part of our prized possessions of bettas, we have some rather too-large giant HMPK females. these females got to the size that they are so large that we doubt any of our males would be able to spawn them.
the females are on average 2.5-2.8 inches long for hmpk, 3.3-3.6 inches for hm. But the length isn't much of the bigger deal, well it's usually not the main problem. the width that scares the hell of most males. their body width (heigth) is about 1 inch (1+cm for body, 2+cm for total width) with thickness of more than 0.5 inch (1+ cm). the long fin female has total width of 2 inches or so and we are certain that none of our males would be able to court them....
so, the challenge is to find a good suitable males for them. preferably either hmpk or hm of giant traits. if you have such males, contact us and we'll send the females down your way.
requirements for the males: minimum length of 3 inches for hmpk, 4 - 4.5 inches for hm. if you can't satisfy this requirement, there is no point on sending the females to you. your male has to be strong HM or HMPK spread (we don't want to develop SD giants), send us pictures and we will decide whether the male is accepted or not.
what do we want out of this? your promise that you'll send the largest 10 offspring from their spawns (5 pairs) when the offspring are at the age of 2 - 2.5 months. alternatively, when they are at the age of 1.5, you can send 20 of them to us (hey, summer is coming, so no need for heatpack, but still they may die on the trip). we want the largest of the spawn without apparent genetic fault (if there is such genetic fault). we pay for the shipping of these offspring (or pick them up, if you're in Sydney).
what do you get? you get the females sent to you (at your cost, or pick them up if you're in Sydney). the females are free! your priority is to spawn the female with the promised giant male first. once they're spawned, you are free to make use of the female for other pairings. then you contact us in 2 months time or so to arrange shipment of the offspring.
alternatively, if you are not confident on spawning, please send us pictures of your males and we see if there are ways for us to get them spawned at surrogate place (there are other people who are happy to lend a hand for a fee or barter -- offer of offspring?). in this case, the deal is swapped (you send your male, we pay shipping for the male, and you may ask for the male back when they are done -- no point for us to keep the male with us, so you might as well get back the male if you'd like to).
another yet alternative is for us to swap either male or female, if you insist that you'd like to have something of your own to spawn (or for whatever reasons there might be). we're interested in getting large females or males of either hmpk or hm traits. you can swap with our females or males, please do contact us....
note that while the females or males involved are quite expensive monetary-wise, we are more interested in being able to produce the largest giants lines with decent form. hence, we hope that you have the same view as us in appreciating the delicacy of this deal.
contact us on our email mybettas {at} gmail [dot] com. hope you're intrigued with this idea...
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Monday, 8 September 2008
spawning service is postponed
one of our buyers asked whether we can help him on spawning his pair. in normal circumstances, we would have been happy to do so. in fact we have spawning service where we spawn your pair and raise them to the age of 1.5-2 months and hand them over to you. minimal 50-100 fry guaranteed. however, these days, we have been very busy and didn't have much of the time available, hence unfortunately we have to say no.
it is sad to hear that those gorgeous pairs that you've bought couldn't be spawned. they typically only need good condition to spawn. perhaps you can read our spawning 101 post. hopefully that helps you.
there are other challenges in spawning giants. this makes this hobby so much fun. while it is true that spawning typical bettas is trivial, giants are a lot more difficult to do. so much more for long fin giants, particularly if their size is gigantic (smaller size seems to be comparable to typical long fin spawning).
perhaps in a couple of months time, we will be offering our spawning service again. until that time, please read our previous posts and consult the various bettas forums. there will be plenty of resources available for you.
it is sad to hear that those gorgeous pairs that you've bought couldn't be spawned. they typically only need good condition to spawn. perhaps you can read our spawning 101 post. hopefully that helps you.
there are other challenges in spawning giants. this makes this hobby so much fun. while it is true that spawning typical bettas is trivial, giants are a lot more difficult to do. so much more for long fin giants, particularly if their size is gigantic (smaller size seems to be comparable to typical long fin spawning).
perhaps in a couple of months time, we will be offering our spawning service again. until that time, please read our previous posts and consult the various bettas forums. there will be plenty of resources available for you.
giant video spawn
we've got the permission to upload this video and picture from the owner. we're pretty happy to see the success of this spawning, cause the pair is just awesome.
we helped in importing the male. he's copper giant long fin, about 4+ inches (4.2 -4.3 inches, or 10+ cm). forget about the typical 3 inches (7.5 cm) that are being sold as giants, these coppers are huge! they have such gorgeous tail, long wavy tail on all finnage. very high and large dorsal, very long caudal, and anal is just dead drop wide.
here's what the male looks like (photo courtesy of seller).
the female is one of our long fin 8 rays giant HM line. she is very young, about 3.5 months, and about 2.8 inches. she comes from copper x plat red.
in this movie (you need flash player), you can see how the male managed to fully wrapped and hide the female.... just awesome!
here's the video
we helped in importing the male. he's copper giant long fin, about 4+ inches (4.2 -4.3 inches, or 10+ cm). forget about the typical 3 inches (7.5 cm) that are being sold as giants, these coppers are huge! they have such gorgeous tail, long wavy tail on all finnage. very high and large dorsal, very long caudal, and anal is just dead drop wide.
here's what the male looks like (photo courtesy of seller).
the female is one of our long fin 8 rays giant HM line. she is very young, about 3.5 months, and about 2.8 inches. she comes from copper x plat red.
in this movie (you need flash player), you can see how the male managed to fully wrapped and hide the female.... just awesome!
here's the video
pecking order
is it always that the largest female be the winner? does a male in the community tank (of females) play any role? how do they establish that pecking order that everyone has been mentioning so much about?
well, most larger female is the leader of the group. this can be seen as when bigger female moves about, you'll see other females won't dare to stay on her path....but what also interesting is that there are times when you see a smaller female is the leader. this is not too uncommon. for instance, we had occasions when smaller female started to chase every other females away, even managed to nip a few tails. she even chased males. in short, she's just bored :)... She wants to be the leader and until such time no other females or males able to challenge her, she'll be the leader.
there are times when pecking order is very much apparent. you can easily notice them when:
males have their order too, but you should only observe this when they are smaller (e.g. when they haven't really doing the full fight). sometimes they chase each other or flare for awhile, sometimes you see fin is nipped a little here and there, but there is no harm on that. it's a good indication that you need to separate them soon though, cause if you're late on doing that, you'll regret it....in our experience, this is approx when the males are about 2 to 2.5 months old. anything older than that would mean they are more than ready to fight for their lives, so if you haven't separate them, you're way too late lol.
getting back to pecking order....sometimes you see females (or males) fight very aggressively just to sort out this pecking order. well, that's the ritual. they need to know who's stronger and who should get the big share of the food (or who gets the chance to mate that gorgeous male, if you have a male in the tank).
if you are weak-hearted, you can ease up their aggression by a number of ways:
we used to have a couple of "show" tanks where we put about 20 or so females and 1 or 2 males. they live very happily there. but one thing that we've learnt is that we need to "rotate" some females from time to time, from one tank to another. This rotation introduces new mixed of fish into the tanks and make the whole thing lively again.
well, most larger female is the leader of the group. this can be seen as when bigger female moves about, you'll see other females won't dare to stay on her path....but what also interesting is that there are times when you see a smaller female is the leader. this is not too uncommon. for instance, we had occasions when smaller female started to chase every other females away, even managed to nip a few tails. she even chased males. in short, she's just bored :)... She wants to be the leader and until such time no other females or males able to challenge her, she'll be the leader.
there are times when pecking order is very much apparent. you can easily notice them when:
- when new fish is added to the tank (doesn't matter whether that's male or female)
- during or after feeding time
males have their order too, but you should only observe this when they are smaller (e.g. when they haven't really doing the full fight). sometimes they chase each other or flare for awhile, sometimes you see fin is nipped a little here and there, but there is no harm on that. it's a good indication that you need to separate them soon though, cause if you're late on doing that, you'll regret it....in our experience, this is approx when the males are about 2 to 2.5 months old. anything older than that would mean they are more than ready to fight for their lives, so if you haven't separate them, you're way too late lol.
getting back to pecking order....sometimes you see females (or males) fight very aggressively just to sort out this pecking order. well, that's the ritual. they need to know who's stronger and who should get the big share of the food (or who gets the chance to mate that gorgeous male, if you have a male in the tank).
if you are weak-hearted, you can ease up their aggression by a number of ways:
- introduce lots of fish on the same time (the more populated the tank, the more confused they are)
- keep disturbing the tank (add pump, filter, lights, anything)
- put other fish in the tank
- feed them on frequent intervals (they'll be distracted on getting the food). the opposite of this is true too...if you feed them on more regular and less-frequent intervals, you'll notice your fish getting aggressive, cause they're hungry and will fight for food
- keep your tank dark (if you can't distract them, make them think it's night, so they can't see each other flaring)
- depending on size of your tank, introduce at least 1 male. the male will be the boss and he'll chase the females away (the male usually doesn't nip females' fin). old male is a good candidate. young male is full of testosterone, so he may ended up chasing the female for courting, LMAO
- give enough hiding places. unfortunately, hiding place also serves as point of contention. whoever claims the spot usually is very aggressive in defending it, so you'll see nipping there
we used to have a couple of "show" tanks where we put about 20 or so females and 1 or 2 males. they live very happily there. but one thing that we've learnt is that we need to "rotate" some females from time to time, from one tank to another. This rotation introduces new mixed of fish into the tanks and make the whole thing lively again.
