I had to reply to your topic, I can totally relate having been there myself, it's not an ideal situation but adjustments can be made. I still stand by my method, but the decision is yours to which way you go and I wish you the best. In relation to your cycling/ water change question I would avoid doing 100% water changes, I believe they are just too stressful. (I personally hate this option) Using an already establish filter would be great if you have one, if not I would at least try to get the tank to cycle, it should be possible if you keep with it. Just keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels (I assume you have the liquid test kits, if not I highly recommend you get them). For every .25 of ammonia in the tank do a 25% water change or for every .5 level of ammonia do a 50% water change. Just make sure you have Prime and dose every 24hrs the correct amount and your fish will not be effected by those levels of ammonia. It is safe to dose every 24hrs using prime providing you use the correct dose. I have done this with all my fish. They were all "fish in cycle" which is safe for betta's providing done properly. My guy used to love his big tank before he got SBD, there was no stopping him, but now he appreciates the low water level, I have experienced this first hand and I strongly recommend you keep the water level really low - like 10cm low, others may disagree with this but from my experience it was the best thing I did for him (with his floats of course) however there is Swim Bladder Disease (infection) along with Swim Bladder Disorder and then of course varying degrees of severity. My guy, after 3 months, I can safely say it is a disorder, still inquisitive and eats well, still fiesty so he could go on for a very long time yet but every case is different. If it is more serious it will show itself sooner rather then later. Epsom salts will help if the cause of his SBD is constipation I tried fasting my guys for 3 days and did the epsom salt treatment however this did not help with his SBD. So there was no point continuing. I have noticed if I feed him more he sinks quicker so I do feed him a little less then what I used to for this reason. The only difference is is that I kept him in his original tank and dramatically lowered the water level. If he is going in a smaller/different tank it may take him a little longer to adjust, but I think long term, maybe even short term he will appreciate it. Being pessimistic here but if he get's worse ie: stops eating there may be something else going wrong internally with him and you may need to consider putting him down (if he is suffering and incurable) But, that's absolute worse case scenario. On an unrelated topic I had to do this once with a betta that had dropsy and after 5 days I just couldn't bear it anymore and did the clove oil thing) I hope I never have a case of Dropsy again it is the most hideous disease and always ends in fatality but I wanted to give the little guy a chance but it got to the point where there was no choice, the pinconing and swollen gut looks and I imagine would be extremely painful.

Food for fry Before you even consider spawning a pair remember you are going to have up to 200 little fry to feed. Be prepared, we feed our fry for the first 4 weeks with Microworms. There are a lot of feeds available to feed fry decide before you spawn which you are going to feed. Conditioning Pairs for spawning: All our fish are fed Live and Frozen foods all the time so we don't have to condition just for spawning. If you are feeding your Betta dried food feed them Frozen Bloodworms and Daphnia as much as they can eat for at least 2 weeks before attempting to spawn. We use Hiakri brand frozen food as we have found their product to be the best quality. Tank Setup: Clean tank well and rinse in very hot water. Full with fresh water add well used sponge filter and cycle for 2 weeks. For us this is different as all out tanks are joined to a central trickle filter so we turn on the valve and cycled water is automatically added to the tank. Place half a Styro cup up against the front of the tank and plants in a corner at the back. This can be Live or artificial plants, we also add floating live plants. Live plants are better as they help with water conditions by changing ammonia and nitrates to nitrites. We use 10 gallon tanks divided in half with pexie glass(acrylic plastic). Our water temp is 80F and pH 7.2 if your pH is lower or higher by a few points let it be. Adding pH up or down is very stressful to the fish and very difficult to control. The only thing we add to our water is Liquid Calcium as in our area there is not enough calcium in the water. We use it straight out the tap aerated for 24 hours before adding to the tanks. Introducing the Pair Weather plays a big part in how quick a pair will spawn We do generally wait for air pressure to drop IE. for a storm front to roll in. We have found if it is hot humid and the air is still for days and days spawning will take longer. So rather than put the pair through more stress than necessary we wait for the weather to cool. We place the male and the female in the spawning tank around 2pm. Male loose and female in the container. After feeding and just before light out that night we release the female, we do not wait for the male to build nest if he has one started or not does not matter. Some males never build a nest, some do during spawning and some after. 