Post by starlight on Jan 10, 2005 0:44:11 GMT -5
My betta club had their "Holiday Party" today. Everyone brought in a dish to share. It was great (lot's of homemade food and yummy deserts). We always have an auction after our meeting. It's a chance to get good genetics in a fish that you like at a reasonable price. The best part is there's no shipping to stress them out.
One of our best breeders brought 3 matched pairs of reds and several red females for our auction. It's difficult to judge bettas in a bag, especially when they are from the same spawn. The breeder told me that the parents came from Thailand and were from a breeder whose fish I really like. I looked at the three pairs and decided which one I wanted. After the meeting and chow down we had the auction. You never know in what order the bettas will be auctioned. The auction starts and the pair I wanted was first up. I was hoping to get the pair for a decent price and all of a sudden everyone is bidding on the first pair. I hadn't planned to spend a lot of money, wasn’t really looking for reds and didn't bid on the pair. It went for way too much money! The other two pairs went for 1/4 of the first pair. A friend sitting next to me wound up winning the nice pair. I got a chance to really see them close up as they flared together. The female was gorgeous!! They were young, around 4 mos and had some growing to do. The male was ok, not a full HM but that female was something else. If my friend can spawn them, maybe I'll get a pair of reds in the summer.
I didn't leave the meeting empty handed, I took home a box of cookies and cakes but I also came home with a betta. I called a friend late last night, He's been breeding for years, has 250 bettas and recently has been doing very well at the shows. I asked if he would bring a blue female for Apache my young steel bf male. He asked me if I wanted a smaller young female, one that I would have to work with for a while.
That was certainly not a problem...
In the summer he gave me a dark royal blue female, she seemed sweet and I called her Joy. Joy turned into something else when I put her in a tank with my gentle male Big Boy. Joy beat him up, of course she was fine. I made sure she was ok and a week later I gave her to a young girl at the local lfs that likes bettas.
Anyway he brought me the cutest steel blue crowntail female. She must be about 3-4 mos old, beautiful color, spunky as they get. He had asked me what I wanted in the female. I said any color blue (royal/turq/steel) would do. I told him I was interested in balanced finnage and he picked me out a real pretty one. The big plus is her color, it's a perfect dark steel blue, nice rays, cute lil ct points on her fins. I had a small tank running for about a month with filter and plants. I tested the water she came in. It was nothing like my water. I don't know if there was something in her water that through off my pH test but it was much lower than mine and almost off my chart. My water is 7.0 but hers was much more acid. I did 3 tests and it kept reading the same. I decided to dump most of the water in the new tank and poured her in with the water she came in. I added a little more of my water. It'll take a couple of days to finally have her completely in my water but that’s ok. She seems real happy in her new tank. It's only half full but she's having a ball. Within seconds of being in the tank, she was attacking the plant roots and playing in the slight bubble steam. My friend feeds pellets or "whatever is available", I knew she hadn't been fed live food. I like to observe a betta seeing live food for the first time. She had only been in her tank for a few minutes when I dropped two grindal worms in. She stopped playing in the mirror and swam to the first worm. She considered it for a second...this wasn't a pellet, what was this? She ate the first one and seemed to pause and consider it while she munched away, she decided that it tasted good and the second one was immediately dispatched with. She's next to my computer as I type and playing with the betta in the mirror.
It's nice to have betta friends!
One of our best breeders brought 3 matched pairs of reds and several red females for our auction. It's difficult to judge bettas in a bag, especially when they are from the same spawn. The breeder told me that the parents came from Thailand and were from a breeder whose fish I really like. I looked at the three pairs and decided which one I wanted. After the meeting and chow down we had the auction. You never know in what order the bettas will be auctioned. The auction starts and the pair I wanted was first up. I was hoping to get the pair for a decent price and all of a sudden everyone is bidding on the first pair. I hadn't planned to spend a lot of money, wasn’t really looking for reds and didn't bid on the pair. It went for way too much money! The other two pairs went for 1/4 of the first pair. A friend sitting next to me wound up winning the nice pair. I got a chance to really see them close up as they flared together. The female was gorgeous!! They were young, around 4 mos and had some growing to do. The male was ok, not a full HM but that female was something else. If my friend can spawn them, maybe I'll get a pair of reds in the summer.
I didn't leave the meeting empty handed, I took home a box of cookies and cakes but I also came home with a betta. I called a friend late last night, He's been breeding for years, has 250 bettas and recently has been doing very well at the shows. I asked if he would bring a blue female for Apache my young steel bf male. He asked me if I wanted a smaller young female, one that I would have to work with for a while.
That was certainly not a problem...
In the summer he gave me a dark royal blue female, she seemed sweet and I called her Joy. Joy turned into something else when I put her in a tank with my gentle male Big Boy. Joy beat him up, of course she was fine. I made sure she was ok and a week later I gave her to a young girl at the local lfs that likes bettas.
Anyway he brought me the cutest steel blue crowntail female. She must be about 3-4 mos old, beautiful color, spunky as they get. He had asked me what I wanted in the female. I said any color blue (royal/turq/steel) would do. I told him I was interested in balanced finnage and he picked me out a real pretty one. The big plus is her color, it's a perfect dark steel blue, nice rays, cute lil ct points on her fins. I had a small tank running for about a month with filter and plants. I tested the water she came in. It was nothing like my water. I don't know if there was something in her water that through off my pH test but it was much lower than mine and almost off my chart. My water is 7.0 but hers was much more acid. I did 3 tests and it kept reading the same. I decided to dump most of the water in the new tank and poured her in with the water she came in. I added a little more of my water. It'll take a couple of days to finally have her completely in my water but that’s ok. She seems real happy in her new tank. It's only half full but she's having a ball. Within seconds of being in the tank, she was attacking the plant roots and playing in the slight bubble steam. My friend feeds pellets or "whatever is available", I knew she hadn't been fed live food. I like to observe a betta seeing live food for the first time. She had only been in her tank for a few minutes when I dropped two grindal worms in. She stopped playing in the mirror and swam to the first worm. She considered it for a second...this wasn't a pellet, what was this? She ate the first one and seemed to pause and consider it while she munched away, she decided that it tasted good and the second one was immediately dispatched with. She's next to my computer as I type and playing with the betta in the mirror.
It's nice to have betta friends!
PICTURES!! 