Friday, 5 September 2008
david and goliath
today we saw some interesting stuff. The Thai has managed to develop "micro" HM! The size of those fish are only 4cm, but yet they have full HM or OHM spread etc. Just amazing....
OK...we're not encouraging things, but you must admit that this is amazing. For those out there who have ever spawned anything, you know what we meant. It takes diligent and a lot of generations to be able to develop this micro HMs. Most micro hm you've seen are just deformed fish, but no...this one is FULL normal functional fish. And what's more?? There are a number of them, so it's pretty certain that the gene has settled down.
OK, perhaps this is not really such a big deal, cause you can always try to cross your fish with the smallest bettas found, but having said this, it's still interesting that they've managed to get a full OHM with very nice form and ray splitting!!!
If you see the picture, they're no more different that your typical fancy OHM, colour-wise, they're the same too. The ones we saw were copper variant (copper red, copper gold, etc), so that's "new" colour, not your typical blues or reds.
Now, further to that, try to compare this micro HM to giant HM!! You would then be able to appreciate both of them a lot more ;)
On one side you have a fish that is barely 4cm. Next to it is another with the size of 10+cm. Talking about a full 3x size difference. A single wrap of the giant HM male will completely swallow the tiny micro HM male :)
That's david and goliath for you!! We'll see if we can post pictures later (pending approval), but that's sufficient for you to imagine for now :)
Enjoy.
Here's the snap of the image, with permission from seller...
Not surprising that they've got DT on the gene, otherwise they won't look as good ;)
OK...we're not encouraging things, but you must admit that this is amazing. For those out there who have ever spawned anything, you know what we meant. It takes diligent and a lot of generations to be able to develop this micro HMs. Most micro hm you've seen are just deformed fish, but no...this one is FULL normal functional fish. And what's more?? There are a number of them, so it's pretty certain that the gene has settled down.
OK, perhaps this is not really such a big deal, cause you can always try to cross your fish with the smallest bettas found, but having said this, it's still interesting that they've managed to get a full OHM with very nice form and ray splitting!!!
If you see the picture, they're no more different that your typical fancy OHM, colour-wise, they're the same too. The ones we saw were copper variant (copper red, copper gold, etc), so that's "new" colour, not your typical blues or reds.
Now, further to that, try to compare this micro HM to giant HM!! You would then be able to appreciate both of them a lot more ;)
On one side you have a fish that is barely 4cm. Next to it is another with the size of 10+cm. Talking about a full 3x size difference. A single wrap of the giant HM male will completely swallow the tiny micro HM male :)
That's david and goliath for you!! We'll see if we can post pictures later (pending approval), but that's sufficient for you to imagine for now :)
Enjoy.
Here's the snap of the image, with permission from seller...
Not surprising that they've got DT on the gene, otherwise they won't look as good ;)
Monday, 18 August 2008
spawning 101
just quickly sharing some spawning techniques. you can choose what to experiment with your pair, but knowing this ahead of time usually helps :)
generally, there are 2 ways of spawning (rough and gentle) and both requires some preparation. So let's get to it then...
Preparation:
Some people will further put temptation on both male and female, such as letting them see each other 10x a day, each for 10 mins window. This could last for 1 full week or up to 10 days. If you play this nicely, you'll have a very nice gentle spawning and be aware!!! you are going to end up raising 500-800 fry!!! You'll notice the female gets bouncy and bouncy on her tummy every day. Do not try this unless you know what you're doing, cause you may ended up with the female dropping her eggs (she just can't hold so many eggs for too long!!! after all, the gorgeous guy usually waiting next to her)
Last variation, which we have been doing for as long as we can remember, is to introduce the female for 2 days, then releasing her for half hour. This will cause the male to chase her up like crazy, the first couple of minutes she's going to entertain him by flaring etc, but then you'll notice that she's trying to get away as far as possible from the agressive male. Once you noticed that, cage her again for 2 more days. She'll grow appreciation of the handsomeness of the male ;)....Once you think she's no longer afraid of the male (and in fact the male doesn't even bother to try to kill her), you can release her again. Usually, in a matter of couple of hours, you'll see them spawning nicely. You may not get that 800 fry from them, but you get enough to keep you busy raising the raskals for months and months :)....and the bonus?? you have very gentle spawning.
Different situation warrants different styles. For instance, if you have very strong female (she's agressive and demand a lot from her male), then you have to use rough spawning technique. Why? cause she wants to make sure the gorgeous male is up to her standard! So, you don't have much of a choice. If you mistakenly use "gentle" approach on spawning, what you will ended up is usually 2 things: either one of them gets bored and not interested, or the female will beat the hell out of the male and your gorgeous male will become 'retarded' (e.g. shock of the spawning and unable to perform future spawning attempts). Hence, that's why spawning is always an "art" in betta keeping. Choosing your best male and female is just the first step on the grande planning to produce your dream goal. Making sure they really spawn usually poses more challenges. Oh, but wait....you haven't experienced how to raise the youngsters yet! Making sure they are on tip top condition so that you can be proud of them. As Homer Simpsons said after building his BBQ pit "Why doesn't mine look like that?!" Your youngster may not even ended up similar to their parents!!! :D :D
That's why some people even had to "take exercises" on mastering the technique. They choose multiple pairs, experiment on them to gain the experience....What do we think of all of these?? Well, some people can learn how to swim by reading books, others actually have to get to the pool and experiment spot on.....So you need to know your strength and weaknesses. OK, from time to time you get one or two people bragging about their spawning techniques....hey, sometimes they strike luck on their first spawning -- so they thought they deserve to brag ;) ;)....Perhaps it's not really bragging, it's more like "sharing your happiness"......Anyway, we advice you to go quietly to your fish room and experiment more. observe your fish, get to know their behaviour, see what they dis/like, and once you're in touch with them, you know when to spawn them ;).....every fish is different, other people can give you opinion, but you are the ones who'd know better, cause you can SEE your fish and observe them (others can only guesstimate what they look like)
Good luck on your spawning. If there are things that we can help to point you to the right direction, feel free to contact us (if we have time, we'll reply....otherwise, go and observe your fish more)
generally, there are 2 ways of spawning (rough and gentle) and both requires some preparation. So let's get to it then...
Preparation:
- always feed more to your male and female, they need it...if possible, give nutritious food such as live food
- let the male build bubblenest, if he can't make the nest, then he's not ready!
- if your male tries hard to build the nest but it kept bursting, you don't have a good conditioning tank, so fix your tank (temp, water parameter, etc)!
- small 12-15" tank is better than large 2' tank
- plants etc optional, preferable not to have them (just disturbing female's view of male's nice nest)
- put something floating so male can make nice nest
Some people will further put temptation on both male and female, such as letting them see each other 10x a day, each for 10 mins window. This could last for 1 full week or up to 10 days. If you play this nicely, you'll have a very nice gentle spawning and be aware!!! you are going to end up raising 500-800 fry!!! You'll notice the female gets bouncy and bouncy on her tummy every day. Do not try this unless you know what you're doing, cause you may ended up with the female dropping her eggs (she just can't hold so many eggs for too long!!! after all, the gorgeous guy usually waiting next to her)
Last variation, which we have been doing for as long as we can remember, is to introduce the female for 2 days, then releasing her for half hour. This will cause the male to chase her up like crazy, the first couple of minutes she's going to entertain him by flaring etc, but then you'll notice that she's trying to get away as far as possible from the agressive male. Once you noticed that, cage her again for 2 more days. She'll grow appreciation of the handsomeness of the male ;)....Once you think she's no longer afraid of the male (and in fact the male doesn't even bother to try to kill her), you can release her again. Usually, in a matter of couple of hours, you'll see them spawning nicely. You may not get that 800 fry from them, but you get enough to keep you busy raising the raskals for months and months :)....and the bonus?? you have very gentle spawning.