9 times out of 10 the fish are spawning by 10 am the next morning. We do not feed spawning fish but we do feed the pair in the morning if they have not started the spawning process. As the pair are introduced to the spawning tank there will be a lot of flaring and showing of from both fish. The female will get vertical bars on her body his is a sign that she is very willing to spawn. If the female does not respond to the male by flaring back at him and cowers in the corner she is removed and tried again in a few weeks. Sometimes it does take the female awhile to realize that she is safe in her little tank and will start responding to the male. We do prefer the female responding within the first 5 minutes and if we are not desperate to spawn the pair in a hurry we will remove her immediately and try again at a later date. You will find if the female has not responded by the time you release her the spawning will take a few days to start and she will come out the spawning tank pretty beaten up.. Females Responding to the male by flaring and barring up. The spawning pair is left alone we have found the less they are disturbed the better the spawning process is less nipped fins and other problems. The only time we will ever remove fish is if the female starts nipping the male, this is not tolerated in our fish room and we have found if the female starts nipping the spawn will not happen this time round. A badly bitten male can be effected for life and will have future spawning difficulties. Occasionally as you release the female she will take a few bites this is quite normal but if it has not stopped in the first 5 mins which is usually does she should be removed. As you release the female the pair will flair and dance for each other but after a short time the male will chase the female of and she will go and observe the male from behind the bushes. If she is ready for spawning she will come out every now and again and dash up to the male with her head down and until he is ready he will keep chasing her of. By this time the male usually has a nest going and will be busy under the cup building the nest, he will leave the nest every now and again to chase the female. When he is ready he will hang under the nest looking up he will swim of occasionally looking for the female but this will not me as aggressive as it was when he was not ready. He will swim out as if to entice her to the nest. When they are both ready and the female plucks up enough courage she will dash up to the male and start nudging the male in the side as

Bettas Are Carnivorous In Nature Generally, Betta fish are carnivores (or, to be more exact, insectivores). They prefer to feed on insect larvae, worms, fish pellet and flakes. They also feed on eggs of insects occasionally. In general, if you see Bettas feeding off of plant roots and such, it means they're very hungry and unable to find the insects they crave for. The Warrior 'Bettah' Betta fish derived their name from an ancient warrior group from Thailand, and were given the name in the 1800s once they became popular for their fighting skills. In those times Betta fish fights were a popular sport - so popular, in fact, that the King of Siam decided to have them regulated and taxed. Bets were placed on the bravery of the Betta fish during fights rather then on the damage inflicted. Upturned Mouth Structure A fish's lifestyle is greatly determined by the positioning of its mouth. Downward-facing mouths, such as those found on Catfish and other bottom-dwelling fish, enable them to feed near the ground, from sand, rock surfaces, etc. Betta fish have upturned mouths, a position known as the 'superior mouth' when it comes to fish. It enables them to efficiently feed near the water's surface, allowing them to catch mosquito larvae and small insects from the floating vegetation. They Build Bubble Nests To Help Protect Their Eggs Preparing the space for the arriving eggs is the responsibility of the male Betta. They will make bubble nests for the eggs by taking in air and then spitting out a bubble embedded in the spit. This process comes instinctively to male Bettas, and they might even engage in this behaviour if there are no females present around them. Bettas Can Be Fooled By Mirrors, Believing Their Reflection To Be a Rival If you place a mirror in front of a Betta, it will see its own reflection and think it to be a rival. Instantly it will go on a fighting spree, waving fins and moving about. Once the mirror is taken away, the Betta will feel triumphant, thinking that the fight has been won.

