MY BETTAS:
Here are pictures of some of my bettas. I hope you enjoy them.
(Click on Bettas to return to the main betta page or on main site to browse 70 topics ranging from exotic kaleidoscope designs to the strange world of lucid dreaming.)
Elana
is one of the white opaque females from Flame and Bianca's first
spawn last January. I gave her to my sister-in-law, Carol. Since
Bianca's gotten too large to spawn with Snow, I borrowed Elana, who
is much smaller, back in the hopes that she and Snow will hit it off.
I plan to spawn them on the first of April.
Meet Carl! My wife found him in Wal-Mart. His body is pure white and his fins cellophane. Although Snow has whiter fins, I may shift my spawning attempts to Carl because Snow's failed to spawn several times and lately has gotten very lethargic... not good signs. Carl is young and frisky and more interestingly, appears to be partially double-tail. I'm thinking that spawning him with Ariel might produce some white-bodied, red-finned, double-tailed veil tails. What do you think?
This is Ariel, a white-bodied Apache from Faith at the Betta Talk site. Ariel's body is whiter than appears in this photo and her fins are a brighter red. I plan to spawn her with Carl in the hopes of producing white-bodied veil tails with red fins. Some of the offspring may have double tails. Hmmm... a double-tail veil-tail, sounds almost poetic.
Meet Mango, a female I spotted at Wal-Mart. They'd just put 100 females on display when I happened to walk up. Needing an orange lady to spawn with Tangerine (Please see the second fish down.) I spent half and hour sorting through all of them. I came up with five red or orange-red fish and chose the one with the purest orange. She's slightly redder than Tangerine's pure-orange color but with a little luck they'll throw several more solid orange males and females. She's small, probably only 10 weeks old, so I won't be able to spawn her for another two months. However, at the rate she's packing the blackworms away I may not have to wait that long.
This is Whitey, the best male from the second spawn between Bianca and Flame. His fins are tolerable, he's actually a little drupier here than usual - especially his tail, but his main defects are a body that's not opaquely white and black markings on some of his scales. Still, he's a lively little guy.
Tangerine! He's a pure orange veil tail I found, believe it or not, at Wal-Mart. If I can find a good orange female I plan to spawn him.
After looking at thousands of bettas in pet and variety stores, I've acquired the impression that dark red and blue are the most common colors. Green comes next. Together these three colors, and mixtures of them, account for 95 percent of bettas. Out of all the common fish I've seen, there have been only a couple of dozen dirty yellows and maybe five white or pearl bettas. Tangerine is the first and only clearly orange betta I've ever seen so this makes me assume that orange is the rarest betta color. I've never seen a pure black betta so it could be argued that they are rarer but this doesn't mean much if none exist.
Phantom: This is a fish I purchased through Aquabid. The picture in the auction showed him as having a white/pink body and clear fins. (Please go my Aquabid review page to see it.) I tried three different types of lighting from various angles but could not duplicate the advertised coloring. In fact he's almost identical to Ghost Rider, (below) a fish I got from Wal-Mart for one-tenth the cost. I did get something extra with Phantom, though. There's a red tuft on his dorsal fin that looks suspiciously like a bacterial infection. I'm treating him with Neosulfex.
One interesting feature to Phantom is that much of his fins are covered with fine hairs almost like fur. It's not a disease because the color of the fur is the same as the color of the underlaying fin. Hmmm... if this is an inheritable trait, perhaps I could develop a strain of furry bettas. I just wonder if I'd have to brush these fish every morning? Also, I'm not sure I'd want to deal with a betta having a bad-fur day.
Ghost Rider: He's a white opaque-white/cellophane I discovered at (can you believe this?) Wal-Mart for $3.47. His body is solid pearly-white with a faint green iridescent sheen. What's fun about him is that whenever someone puts their face close to his tank for a good look, he invariably swims over and stares them straight in the eye. I wonder what's going through his mind?
SNOW: This is my new favorite! I purchased him from the same breeder who sold me Phantom. His tail spreads out to an almost perfect circle when displaying. There's a slightly darker zone at the base of the tail but other than that the body and fins are perfectly white with high density. I've decided to spawn him with my white opaque female to see if I can get anymore like this. Snow also has a great disposition: always curious and quick to display.
Here's a new picture of Snow fully mature. He's picked up a faint light-turquoise wash to his tail, but is still a looker. He's not fully flared in this picture.
Flame: I was fortunate enough to arrive at Faith's (Bettatalk) just as she opened to sell hundreds of white opaques from her beautiful Holy Grail line. I had every intention of purchasing the cleanest male available but something about this one caught my eye. What doesn't show very well in this picture is a series of red rays in his tail and dorsal. I couldn't resist. By the way, he is not displaying in this photo. This is the way he carries his fins went at rest. I've even spotted him asleep with fins this open. He's a proud, agressive male that's a delight to watch. I used him for my first two spawns.
Three weeks after Flame and Bianca spawned the second time, I noticed that he wasn't eating well and wouldn't flare at any males or females I placed next to him. Then it occurred to me that at the same time he started to sulk, I'd moved Bianca up to another shelf in the display case. I moved her back down next to him and within minutes he was back to his normal feisty self. It seems that he was pining for her! I thought this was particularly illuminating because she had been happily strutting her stuff to any male she saw. What this proves is that Flame, like all members of the noble male gender, was true to his first love. On the other hand, Bianca is obviously a wanton tart.
Bianca: A very clean white opaque and Flame's sister purchased from Bettatalk. These are the two fish used in my first spawn and will be used in my next. (Referring to the last comment above, look closely and it's obvious that this is the face of a hussy.)
Royal: I used to consider this blue-finned betta from Bettatalk my most beautiful fish, but then I got Snow. (Sorry Royal.)
Clyde: A yellow betta from Bettatalk.
Claude: An orange from Bettatalk.
Turkey's ruffled tails flap and flow as he struts his stuff for Blue. His tails aren't torn, they grew heavily scalloped and whorled.
Turkey: One of my favorites. He's a lively guy who loves to display. (His name resulted from the iridescent turquois color of his fins.) Much of his tail and the rear of his anal fin have what looks like Shirley Temple curls. Although these are defects, I'm planning to spawn him with a beautiful blue female I have and work toward increasing the curly trait to the point where the offspring's fins are solid curls. It's interesting that a fault, when bred to great enhancement, can become an acceptable trait.
Blue: This is the female I plan to spawn with Turkey.
Yang: A nice blue veil tail with a great personality.
YING: Another blue veil tail but with more red.
Romeo: A big blustery veil tail that would rather pick a fight than eat. This guy's a brute that'll attack anything that comes near his tank. He has a rock with a hole in it and when he thinks I haven't given him enough brine shrimp, he swims into the hole and sulks.
Red Rover: (Have I mentioned that my wife named most of the fish?) He's a brilliantly iridescent veil tail with an outstanding disposition.
In addition to these I have six more fish which, because of poor color or form or lack of good photographs, are not shown on this page.