Different situation warrants different styles. For instance, if you have very strong female (she's agressive and demand a lot from her male), then you have to use rough spawning technique. Why? cause she wants to make sure the gorgeous male is up to her standard! So, you don't have much of a choice. If you mistakenly use "gentle" approach on spawning, what you will ended up is usually 2 things: either one of them gets bored and not interested, or the female will beat the hell out of the male and your gorgeous male will become 'retarded' (e.g. shock of the spawning and unable to perform future spawning attempts). Hence, that's why spawning is always an "art" in betta keeping. Choosing your best male and female is just the first step on the grande planning to produce your dream goal. Making sure they really spawn usually poses more challenges. Oh, but wait....you haven't experienced how to raise the youngsters yet! Making sure they are on tip top condition so that you can be proud of them. As Homer Simpsons said after building his BBQ pit "Why doesn't mine look like that?!" Your youngster may not even ended up similar to their parents!!! :D :D
That's why some people even had to "take exercises" on mastering the technique. They choose multiple pairs, experiment on them to gain the experience....What do we think of all of these?? Well, some people can learn how to swim by reading books, others actually have to get to the pool and experiment spot on.....So you need to know your strength and weaknesses. OK, from time to time you get one or two people bragging about their spawning techniques....hey, sometimes they strike luck on their first spawning -- so they thought they deserve to brag ;) ;)....Perhaps it's not really bragging, it's more like "sharing your happiness"......Anyway, we advice you to go quietly to your fish room and experiment more. observe your fish, get to know their behaviour, see what they dis/like, and once you're in touch with them, you know when to spawn them ;).....every fish is different, other people can give you opinion, but you are the ones who'd know better, cause you can SEE your fish and observe them (others can only guesstimate what they look like)
Good luck on your spawning. If there are things that we can help to point you to the right direction, feel free to contact us (if we have time, we'll reply....otherwise, go and observe your fish more)
RSS and ATOM links above
Just quickly letting you know. If you'd like to get posted on what we've written here, then there is RSS and ATOM links for this blog made available above.
or alternatively you can always refer to it manually http://breedingsmybettas.blogspot.com/rss.xml and http://breedingsmybettas.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Read the post from any of your favourite readers :)
or alternatively you can always refer to it manually http://breedingsmybettas.blogspot.com/rss.xml and http://breedingsmybettas.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Read the post from any of your favourite readers :)
sample pic
some have been asking whether we can take some samples of what's still avail.
here they are. only 2 samples, sorry, just not having a "good" setup for taking any samples at all (notice how dirty they are, with all the gunks).
Here's avail stock list (each entry is 1 LOT):
*10-15 long fin HM/SD, pastel mix red, black lace, green mask
* 10-15 short fin large giant cambo red HMPK
* couple of lots (20-25 each lot) of short fin HMPK cambo red, medium size
* 5 breeder quality females, short and long fin traits
If you are interested on any of the above, contact us on mybettas at gmail dot com.
each lot $100, shipping $25 (more or less, depending which shipping method chosen)
edit: strike-through lot is accounted for
here they are. only 2 samples, sorry, just not having a "good" setup for taking any samples at all (notice how dirty they are, with all the gunks).
Here's avail stock list (each entry is 1 LOT):
*
* 10-15 short fin large giant cambo red HMPK
* couple of lots (20-25 each lot) of short fin HMPK cambo red, medium size
* 5 breeder quality females, short and long fin traits
If you are interested on any of the above, contact us on mybettas at gmail dot com.
each lot $100, shipping $25 (more or less, depending which shipping method chosen)
edit: strike-through lot is accounted for
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
the joy of courier
recently we've been having difficulties to acquire FW courier. Either the guy doesn't show up, or he refused to come due to urgent meetings etc. Maybe a simple complaint to FW is sufficient to get him sacked, but that wasn't nice at all.
Anyway, all in all we've dealt with very interesting set of couriers company. Some are more than happy to do business with individual like us, others are turning their cheeks away when they've heard it's "individual".
Most of these couriers have very simple rules, if they agree to deliver your goods, you better NOT let them know that you're shipping live fish. They get so edgy and would rather deny your business than risking compliances with "Aus shipping livestock law". But, if you assure them that the only requirements are to ensure your parcel delivered "on time" and treated as "fragile", most of them are more than happy to deliver them! Of course you lose the advantage of not being able to buy insurance etc, but then they won't be able to insure the kind of things that you're sending anyway ;)
So far, we've found that many local and interstate couriers can do the job for you. but sometimes the price difference is just way too much. FW requires you to buy labels, if you're small shipper, then buying bulk label will last you for years! A very unnecessary upfront investment. However, if you ship regularly, FW is in fact pretty reasonably cheap. Sure, half of the time they are unreliable. How many times the parcel went to another state? lost for a day or two? or you have to call them 10 times just to find out the fact the parcel never left your closest depot? Well, that's FW ! But when they do deliver, they're not so bad at all.... They charge per weight and different locations require different labels, try to keep track of that if you can ! Oh yes, they've got parcel tracking capability, but heck, no one knows how to use it, not even their own employees (try to call them up and ask where your parcel is, their answer will usually "on the way" or "with the driver"). They can't even monitor where their drivers are, so you're left waiting at home for no good reason.
Another alternative, if you're sending to big cities, AP isn't that bad. They've got network everywhere and you can just find nearest office to send your goods ;) They charge per weight and dimension, so you ended up paying different price for different size of order. The weakness is that some people has been reporting lost parcel. We never experienced this, but sure, it happens. You can't track where the parcel is, unless you're willing to pay heaps more. The bad thing for AP is that sometimes some remote locations will take a good 2 or 3 days to get there, whereas other couriers can make sure they arrive in 1 day.
Recently we've been sending some parcels with P&S. They're reliable. They take care of your parcel very nicely. But they charge per volume/dimension and suffice to say "very expensive"! Definitely can't use them on regular basis, though they have been trying to get eBayers' market. They're quite reasonable if you simply want to send your parcels without urgency. Most of our parcels need to get there in 1 day time, so they charge special prices for this urgency. Nevertheless, they're very reliable and ready to send anything you're throwing at them. So you can consider them as nice backup plans, particularly when none of the above options available to you and you need to send the parcel asap.
Other smaller (or bigger) courier companies work in very much same way. If you're lucky, you can even piggy-back your company's courier ;) This way, you can open account with any of the big courier companies and they'll deliver your goods pronto!! If you do have this option and willing to share it with us, do contact us asap. We're more than happy to pay for the shipping (reasonable cost of course) and while we're doing that, you can get some free fish yourselves! (on condition if we still have fish!)
local pickup or delivery beats all of the above. if we have time (which we never had), then we would be able to do it. Otherwise, some people had been very much accommodating us....they're willing to visit us on very awkward time!!
Anyway, all in all we've dealt with very interesting set of couriers company. Some are more than happy to do business with individual like us, others are turning their cheeks away when they've heard it's "individual".
Most of these couriers have very simple rules, if they agree to deliver your goods, you better NOT let them know that you're shipping live fish. They get so edgy and would rather deny your business than risking compliances with "Aus shipping livestock law". But, if you assure them that the only requirements are to ensure your parcel delivered "on time" and treated as "fragile", most of them are more than happy to deliver them! Of course you lose the advantage of not being able to buy insurance etc, but then they won't be able to insure the kind of things that you're sending anyway ;)
So far, we've found that many local and interstate couriers can do the job for you. but sometimes the price difference is just way too much. FW requires you to buy labels, if you're small shipper, then buying bulk label will last you for years! A very unnecessary upfront investment. However, if you ship regularly, FW is in fact pretty reasonably cheap. Sure, half of the time they are unreliable. How many times the parcel went to another state? lost for a day or two? or you have to call them 10 times just to find out the fact the parcel never left your closest depot? Well, that's FW ! But when they do deliver, they're not so bad at all.... They charge per weight and different locations require different labels, try to keep track of that if you can ! Oh yes, they've got parcel tracking capability, but heck, no one knows how to use it, not even their own employees (try to call them up and ask where your parcel is, their answer will usually "on the way" or "with the driver"). They can't even monitor where their drivers are, so you're left waiting at home for no good reason.
Another alternative, if you're sending to big cities, AP isn't that bad. They've got network everywhere and you can just find nearest office to send your goods ;) They charge per weight and dimension, so you ended up paying different price for different size of order. The weakness is that some people has been reporting lost parcel. We never experienced this, but sure, it happens. You can't track where the parcel is, unless you're willing to pay heaps more. The bad thing for AP is that sometimes some remote locations will take a good 2 or 3 days to get there, whereas other couriers can make sure they arrive in 1 day.