Some people may be wondering how to do this. It can be confusing and taunting. For starters: The thought of getting your fish from another part of the country or the WORLD for that matter may be scary. The thought of your betta beauties going through the mail is even scarier. Trust me it's 100% safe. Sure there's a few DOAs but bettas are very good travelers. In fact your bettas got to the store buy getting shipped from Thailand! Signing up for Aquabid: *You will need a PayPal account, very few sellers will accept a different method of payment. Choosing a seller: This is VERY important. Look for a seller with many good reviews and low DOA policy. Here's a very good page with information on choosing a seller: Buy It Now VS Bidding: I prefer only to buy auctions labeled Buy It Now because I have bidding wars. In fact I've only bidded on one auction and that was my amazing purple DT boy from Martinismommy. Buying from someone in your country: Ok so you found someone selling a betta in your country? Now Buy It Now or bid (instructions below). When you Buy It Now you'll get a message saying to contact the seller about payment and shipping. For US sellers they offer $15 Priority shipping or $35 Express shipping...personally I never use Priority because I don't want my new fish in the mail longer than they need to be. So you pay and arrange shipping dates. Ask any questions you have at this point. Keep in touch with the seller, they like to keep up with how the fish are doing. Remember to honor the DOA policy should you recieve a dead fish. Buying from Asia: Most of the time they're from Thailand. It's easier than it sounds (well for me hehe ). So like above bid or buy the aution. Contact the seller for shipping and payment. Here's a list of costs for ordering from Thailand: *Price of fish *Price of overnight shipping to transhipper ($5 per fish) *Price of handling (to be payed to transhipper, $2 per fish) *Price of shipping from transhipper ($15 Priority or $35 Express) The above is just basic.prices vary from transhipper to transhipper. Picking the right transhipper: Location is important. I pick my fish up from Linda Olson and she's a very nice and helpful person. If you have a local transhipper try to arrange a pickup date. If not pick a good transhipper, from what I've heard Linda Olson and Jenn Vivieros are the best. I've heard ok things about Julie Tran, bad things about Pegasus, and nothing about Kevin. If you don't live in the US research your local transhippers. My reccomendations: Here are some good sellers who I highly reccomend buying from: *the_K *Martinismommy *Chaba I hope this helped anyone confused about buying bettas from Aquabid. Who am I? Well I am a Junior Member of the International Betta Congress and a breeder of white HMPKs, red dragon HMPKs, black/red dragon HMPKs, metallic multi HMPKs, blue masked HMPKs, and now multi color HMs. Soon to add black HMs. I will be showing in New Breeder class in fall of 2012.

There are two types of Betta fish: Betta Splendens aka Siamese Fighting Fish Freshwater fish that originate from southeast Asia, the males usually sold and kept in small containers and prized for their colors and long, flowing fins. Females are sometimes sold as well, but their colors are muted and they do not have the same fin growth, so they are less common to see. Males are aggressive toward other male bettas, which will cause them to display the fullness of their fins in an effort to maximize their apparent size. They will fight other males to the death if kept together, so this is not recommended. While people generally keep bettas in an individual aquatic container, they are actually good aquarium fish and can live peacefully with other fish, as long as the other fish don't nip their fins away. Comet aka Marine Betta In the marine (saltwater) world, there is also a fish often referred to as a Betta: the comet or marine betta. These are beautiful saltwater reef fish that have long and full fins, but exhibit a different color pattern than the freshwater species. They have a false eye on their fin so when they are threatened they can go into a cave and appear to be a moray eel. Hope that was useful info! If you want to keep freshwater bettas, I highly recommend it. They don't need much space, are pretty hardy fish, and are beautiful and peaceful to watch. If you put a mirror in front of them, they'll display their fins to the "other male". Probably a little stressful for them, so it's not typically recommended to do often, but it can be interesting to see. Bettas (as all aquarium fish) don't require much food and you want to be careful not to overfeed them. A few grains of food every day or two is all they need. If you have a saltwater setup, marine bettas make a great addition to a reef or fish-only tank.

You go to the pet shop and you buy a betta. All the other fish are in proper tanks, but the bettas are in cups swimming in their own poop! Most of them are dead, some of them are half dead, the other ones are grossly sick. Most pet shops out there tell you that they can live in tiny places like bowls. You put your fish in a bowl because the pet employee told you so, but bowls will make them miserable and most likely die and not live their full life expectancy. Bowls are a very harsh place for ANY fish to live in. Imagine yourself in an automobile, but with all the seats removed and you have nowhere to go to the bathroom but the floor. You poop, then the waste starts making you sick, and it’s ice cold. For betta fish, without a heater, the water is ice cold to them. Now, imagine living there for your whole life. It’s like that even with your weekly water changes. Now, think about your betta in its pretty little vase with a cute little plant in it. How you would feel in the car... that’s how your betta feels now. Dying a painful, slow death; burning from ammonia poisoning. Bettas should be kept in the minimum of 5 gallons, yet only one could only go in there. Now, why do people sell betta fish in cups? So it takes up the least amount of space possible instead of providing a 5 gallon tank for one betta each. And, it costs the least amount of money to ship bettas, so they ship them in tiny, tiny bags. Most of them die before reaching their destination. Many pet stores mark them as a low-maintenance fish, but that’s not true. Remember, buying them in a cup doesn’t mean that they can live in small spaces, and it doesn’t mean that they will live a healthy happy life in a bowl just because it’s larger than a cup. I once rescued a betta fish from Walmart to give it a healthy, happy life. Above: My betta from Walmart We are their only voice, let’s protest and stop this fish abuse, before your possible lifelong finned friend dies out there because because of this treatment in a pet shop. FISH AREN’T JUST FISH. THEY’RE LIVING THINGS, THEY FEEL PAIN, THEY FEEL FEAR, THEY ARE OUR FINNED FRIENDS.

