesn't seem so bad.

This guy is tempting, and this pair is reallllly tempting: male and female. Both of those sellers are exceptionally nice and pleasant to deal with, I've bought several fish from each of them before, so I know they both have other nice fish that they don't list. A bid on those and an email asking what else they have could get expensive, oy.

The only thing holding me back is...well, common sense, lol. I don't need more, and I certainly don't need any more breeding pairs right now.


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## dagmar88 (Oct 14, 2009)

awww, I just love aquaria. You must put in a lot of time & care. That water is chrystal clear and all your fish look so happy and healthy!


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## SilverMaple (Oct 14, 2009)

That first copper male is beautiful!


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## ohsoap (Oct 14, 2009)

Question for you?  I have recently adopted 3 goldfish (2 black, 1 gold) and a Beta from friends that moved.  They all share a 20G tank, our Beta seems depressed.  He basically sits in the corner and barely moves... we keep thinking he's gonna die, but it's been 3 months now and he keeps on ticking.  
I've actually heard that they do get depression.  Is this true, or am I just gullible?  Would he survive better in his own tank?  I have no clue when it comes to fish!


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## Pug Mom (Oct 14, 2009)

Wow...those pictures are amazing!  Your babies are beautiful!


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## TessC (Oct 14, 2009)

They definitely do best on their own, and the little 2.5 gallon tanks are perfect for a single male. The standard glass 2.5's are the most economical, but a lot of people like the was the little bowfront tanks look. I don't use those myself because I hate the idea of spending that much just to pull out the filter and not use it (bettas prefer still water, they can take a slight current from a filter but the filters that ship in small tanks create too much turbulence for most of them.)

There are other options, some of the plastic kritter keepers are plenty big enough for a betta, you can ever use Sterilite/Rubbermaid bins for them, they're just not the prettiest.


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## Lynnz (Oct 14, 2009)

Oh Tess thanks for sharing, I had a pair of beautiful pineapple(halfmoon) betas prior to shifting into this house but had no room for my setups here and gave them to a keen beta keeper..............You have great hobbies betas and soap!!!!!!!!!


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## artisan soaps (Oct 14, 2009)

..


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## candice19 (Oct 15, 2009)

The copper/red/black halfmoon male - WOW. Seriously, WOW.

I have a betta myself, but not show betta like you have!  I don't even know the type of betta I have   But he's a hardy blueish reddish one! lol


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## pink-north (Oct 15, 2009)

Oh my goodness. The fish are so fascinating! I never knew there was so much to the world of bettas. Thanks for sharing the pics.


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## TessC (Oct 15, 2009)

candice19 said:
			
		

> The copper/red/black halfmoon male - WOW. Seriously, WOW.
> 
> I have a betta myself, but not show betta like you have!  I don't even know the type of betta I have   But he's a hardy blueish reddish one! lol



My absolute favorite betta is a veiltail guy I picked up at Walmart, lol, he's awesome. His tank is on my desk so that I can watch him all the time.


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## alwaysme07 (Oct 18, 2009)

My favorite fish is the Betta fish. I don't have the space to have any now but when I move I will get some more.


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## ewenique (Nov 5, 2009)

Just saw this thread.  Very interesting, and what amazingly beautiful bettas!  I've had bettas in the past and enjoyed watching them, but really didin't know much about the breeding process. Thanks for sharing!


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## Vic1963 (Nov 5, 2009)

WOW....I LOVE the Fish....You can tell that you sure know what you are doing.  They are absolutely amazing to look at.

Vic


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## Billie (Nov 6, 2009)

I loved the pictures and the detailed information about their breeding practices.  They are so beautiful.  Thanks for sharing, I loved it.


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## opalgirl (Nov 8, 2009)

sooooo cool!  I love bettas!


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## Bubbles Galore (Nov 9, 2009)

Stunning fish and photography.  :wink:


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