Recently we've been sending some parcels with P&S. They're reliable. They take care of your parcel very nicely. But they charge per volume/dimension and suffice to say "very expensive"! Definitely can't use them on regular basis, though they have been trying to get eBayers' market. They're quite reasonable if you simply want to send your parcels without urgency. Most of our parcels need to get there in 1 day time, so they charge special prices for this urgency. Nevertheless, they're very reliable and ready to send anything you're throwing at them. So you can consider them as nice backup plans, particularly when none of the above options available to you and you need to send the parcel asap.
Other smaller (or bigger) courier companies work in very much same way. If you're lucky, you can even piggy-back your company's courier ;) This way, you can open account with any of the big courier companies and they'll deliver your goods pronto!! If you do have this option and willing to share it with us, do contact us asap. We're more than happy to pay for the shipping (reasonable cost of course) and while we're doing that, you can get some free fish yourselves! (on condition if we still have fish!)
local pickup or delivery beats all of the above. if we have time (which we never had), then we would be able to do it. Otherwise, some people had been very much accommodating us....they're willing to visit us on very awkward time!!
Sunday, 10 August 2008
failed spawn, why?
there are a couple of reasons why some spawns failed. here are some reasons and story about them (we thought we better post this to answer some of most-common questions we've got!)
first of all, let's assume nothing wrong with the male nor female genetically. if you try to spawn a pure black melano female, then you're out of luck. you better spend your time and effort watching the grass grows, at least you'll see result that way :)
so let's start....failure could simply be because they are just not compatible. you've heard funny story as "they just be good friends there" when the male and female seemed to be quite happy together and not knowing that they are supposed to do something (or at least pretended to do something when a pair of human eyes keep watching them). this simply means the male and female are not ready. perhaps because they're too young, or they are just not attracted to one another. bettas are like human too you know....if the opponent is considered ugly, they're not doing it (but some bettas are more than willing to spawn with anything!). if you discovered that your betta is a let's-be-friend, then your best course of action is to call off the wedding, cause there won't be any! find another partner that is more suitable. how do you know if they're suitable? try to put the female in a tank with lots of males (caged), see which male that the female has "chosen". she'll flare her heart out to the most attractive male ;).... do the reverse to the male, if you'd like to choose bride for him
some have complained that their bettas are spawning, but none of the eggs hatched. sometimes the male even ended up eating all eggs, or he's just going to leave the eggs falling on the floor without bothering to pick them up anymore. sometimes you know the reason why the spawn failed - maybe they never wrapped after all, the female kept dropping her eggs. egg dropper is simpler to answer, it means either the male or the female has no experience in spawning. it could be that they are to be blamed, but most commonly it is YOU who needs to be blamed. they are inexperienced because they are too young....we have some buyers reporting this to us despite we've been telling them "big body doesn't mean they're ready to spawn". funny sometimes that people associate betta's size with their age. it maybe true for 'standard' bettas, but when they are dealing with giants, it's all different story!
anyway, what would you do with failed spawning due to egg dropping? you've got 2 choices: either you wait till they are mature enough and let them try it out again, or you find a much more experienced partner for them, so they can learn from the best ;).... unfortunately, sometimes fish can pick up "bad" habbit too...particularly the egg dropper female. she hasn't learned how to control her egg-release-valve (doh! what a term!) so that the next time she tries spawning, she may just conviniently drop eggs again. if you notice this, then you really have to get an expert male to teach her spawning lesson.
sometimes, the male and female are very much attracted to each other, but a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks passed and still nada....this could be, usually, because they are equivalent strength. the male needs to show to the female that he's the "boss", more macho, stronger, and more than capable to take care of her babies. a sissy male will not be respected by a strong female, hence no spawning. if you have a gentle female, then sissy male perhaps sufficient. but if you have strong female (and many giant females are super strong!!), then you need stronger male. that's why in most spawning you see female's fins got torn, not because they enjoy the nipping, it's because it is a ritual for them - to show that the male is capable. if you're of weak heart seeing how the male chased and torn female's fin, then hopefully knowing the above helps you in appreciating their ritual - otherwise you really shouldn't spawn bettas!
sometimes you notice that they won't spawn cause there is no bubblenest in the tank. if this is the case, then you haven't provided the best place for them to spawn! is your tank too humid? too windy? is the water temperature is too low or too high? make sure you've got a perfect tank before attempting spawning, otherwise you're wasting everyone's time (and the poor male could be trying to blow his mouth without any result!). if you ignore this condition, you will end up with male "giving up" and learn that there is no point to blow the bubble anymore. this could have very bad influence on him on future spawning.
another reason for fail spawn, though happens infrequently, is due to the bugger's age...your bettas maybe too old!! they may wrap, they may have eggs, but most eggs could go fungus fairly quick. unfortunately, nothing you could do about this. though, you can try to find another partner for them and keep trying, perhaps you get some success....
so, what do we think of the best age to spawn bettas? in our experience, the best age would be around 5 or 6 months old, upto about 8 months....young bettas, if they are very active, can be spawned as early as 2 to 2.5 months (we did this and others have also done this). oldest bettas that we've spawned were around 1 year 3 month to 1 year 4 months old. again, this heavily depend on the type of bettas you've got, their body and agressiveness, etc.
choosing good male and female is crucial on any spawning. the male has to be larger or more agressive than the female. we've spawned smaller male to female ratio successfully, so we know that can be done, but this is a tough job for the male, cause he has to know the good technique to properly wrapped the female - and most males sux on knowing this! hence, it is much easier to find a larger male to ensure you've got successful spawning ;)........
as for giant short fin, spawning can be totally different game. some fish will be smooth and you aint see any difference between them and your traditional short fin. but for most giant short fin, spawning is a difficult task (go and ask other experts, they'll tell you the same!). the reason is because their body size (or rather their thickness) makes them very difficult to be wrapped. Most giant males can't wrap big-momma female. that's why if you try to buy giants from overseas, they will send you a much smaller female (well, there are many reasons why they send you smaller female, and this is one of the reasons). smaller female ensures that your male can always wrap her!
hope this helps you address your fish spawning difficulties. if you have some other peculiar cases, let us know, happy to add more stories to this blog.
first of all, let's assume nothing wrong with the male nor female genetically. if you try to spawn a pure black melano female, then you're out of luck. you better spend your time and effort watching the grass grows, at least you'll see result that way :)
so let's start....failure could simply be because they are just not compatible. you've heard funny story as "they just be good friends there" when the male and female seemed to be quite happy together and not knowing that they are supposed to do something (or at least pretended to do something when a pair of human eyes keep watching them). this simply means the male and female are not ready. perhaps because they're too young, or they are just not attracted to one another. bettas are like human too you know....if the opponent is considered ugly, they're not doing it (but some bettas are more than willing to spawn with anything!). if you discovered that your betta is a let's-be-friend, then your best course of action is to call off the wedding, cause there won't be any! find another partner that is more suitable. how do you know if they're suitable? try to put the female in a tank with lots of males (caged), see which male that the female has "chosen". she'll flare her heart out to the most attractive male ;).... do the reverse to the male, if you'd like to choose bride for him
some have complained that their bettas are spawning, but none of the eggs hatched. sometimes the male even ended up eating all eggs, or he's just going to leave the eggs falling on the floor without bothering to pick them up anymore. sometimes you know the reason why the spawn failed - maybe they never wrapped after all, the female kept dropping her eggs. egg dropper is simpler to answer, it means either the male or the female has no experience in spawning. it could be that they are to be blamed, but most commonly it is YOU who needs to be blamed. they are inexperienced because they are too young....we have some buyers reporting this to us despite we've been telling them "big body doesn't mean they're ready to spawn". funny sometimes that people associate betta's size with their age. it maybe true for 'standard' bettas, but when they are dealing with giants, it's all different story!
anyway, what would you do with failed spawning due to egg dropping? you've got 2 choices: either you wait till they are mature enough and let them try it out again, or you find a much more experienced partner for them, so they can learn from the best ;).... unfortunately, sometimes fish can pick up "bad" habbit too...particularly the egg dropper female. she hasn't learned how to control her egg-release-valve (doh! what a term!) so that the next time she tries spawning, she may just conviniently drop eggs again. if you notice this, then you really have to get an expert male to teach her spawning lesson.
sometimes, the male and female are very much attracted to each other, but a week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks passed and still nada....this could be, usually, because they are equivalent strength. the male needs to show to the female that he's the "boss", more macho, stronger, and more than capable to take care of her babies. a sissy male will not be respected by a strong female, hence no spawning. if you have a gentle female, then sissy male perhaps sufficient. but if you have strong female (and many giant females are super strong!!), then you need stronger male. that's why in most spawning you see female's fins got torn, not because they enjoy the nipping, it's because it is a ritual for them - to show that the male is capable. if you're of weak heart seeing how the male chased and torn female's fin, then hopefully knowing the above helps you in appreciating their ritual - otherwise you really shouldn't spawn bettas!