Your tetras might not be fine for two weeks without food, that's really pushing it. One week probably, two weeks, a whole lot less likely. The same thing applies to your betta. The size of the fish and how well you've been taking care of them prior to leaving for vacation matters too. Bigger/older fish can go longer without food than smaller/younger fish. A full grown neon (~2 inches) can go longer without food than an immature neon. Have you been feeding them consistently, and changing their water at least once a week? Do you have live plants and a little bit of algae growing in your tanks? Neons will nibble on algae, so that can help keep them from starving to death, but algae won't feed them properly in the long term. Bettas don't nibble on algae. For two weeks, you can try either those food blocks that slowly dissolve over time, or the automatic food dispensers. If you try a food block, test one out for a few days to make sure you fish will actually eat the dissolving food. The problem with dissolving food blocks is that they are continuously dissolving so they degrade your water quality. That effect is more pronounced in smaller tanks. Automatic food dispensers are far better because you can control how much you are feeding your fish every day so that little food goes to waste. Another option would be to ask a trusted friend to come by every couple days to check on your fish, feed them, and top out water levels if necessary. Besides figuring out the feeding situation for your fish, you should also do a partial water change before leaving so that they have the highest possible water quality. And you should also figure out whether water levels are going to drop too much (through evaporation) while you're gone.

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The Holland Betta Show 2011 (19-21 August, Arcen, the Netherlands) was a big success with 308 show bettas entered by 36 breeders from 6 European countries (Belgium (1x), Czech Republic (4x), Germany (14x), Italy (6x), Slovakia (1x) and The Netherlands (10x)). We were extremely happy to welcome so many members of our forum and other (new) betta hobbyists at the Holland Betta Show 2011. PK-1 Traditional Plakat males – Unicolor (8 fish by 4 breeders of 3 European countries) 1. 79 – Boris Weber-Schwartz (Boris; Germany) 2. 78 – Boris Weber-Schwartz (Boris; Germany) 3. 77 – Boris Weber-Schwartz (Boris; Germany) PK-2 Traditional Plakat males – All Other Colors (AOC) (9 fish by 5 breeders of 2 European countries) 1. 169 – Silvio Westphal (Germany) 2. 171 – Silvio Westphal (Germany) 3. 71 – Thomas Hartmond (Germany) DT-1+2 Doubletail males – All colors (4 fish by 3 breeders of 1 European countries) 1. 266 – Jiri Bosina (Czech Republic) Fem-1 Traditional plakat females – All Colors (26 fish by 8 breeders of 3 European countries) 1. 74 – Boris Weber-Schwartz (Boris; Germany) 2. 76 – Boris Weber-Schwartz (Boris; Germany) 3. 75 – Boris Weber-Schwartz (Boris; Germany) 4. 125 – Sebastian Säck (Germany) 5. 123 – Sebastian Säck (Germany) Fem-2b Halfmoon plakat females – Unicolor (Iridiscent) (8 fish by 4 breeders of 4 European countries) 1. 301 – Donny Adriaens (Dokke; Belgium) 2. 300– Donny Adriaens (Dokke; Belgium) 3. 10 – Joep van Esch (Joepmaster; The Netherlands) Fem-2c Halfmoon plakat females – All Other Colors (AOC) (9 fish by 4 breeders of 3 European countries) 1. 47 – Arie de Koning (Arie; The Netherlands) 2. 46– Arie de Koning (Arie; The Netherlands) 3. 222 – Francesco Perticone (Italy) Fem-5 Doubletail females – All Colors (3 fish by 3 breeders of 2 European countries) 1. 183 – Maurizio Tomei (Italy) Best of Show Male (BOSM) 263 – Jiri Bosina (Czech Republic) Reserve Best of Show Male (rBOSM) 196 – Salvatore Unali (Totto; Germany) Best of Show Female (BOSF) 301 – Donny Adriaens (Dokke; Belgium) Reserve Best of Show Female (rBOSF) 108 – Serkan Gündogdu (Blacksea; Germany) Jury Prize 94 – Axel Eywill (Dino47; Germany) Consolation Prize Mariska Hoogewerf (Kika; The Netherlands) Public prize Jiri Jablonicky (Czech Republic) Best European Breeder Jiri Bosina (Czech Republic)

Thanks to Laura M. Schlögl for allowing us to use the pictures! Introduction After live bearing fishes, Betta splendens is one of the easiest fish to breed in captivity even for newbies. Following some easy rules you’ll be able to have a successful breeding. There’s not the best method to breed bettas, most of breeders due to personal experience have found the best ways for them. Spawning is not difficult, and the hardest part is fry growing, at least the first days. Surely the first time you may experience a high mortality due to water pollution depending by overfeeding. Remember, bettas can be bred various times if they’re young so you can have various chances to improve your abilities. Choosing the breeding pair First of all you have to choose the two breeders. Both have to be healthy, fins condition tells a lot about bettas’ health, a betta with damaged fins