Pedigrees

[Katana]

I still haven't ordered my Betta yet (Trying to earn money) and was talking to my parents about it. My mother had said that i shouldn't get it because pedigrees are hard to take care of. Is this true?

[Thistle]

While I've heard that crowntails and halfmoons may not be as hardy as the common veiltails I really haven't noticed any difference when it comes to crowntails (have yet to see any halfmoons in the stores here).

I've been a proud betta mommy for over 4 years now and haven't purchased any bettas from breeders as I've been forunate to find a wide variety of finnage and colours in "local" fish stores.

If you're looking specifically for crowntails or halfmoons or even a certain colour of betta you could try talking to the owner/manager at one of your local fish stores and ask them to call you if they get any. I've done this with a small local fishstore and was able to get some lovely crowntails from them.

[sawcat]

the way I've seen it put is more an example of darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. The ones you see in the petstore have gone through alot of crap to get from their breeders to the petstores and the weaker and sicker die off. The one from the private breeders like BettySplendens haven't been exposed to diseases like the more commercially bred ones, so they haven't developed the immunity to them (the things they can that is).

Now if your fairly new to bettas, you might want to stick with petstore ones for the first few until you get familiar with them. In my area there have been fancier ones showing in the area stores. I've seen a double tail in one, round tails in another and crowntails in the petcos and others.

[amanichen]

The short answer is that a fish from a small breeder will generally have better overall health due to being kept in ideal conditions. Mass bred fish will tend to be more tolerant of varying temperature and water chemistry than fish which have been specialized into lines based on their looks.