sometimes you notice that they won't spawn cause there is no bubblenest in the tank. if this is the case, then you haven't provided the best place for them to spawn! is your tank too humid? too windy? is the water temperature is too low or too high? make sure you've got a perfect tank before attempting spawning, otherwise you're wasting everyone's time (and the poor male could be trying to blow his mouth without any result!). if you ignore this condition, you will end up with male "giving up" and learn that there is no point to blow the bubble anymore. this could have very bad influence on him on future spawning.
another reason for fail spawn, though happens infrequently, is due to the bugger's age...your bettas maybe too old!! they may wrap, they may have eggs, but most eggs could go fungus fairly quick. unfortunately, nothing you could do about this. though, you can try to find another partner for them and keep trying, perhaps you get some success....
so, what do we think of the best age to spawn bettas? in our experience, the best age would be around 5 or 6 months old, upto about 8 months....young bettas, if they are very active, can be spawned as early as 2 to 2.5 months (we did this and others have also done this). oldest bettas that we've spawned were around 1 year 3 month to 1 year 4 months old. again, this heavily depend on the type of bettas you've got, their body and agressiveness, etc.
choosing good male and female is crucial on any spawning. the male has to be larger or more agressive than the female. we've spawned smaller male to female ratio successfully, so we know that can be done, but this is a tough job for the male, cause he has to know the good technique to properly wrapped the female - and most males sux on knowing this! hence, it is much easier to find a larger male to ensure you've got successful spawning ;)........
as for giant short fin, spawning can be totally different game. some fish will be smooth and you aint see any difference between them and your traditional short fin. but for most giant short fin, spawning is a difficult task (go and ask other experts, they'll tell you the same!). the reason is because their body size (or rather their thickness) makes them very difficult to be wrapped. Most giant males can't wrap big-momma female. that's why if you try to buy giants from overseas, they will send you a much smaller female (well, there are many reasons why they send you smaller female, and this is one of the reasons). smaller female ensures that your male can always wrap her!
hope this helps you address your fish spawning difficulties. if you have some other peculiar cases, let us know, happy to add more stories to this blog.
Friday, 8 August 2008
nice surprise: fry under the hood
one of the breeding pairs, soon going to J&BC, had some fry in the tank!!!
we didn't notice this cause we had the tank all closed and we were so busy these couple of weeks. another reason why we didn't notice it is because we always give enough live worms for all of our fish, particularly the invidual tank ones. so there are times that we don't have to check them out for couple of weeks and we know they're still ok there.
anyway, the fry seemed to be of large size already, perhaps about 2 weeks time (where did the time go !). what surprised us is that they survived that long, without us feeding them anything, not even bbs....ok, perhaps it's not really that surprising, but the tank is full of plants :) there are all sorts of small animals there, so perhaps the fry have them as meals.
we were trying to breed the parent but then decided to let them 'stay' there without much paying attention to them. this is their first spawn and they had been chasing back and forth for awhile last time we check. we didn't think they'd spawn, cause the female was very agressive too (or at least she managed to torn male's fin on first round). so somehow the male must have tamed her (without visible torn on the fin too!).
anywho, the parents will go to J&BC whereas the fry will go to CR. There are only about 20 or so that we counted there, but counting is difficult task cause the darkness of the tank and how the plants pretty much took over the whole area. Chances there would be a lot more there, but we shall see later.
we didn't notice this cause we had the tank all closed and we were so busy these couple of weeks. another reason why we didn't notice it is because we always give enough live worms for all of our fish, particularly the invidual tank ones. so there are times that we don't have to check them out for couple of weeks and we know they're still ok there.
anyway, the fry seemed to be of large size already, perhaps about 2 weeks time (where did the time go !). what surprised us is that they survived that long, without us feeding them anything, not even bbs....ok, perhaps it's not really that surprising, but the tank is full of plants :) there are all sorts of small animals there, so perhaps the fry have them as meals.
we were trying to breed the parent but then decided to let them 'stay' there without much paying attention to them. this is their first spawn and they had been chasing back and forth for awhile last time we check. we didn't think they'd spawn, cause the female was very agressive too (or at least she managed to torn male's fin on first round). so somehow the male must have tamed her (without visible torn on the fin too!).
anywho, the parents will go to J&BC whereas the fry will go to CR. There are only about 20 or so that we counted there, but counting is difficult task cause the darkness of the tank and how the plants pretty much took over the whole area. Chances there would be a lot more there, but we shall see later.
what's coming and going
most of our fish went to nice homes, including more than half of our breeders. some will go very soon next week. too bad we didn't have much of the time to take any of their pictures though, cause otherwise it would be nice memory to remind us of them. perhaps we get to see them in a couple of months time.
just news from AK, his share of the small fry had grown to very nice size of nearly 2 cm. not bad for a month old fry. he kindly offered some of them back, which of course we have to reject - cause we don't have the time nor the place to grow them. well, perhaps in the future.
CR is getting new fish imported as well as some of our breeders. Thanks for the offer of giving us the chance to spawn them, CR, we definitely will consider them in couple of months time. just keep them alive long enough waiting for us...
Finally, quickly listing what stock that we still have on us.
Breeder's quality fish:
DOA policy (just in case someone asks), we'll send you replacement or your money back.
just news from AK, his share of the small fry had grown to very nice size of nearly 2 cm. not bad for a month old fry. he kindly offered some of them back, which of course we have to reject - cause we don't have the time nor the place to grow them. well, perhaps in the future.
CR is getting new fish imported as well as some of our breeders. Thanks for the offer of giving us the chance to spawn them, CR, we definitely will consider them in couple of months time. just keep them alive long enough waiting for us...
Finally, quickly listing what stock that we still have on us.
Breeder's quality fish:
- 10 HM giant female assorted colour, 3-3.5 months old, 2.5 inches (?)
- 5 HMPK giant female red cambo, 2.3-2.5 inches
- 2 giant HMPK female intense yellow, 2.4 inches
- 10 large HMPK males (2.5-2.8 inches), cambo red mix (plat red, red marble, etc)
- 10 medium HMPK males (2.3 inches), same colour above
- 15 large HMPK females (2.2-2.5 inches), same colour
- 10 medium HMPK females, same colour
- 5 HM giant, damage fin, no genetic fault, flare and fight all the time despite being separated
- some loosely placed bettas
DOA policy (just in case someone asks), we'll send you replacement or your money back.
Friday, 25 July 2008
fry transportation
we have been so flat out, we barely had time to reply to all your messages/emails. Our sincere apologies.
Anyway, getting to the news.....it has been proven very challenging to transport small (2 weeks old) fry. AM just told us that more than 1/3 of his portion of the fry died by the time he got home :( And he was just living 10 mins away driving! We gather it could have been the bumps along the way, cause these fry couldn't take such shaking. He and us did consider that perhaps walk "slowly" with the container (tank) would help the survival but slow walk would easily take a good half hour...anyway, at least there are a good number of them survived, so that's the good news.
Tomorrow DZ will come and pick the rest of the fry (we split the tank into 2 takers). So hopefully she'll take the challenge on walking slowly with the container :) Though she lives further than AM, so she may not want to do that....hmmmm maybe she just has to drive very slowly, weekend isn't so bad for driving slower :)
Anyway, getting to the news.....it has been proven very challenging to transport small (2 weeks old) fry. AM just told us that more than 1/3 of his portion of the fry died by the time he got home :( And he was just living 10 mins away driving! We gather it could have been the bumps along the way, cause these fry couldn't take such shaking. He and us did consider that perhaps walk "slowly" with the container (tank) would help the survival but slow walk would easily take a good half hour...anyway, at least there are a good number of them survived, so that's the good news.
Tomorrow DZ will come and pick the rest of the fry (we split the tank into 2 takers). So hopefully she'll take the challenge on walking slowly with the container :) Though she lives further than AM, so she may not want to do that....hmmmm maybe she just has to drive very slowly, weekend isn't so bad for driving slower :)
Thursday, 24 July 2008
fish updates
Quick updates on things. We've been very busy these couple of days going back/forth to hospital (our dearest mom is hospitalized), so our apologies to any delays of getting back to some of you.
Anyway, 2 tanks of fry already had home since couple of days ago. Thanks to AK, JD, RM. They should be around good 300-400 of fry there, enjoy them guys....
1 tank left, about 150-200 fry, current interest came from DZ, AM, SG, EI, D?, and MT (sorry not replying to you guys yet on this). Unfortunately, about half of this fry went dead this morning. Council had turned off electricity for road work the day before for nearly half a day at night and we didn't realize this till we got back from hospital (been staying there for 2 days). The timing had never came so perfect.....when the temperature dropped closer to 5C at night! Anyway, we're checking them out now and will keep them temporarily at our place till Friday. Guys, chances we will be only able to contact you on the weekend for this (time permitting).