could have fought and now have low energies to mate. Betta have a short life so it’s important to choose young fish, about 5 months old, usually those you may find in shops are of that age, while if you’re getting them by a breeder simply ask information. Age is important specially for females, usually a old female doesn’t produce eggs and or is too weak to bear the male. Take a look also to the colours of breeders, some varieties are most wanted and you could find easier a new house to the born fish. Multicolour bettas are the most common, and even if some of them are really beautiful they’re not considered to breed. No matter what variety you choose, except for multicolour bettas, the male and the female should be of the same colour. Even if in mating you need only one female, get some more and make them live with the male for a bit. You’ll be able to notice if he has some preferences on a special one. Things to have prior to mating Before breeding you need to get some material you will need during the process. It’s better to test everything before mating, to be sure everything will work when you need. A small tank (about 5 gallons ~ 23 litres or 6 US gallons, or bigger). Think fry will stay there for more than a month so always have one or two other tanks, in case of unexpected number of babies. Some plants to let female hide during mating and to make the nest more solid. Even if real plants can oxygenate water, often they can’t live without ground substrate, so you risk to have dead plants polluting water; moreover often small tanks don’t have light system. For those reasons, plastic plants are better. A water oxygenator. It is better than a filter because can keep the water a bit clean without damaging the fry. Remember to switch it on only when fry can swim and not when they still are in the nest or it risks to destroy the entire bubble nest. A water heater set at 80° F (27° C). In case you do not want to buy one, or your is too big for the thank, try mating during hot periods, like summer. Live brine shrimps are the first fry food. They are not so difficult to hatch, but you need some materials like other oxygenator, heater and tanks, so it’s better to buy a hatching kit. Usually they don’t cost too much and allow you to have a huge number of newborn brine shrimps ready for fry. A week before mating start feeding fish twice a day with rich foods. In case you already have adult brine shrimps, you can use them to feed bettas. Otherwise you can use other fresh or frozen foods. In these days you should be able to see the female’s belly growing and ovipositor more pronounced, these are connected with egg production, while the male should be building the bubble nest (often males build nests even if there aren’t females in the aquarium). Preparing the spawning tank In the meanwhile you can prepare the spawning tank. There’s no need for special conditioned water, just remember to set the temperature to 80°F (27°C) and to set a shallow water. Avoid any kind of substrate, or ground cleaning will be impossible. Put plants long enough to reach the water surface. Put the oxygenator switched off. After a week of rich feeding you can take bettas and house them in the spawning tank. Some breeders use to leave some days male and female separated in two aquariums to let them see and study each other without contacts; this can be useful if the male is too aggressive and the female isn’t ready yet. The nest During the first day together the male builds the bubble nest, then starts his courtship. This can go on for one or two days, during this period female may receive some bites specially on the fins, usually they are not a problem. If in three days nothing happens take off the female and put in another tank near male’s, and feed them with rich foods again for two or three days. If nothing happens again maybe one of the two is too old or not in a good shape. Most of time everything goes fine and bettas get into their peculiar embrace, egg fertilization is external, they usually can spawn from 50 to 1000 eggs that hatch after 2-3 days. When spawning finishes the male collects the eggs and put them in the bubble nest. Females have different behaviours they can collect, ignore or eat, anyway you can take her off to be sure and let her rest. During the first 4-5 days the male takes care of eggs and fry putting them again in the nest in case of fall, and re-building the destroyed parts of nest. In this period the betta male is really overprotective and aggressive so don’t keep other fish neither the female with him. Sometimes also females take care of eggs and fry if the male is weak or not present. About 3 days after hatching the fry start swimming, so you can remove the male, because he may loose interest and even eat them. If fry are able to swim well this means that they have absorbed the egg sack, so are ready to eat twice a day. and since they no longer need the nest you can switch on the oxygenator.