Another bad news, one of the shipments to LH went all dead cause of freezing temperature (and our mistake of not putting 2 or 3 heatpacks -- we were running out of them and forgot about it till last minute due to hectic before we rushed off mom). This shipment took 2 days (we think???) rather than 1 day that we expected....Lucky other shipments weren't affected.....
This won't happen again (not sure if LH was anywhere happy about this, but hopefully she can forgive us for giving her such bad experience). It never happened before, but things are doomed to happen at least once.
Timing has always prevented us to be able to ship fish through courier, particularly FW courier (plus they had been so irregular to get to us that there are times when we waited for 2 darn days to get the goods picked up, or how frequently the missed our shipments making a 1 day delivery becoming 2 or 3 days!). We found that it is alot simpler to send them through AP though it has been mentioned to us recently as "illegal" to send live fish with them (not quite sure about this, but we've been doing that couple of times and the guy at the counter was ok about it). Anyway, perhaps we need to be clear about this to you....if you help us buying our fish, then we find whatever ways to get our fish to you, which may involve getting them through AP or if you're lucky through FW (we never tried AAE but currently there wasn't much of the time available on our side to deal with this atm).
Anywya, we still have 2 large tanks of giant HMPK for those who are interested ($100 for lot of 20-25 fish). A couple smaller tanks here and there, not having time to clean them up yet, but they have some fish too.....We've got lots of heatpacks now (was wondering if we ever consume them all, but we'll deal with this later, same way we need to deal with left over FW coupons later)....This week will be very very busy for us, so we may not able to reply to you at all, but next week we should have a day or 2 available to send the fish.
Some people have been asking for pictures of the fish, again as we said, we can't really take pictures but we will try again to do that later on the weekend (time permitting!!!).
There are currently quite a number (20 pairs??) of very large HMPK that would be ashame to go to pet shop (hmmm....haven't contacted them, but they should be quite happy to get our fish.....). Anyway, they are about 2.5 inches (both males and females) for 3-4 months ones. The younger ones about 2-2.3 inches for 2.5-3 months.
Also, we just noticed that there are very nice long fin females, particularly yellow corn, platinum red, cambo red, and copper females. We didn't notice them before cause we thought they were one of the males (with shorter fins) and they're hiding on the last-row tanks (pretty dark tanks too). This was a surprised cause their size is quite large for 2 month old, so definitely ones of those breeder-quality ones. Oh well, they won't get used by us for a couple of months time, so for those of you out there who'd like to start breeding them, let us know and we'll send them as part of your purchase (but you may still have to grow them till they're 3 or 4 months old before breeding....remember, they are large in body but small mentally!)
Hope the above clear things for some of you who have contacted us (yes, we'll get through the emails soon...please be patience)
Anyway, 2 tanks of fry already had home since couple of days ago. Thanks to AK, JD, RM. They should be around good 300-400 of fry there, enjoy them guys....
1 tank left, about 150-200 fry, current interest came from DZ, AM, SG, EI, D?, and MT (sorry not replying to you guys yet on this). Unfortunately, about half of this fry went dead this morning. Council had turned off electricity for road work the day before for nearly half a day at night and we didn't realize this till we got back from hospital (been staying there for 2 days). The timing had never came so perfect.....when the temperature dropped closer to 5C at night! Anyway, we're checking them out now and will keep them temporarily at our place till Friday. Guys, chances we will be only able to contact you on the weekend for this (time permitting).
Another bad news, one of the shipments to LH went all dead cause of freezing temperature (and our mistake of not putting 2 or 3 heatpacks -- we were running out of them and forgot about it till last minute due to hectic before we rushed off mom). This shipment took 2 days (we think???) rather than 1 day that we expected....Lucky other shipments weren't affected.....
This won't happen again (not sure if LH was anywhere happy about this, but hopefully she can forgive us for giving her such bad experience). It never happened before, but things are doomed to happen at least once.
Timing has always prevented us to be able to ship fish through courier, particularly FW courier (plus they had been so irregular to get to us that there are times when we waited for 2 darn days to get the goods picked up, or how frequently the missed our shipments making a 1 day delivery becoming 2 or 3 days!). We found that it is alot simpler to send them through AP though it has been mentioned to us recently as "illegal" to send live fish with them (not quite sure about this, but we've been doing that couple of times and the guy at the counter was ok about it). Anyway, perhaps we need to be clear about this to you....if you help us buying our fish, then we find whatever ways to get our fish to you, which may involve getting them through AP or if you're lucky through FW (we never tried AAE but currently there wasn't much of the time available on our side to deal with this atm).
Anywya, we still have 2 large tanks of giant HMPK for those who are interested ($100 for lot of 20-25 fish). A couple smaller tanks here and there, not having time to clean them up yet, but they have some fish too.....We've got lots of heatpacks now (was wondering if we ever consume them all, but we'll deal with this later, same way we need to deal with left over FW coupons later)....This week will be very very busy for us, so we may not able to reply to you at all, but next week we should have a day or 2 available to send the fish.
Some people have been asking for pictures of the fish, again as we said, we can't really take pictures but we will try again to do that later on the weekend (time permitting!!!).
There are currently quite a number (20 pairs??) of very large HMPK that would be ashame to go to pet shop (hmmm....haven't contacted them, but they should be quite happy to get our fish.....). Anyway, they are about 2.5 inches (both males and females) for 3-4 months ones. The younger ones about 2-2.3 inches for 2.5-3 months.
Also, we just noticed that there are very nice long fin females, particularly yellow corn, platinum red, cambo red, and copper females. We didn't notice them before cause we thought they were one of the males (with shorter fins) and they're hiding on the last-row tanks (pretty dark tanks too). This was a surprised cause their size is quite large for 2 month old, so definitely ones of those breeder-quality ones. Oh well, they won't get used by us for a couple of months time, so for those of you out there who'd like to start breeding them, let us know and we'll send them as part of your purchase (but you may still have to grow them till they're 3 or 4 months old before breeding....remember, they are large in body but small mentally!)
Hope the above clear things for some of you who have contacted us (yes, we'll get through the emails soon...please be patience)
Friday, 18 July 2008
passing of a giant betta
Last night, one of our largest giants passed away. The large 3.2 inches HMPK female...our own bred...She was so beautiful.....8 rays splitting....platinum red BF....
We had been having trouble in spawning this female for a long time and recently we simply gave up. It's not because the female was not interested to any males that we gave her, she's more than interested. It's just that none of the males is capable to tame her. Along the way, she managed to kill two of the most gorgeous males too :)
She's very aggressive and large. We tried her with our largest male (imported), but this failed too. the male was 3.3 inches long, no way to compare the male to the female.
Too bad her gill was infected badly (maybe spread from previous imported male -- he was infected initially) and despite the meds given to her, she just didn't last as long as we wanted her to be....
She died at age of 8-9 months. Making her the largest (and fastest growing) female we have ever had. We certainly are gonna miss her.....
This is the problem with giants, particularly females. Once their size gets too big, there is no male that can spawn them. The only ones that can spawn them would be long fin males, preferably long fin giants! But it's very rare to acquire good long fin giants. The ones available are typically 3-3.5 inches long, which is not even sufficient length to wrap these females (provided they're not beaten to death by the female first).
Her passing makes the number of bettas that we kept reduced to only 40. This is considerably easier to manage at the moment cause we have so many to start with. We still have to transfer about 200 of their siblings (and don't forget 3 tanks for fry!!!) to people out there who'd like to get their hands on the fish.....So people, if you'd like to buy good giants, just give us an email asap (read our previous post on costs etc).
We had been having trouble in spawning this female for a long time and recently we simply gave up. It's not because the female was not interested to any males that we gave her, she's more than interested. It's just that none of the males is capable to tame her. Along the way, she managed to kill two of the most gorgeous males too :)
She's very aggressive and large. We tried her with our largest male (imported), but this failed too. the male was 3.3 inches long, no way to compare the male to the female.
Too bad her gill was infected badly (maybe spread from previous imported male -- he was infected initially) and despite the meds given to her, she just didn't last as long as we wanted her to be....
She died at age of 8-9 months. Making her the largest (and fastest growing) female we have ever had. We certainly are gonna miss her.....
This is the problem with giants, particularly females. Once their size gets too big, there is no male that can spawn them. The only ones that can spawn them would be long fin males, preferably long fin giants! But it's very rare to acquire good long fin giants. The ones available are typically 3-3.5 inches long, which is not even sufficient length to wrap these females (provided they're not beaten to death by the female first).
Her passing makes the number of bettas that we kept reduced to only 40. This is considerably easier to manage at the moment cause we have so many to start with. We still have to transfer about 200 of their siblings (and don't forget 3 tanks for fry!!!) to people out there who'd like to get their hands on the fish.....So people, if you'd like to buy good giants, just give us an email asap (read our previous post on costs etc).
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
any takers for small bettas?
We have 3 tanks of small bettas, age about 1 week to 3 weeks (some of them have parents still "doing" the job). We barely can take care of them at the moment though they don't need much apart from regular bbs feedings. All of them from giants (2 short fin HMPK lines, 1 long fin HM line).
If you're in sydney and can spare hands to raise them, you can have some or whole tanks. We only ask a couple of pairs of the fry when they are adult. Not sure how we can transport them though, cause some of them are still very tiny...but transporting the larger ones would be straight forward (hopefully). Shipping is a no-no for these guys, they're just too small, don't think they will survive the travel....
Contact us direct if you're interested.
If you're in sydney and can spare hands to raise them, you can have some or whole tanks. We only ask a couple of pairs of the fry when they are adult. Not sure how we can transport them though, cause some of them are still very tiny...but transporting the larger ones would be straight forward (hopefully). Shipping is a no-no for these guys, they're just too small, don't think they will survive the travel....
Contact us direct if you're interested.
remaining giant bettas sales + bonus
There are still some giant bettas available, for those interested. Also we have some original imports and other breeder-quality bettas that we don't use any more, we'll give bonus when you buy 1 or 2 lots of bettas. first come first served basis, till stock last.
basically, for each lot sold, we'll include 1 (and only 1) fish of the bonus. We choose randomly which one to be sent to you . they have different colours and qualities.... all in all, we have about 20 or so of these breeder-quality fish....Of course we always give you more fish than what you've ordered, but the bonus specifically mentioned here are the breeder-quality ones.
some info about the bonus:
The deal is:
Also let us know if you'd like to receive the "rejects" fish for free. These rejects fish are very good fish genetically but have damage fins due to living in community tanks (they're fighters, so we can't complain too much, can we?). No sale is required if you're interested for the reject fish (but you still have to pay shipping)
Oh, in case you're interested on what they look like, some pictures at http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa201/breedingsmybettas/
In case we forgot to mention, they're all giants, so they're expected to grow much larger (with exception perhaps the import fish, cause they're full adults by now)
Contact us at mybettas@gmail.com (apology in advanced if we reply late, too much things going on at the moment).
basically, for each lot sold, we'll include 1 (and only 1) fish of the bonus. We choose randomly which one to be sent to you . they have different colours and qualities.... all in all, we have about 20 or so of these breeder-quality fish....Of course we always give you more fish than what you've ordered, but the bonus specifically mentioned here are the breeder-quality ones.
some info about the bonus:
- import fish with size around 3 to 3.3 inches for male and 2.5 to 2.8 inches for female (all HMPK). age unknown.
- our local bred fish with size around 2.3 to 2.5 inches for HMPK or females and 3.5 to 4 inches for long fin HM. age 3 to 3.5 months
The deal is:
- you purchase fish (20-25 fish in each lot) for $100 per lot. age ranges from 3 to 4 months old. colour: variety of reds, intense yellow, metallics (green, copper, etc). All randoms sent to you.
- we'll include 1 or 2 of the bonus for you
- shipping preferred at $25 (if this is too much for you, we'll give more fish to compensate!)
Also let us know if you'd like to receive the "rejects" fish for free. These rejects fish are very good fish genetically but have damage fins due to living in community tanks (they're fighters, so we can't complain too much, can we?). No sale is required if you're interested for the reject fish (but you still have to pay shipping)
Oh, in case you're interested on what they look like, some pictures at http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa201/breedingsmybettas/
In case we forgot to mention, they're all giants, so they're expected to grow much larger (with exception perhaps the import fish, cause they're full adults by now)
Contact us at mybettas@gmail.com (apology in advanced if we reply late, too much things going on at the moment).
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
branching in pectoral fin
been wanting to write this up, but kept forgetting about it...
anyway, having so many giants in our possession, we just realized that some giants are so huge that we can easily see the beauty of their pectoral fins. typically, pectoral fins are not clear whether they even have any branchings....well, now it's confirmed...they have branchings just as any other fins.
some of our large giants have clear branchings on their pectoral fins, we can even count the number of branchings....take a guess....some branches at 4 rays, 2 of our giants are branching at 8 rays and another one is branching at 16 rays.
it seems, pectoral fins branching follows caudal branchings. if you have 8 rays caudal, then chances you'll get 4 rays or 8 rays pectoral fins branching too. it's amazing to find this out, just to say how clearly visible they are, due to the sheer size of the giants
we wondered how many pectoral branching you can get on a 16 or 32 rays caudal branching? that would be interesting to find out...
anyway, having so many giants in our possession, we just realized that some giants are so huge that we can easily see the beauty of their pectoral fins. typically, pectoral fins are not clear whether they even have any branchings....well, now it's confirmed...they have branchings just as any other fins.
some of our large giants have clear branchings on their pectoral fins, we can even count the number of branchings....take a guess....some branches at 4 rays, 2 of our giants are branching at 8 rays and another one is branching at 16 rays.
it seems, pectoral fins branching follows caudal branchings. if you have 8 rays caudal, then chances you'll get 4 rays or 8 rays pectoral fins branching too. it's amazing to find this out, just to say how clearly visible they are, due to the sheer size of the giants
we wondered how many pectoral branching you can get on a 16 or 32 rays caudal branching? that would be interesting to find out...
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
stopping all breedings
Sadly that we have to stop all breedings/caring activities for all of our bettas. The time required to take care of them exceeds what we can offer them for the time being. We have a family member to take care of 24/7 due to health issue. Maybe we'll keep a few pairs for future breeding, but at this point in time, we have to let them go.
We have juveniles and soon-to-be adult bettas available. If you're interested to acquire them, by all means, please contact us direct.
There are quite a number of varieties available, but most of them carry giant genes (well, they all come from giant parents, about 3 inches long for HMPK and 4 inches for HM). For the sample pictures of what you're getting, check all of our previous posts (particularly in May). They're related to them one way or another...
You get about 20-25 mixed fish, male, female, HMPK, HM. Cost $100. That's about $4 per fish! Their sizes range from 2.5 cm to 5cm, some are larger. Age between 2 months to 3.5 months. Note that they have giant genes, so expect them to grow very nicely.
Sale period...all fish has to go out by end of June, otherwise some pet stores were quite happy to accept them (though hobbyists such as yourselves are preferred candidate for their homing).
Shipping $25 for any number of fish that you order. Shipping is preferred, though meeting for pick up can be arranged but given the timing, it would be very difficult but we can try (contact us on email). This sale is for AU only (sorry to RD and XN. perhaps next time...)
Bare with us if we reply to your emails late. We have been very busy lately.
We would be very appreciative if you update us on the development of these fish in the future. We definitely would like to get a couple of pairs (or any of their offspring) back if it is possible.
email mybettas at gmail.com if interested.
We have juveniles and soon-to-be adult bettas available. If you're interested to acquire them, by all means, please contact us direct.
There are quite a number of varieties available, but most of them carry giant genes (well, they all come from giant parents, about 3 inches long for HMPK and 4 inches for HM). For the sample pictures of what you're getting, check all of our previous posts (particularly in May). They're related to them one way or another...
You get about 20-25 mixed fish, male, female, HMPK, HM. Cost $100. That's about $4 per fish! Their sizes range from 2.5 cm to 5cm, some are larger. Age between 2 months to 3.5 months. Note that they have giant genes, so expect them to grow very nicely.
Sale period...all fish has to go out by end of June, otherwise some pet stores were quite happy to accept them (though hobbyists such as yourselves are preferred candidate for their homing).
Shipping $25 for any number of fish that you order. Shipping is preferred, though meeting for pick up can be arranged but given the timing, it would be very difficult but we can try (contact us on email). This sale is for AU only (sorry to RD and XN. perhaps next time...)
Bare with us if we reply to your emails late. We have been very busy lately.
We would be very appreciative if you update us on the development of these fish in the future. We definitely would like to get a couple of pairs (or any of their offspring) back if it is possible.
email mybettas at gmail.com if interested.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
what gets us up and happy every day
funny how we were always looking forward to every feedings of the fish....it's not because there are lots of them, but rather because there are many unique ones. so cute and looking forward when they grow big.
this morning, we just separate 3 of our 5 weeks old bettas and were very excited to see how they flare and how big their sizes are.....many more will need to be separated, of course, but unfortunately many will just have to share the community tank (and got fin nip here and there) for now. These 3 are long finned giant line, nice size and the spread will make HM in a few days time... Their uncles are full HM giant at age 2 months, so they're not far off...
anyway, there are also some new pairs being separated as they're very AWESOME!! 2 months old, 8 rays branching, full giant size (size of adult HMPK at the moment). We just wonder whether they'll grow to the expected giant 3" size in a couple of months time, fingers crossed.
so, that's a very nice reward of feeding them :)
this morning, we just separate 3 of our 5 weeks old bettas and were very excited to see how they flare and how big their sizes are.....many more will need to be separated, of course, but unfortunately many will just have to share the community tank (and got fin nip here and there) for now. These 3 are long finned giant line, nice size and the spread will make HM in a few days time... Their uncles are full HM giant at age 2 months, so they're not far off...
anyway, there are also some new pairs being separated as they're very AWESOME!! 2 months old, 8 rays branching, full giant size (size of adult HMPK at the moment). We just wonder whether they'll grow to the expected giant 3" size in a couple of months time, fingers crossed.
so, that's a very nice reward of feeding them :)
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Breeders' help wanted!!!
We have reserved some pairs for breeding, however there are not sufficient spawning tanks for us to spawn them all. So, we are offering the pairs to you to spawn with the following conditions:
months we would be able to choose a couple of pairs from them for us to keep.
If you decide not to use the initial pair anymore (whether the spawning was successful or not), give us the first chance to decide whether we'd like to get the fish back without charge.
You may notice that we require you to feed the pairs live food. As much as we like to give you the freedom in keeping and spawning them, we'd like to ensure that the pair and its offspring to be in top condition at all times. If you cannot satisfy this requirement, sorry, you won't be able to participate on this effort.
Bond amount per pair:
Inexperience breeder = if you have successfully spawn at least once with 25-50 offspring survived to the age of 3 months on one single spawn.
There are a number of pairs available, we decide the pairing. Contact us if you're interested and we can let you know some combinations of pairings that may interest you and us. If you can help us out in spawning more pairs, then we're more than happy to supply the fish. Let us know your background in breeding to aid in our decision.
Some info about the fish:
As the fish involved at the moment is very young (2-3 months old), you may need to keep them for another 1 or 2 months before you spawn them. We can't keep them in our tanks simply because we don't have enough tanks to keep them all.
There are a number of goals of spawning these pairs including but not limited to:
Note that the fish involved here are all breeder-quality fish, therefore only consider this opportunity if you are serious in breeding. If you "just want to start on breeding" or experimenting or could not satisfy the definition of "in/experienced breeder" above, then we suggest you to simply buy the pair. They are available for special price of $60 per pair.
This whole description here is the "contract", if you choose to participate.We're not lawyer, so don't bother to argue on interpretations of the description here, our interpretation is the correct one. Please contact us direct on mybettas at gmail dot com, if any of the description here is unclear to you.
Fish handover for Sydney people can be arranged at very limited locations, otherwise we recommend shipping at cost $20.
- we provide 1 pair to you
- you pay bond money to us for the pair
- you spawn the pair
- you get to keep the pair and its offspring
- at all time, you feed the pair and its offspring sufficient (if not abundance) live food (e.g. live worms or equivalent live food for adults and any fry > 1.5 months)
- we get the first choice of picking up to 5 pairs free-of-charge from its offsprings at age of 2-3 months old, at which time we will return your money
- in the event of any fish died or prolonged unsuccessful spawning (e.g. more than 3 months), we keep the money
- if you decided to cancel this contract then we keep the money but you're still obligated to give us chance to keep up to 5 pairs of its offspring if you were successful in spawning them.
- you can only use any of the fish to pair it with other fish *after* you've successfully spawn the initial pair (otherwise this contract is considered "canceled" and we keep the bond).
months we would be able to choose a couple of pairs from them for us to keep.
If you decide not to use the initial pair anymore (whether the spawning was successful or not), give us the first chance to decide whether we'd like to get the fish back without charge.
You may notice that we require you to feed the pairs live food. As much as we like to give you the freedom in keeping and spawning them, we'd like to ensure that the pair and its offspring to be in top condition at all times. If you cannot satisfy this requirement, sorry, you won't be able to participate on this effort.
Bond amount per pair:
- $20 per pair for experienced breeder
- $40 per pair for inexperienced breeder
Inexperience breeder = if you have successfully spawn at least once with 25-50 offspring survived to the age of 3 months on one single spawn.
There are a number of pairs available, we decide the pairing. Contact us if you're interested and we can let you know some combinations of pairings that may interest you and us. If you can help us out in spawning more pairs, then we're more than happy to supply the fish. Let us know your background in breeding to aid in our decision.
Some info about the fish:
- mainly coming from cross of giants
- either HM, HMPK, or the mixture of both (no PK)
- age of 2-3 months now
- may have nip/torn on fins
- colours combination of cambodian red, copper gold, gold, green, intense yellow, and any of their combination/mix
As the fish involved at the moment is very young (2-3 months old), you may need to keep them for another 1 or 2 months before you spawn them. We can't keep them in our tanks simply because we don't have enough tanks to keep them all.
There are a number of goals of spawning these pairs including but not limited to:
- large size giant (HM and HMPK lines)
- new/different colour
- heavy branching giant
Note that the fish involved here are all breeder-quality fish, therefore only consider this opportunity if you are serious in breeding. If you "just want to start on breeding" or experimenting or could not satisfy the definition of "in/experienced breeder" above, then we suggest you to simply buy the pair. They are available for special price of $60 per pair.
This whole description here is the "contract", if you choose to participate.We're not lawyer, so don't bother to argue on interpretations of the description here, our interpretation is the correct one. Please contact us direct on mybettas at gmail dot com, if any of the description here is unclear to you.
Fish handover for Sydney people can be arranged at very limited locations, otherwise we recommend shipping at cost $20.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
complicated importation dealings
Funny how we always think that business dealings, such as buying bettas, would be pretty much straightforward. Well, it's not. The difficulties seem to lie in the fact that there are 3 or more parties involved.
At the very least, there will be seller, buyer, and dont forget transhipper. Then there would also be shippers along the way. For instance, there typically a shipper on the source export country (such as thailand), an intermediate shipper in other countries such as malaysia or singapore, etc. Most of these shippers are working behind scenes without buyer knowing their existence. But there would be times when you aint getting your fish and when you carefully track it down, then all of a sudden they matters.
For example, when the shippers are misinformed, there would be big chances your fish will be stranded on the airport somewhere ;) Or, when your transhipper who kindly manages the wellbeing of your fish during the transit forgets to notify one of the shippers about date changes, whoala, a bunch of your fish will be staying put and you may say hi to them in due course (typically waiting till next shipment).
The dynamicity and complexity of export import relies on a very simple premise. If everyone is well informed ahead of time, then they can prepare to the best of their knowledge, otherwise "accidents" bound to happen. The very unfortunate facts about import export, particularly of live fish, are the uncertainty of the process becomes critical importance since those live fish can't wait around too much. Once they're delayed for 1 day for instance, then chances you'll see half of your shipment drop dead in their nice little plastic wrappers.
However, this doesn't mean that live fish is very difficult to be shipped. No, on the contrary, there are many companies managed to master the skill of export import. These companies do things "in the large", they usually don't deal with you (for shipping 1-10 bettas) :D. Suffice to say that they're very professional. OK, your fish is small potatoes for them, hence you still have to pest them to "can i see it when you get your import in?", but their dealings with you are very simple too. They import your fish, you tell them "oh, by the way, they are bettas, so you can just put them in small container", which then they would easily do, they take care of all paperworks amongst all the big fish they've imported, you'll ask them when you can get your bettas after quarantine, then presto, you've got your bettas. How much they charged? Very miniscule fee, cause bettas are very much small potatoes for them. Most of the time if you know those companies well, they would do the importation for you for free (dude, it's not like they'll charge you per fish, they have 1000s of fish per import!!). So, the less you pest them, the better.
Anyway, that's provided if you're lucky enough to find these importers. Remember, they dont want to deal with you cause you're small potatoes. But many "big" aquarium have licenses to import fish, so it's the matter of your skills to know them and "tag along" their imports. If you're not lucky enough, then there are other kind souls out there that would help you import the fish for you, for a fee of course. Now, this may not sound promising if you import regularly, but that's the service and you're more than welcome to use it !
The very unfortunate fact on dealing with bettas is the price that you scoop for the fish and the price that you pay in total. This reminds you of something isn't it? Yes, the petrol price! Though bettas is even crazier than petrol.
Let's analyze the situation....Cost of a betta is about a few dollars (give or take). This is the "clean price". Some "designer" bettas costs up to 100 times more than that. We'll discuss "designer" very shortly. Anyway, that's just the cost of the fish. Next you need to add the cost of the importation and shipping. In terms of bettas, this usually is even more expensive than your fish!! So, how crazy is that? Let's say you buy $2 Crowntail, add it up with shipping/import fees, you may ended up paying upto $50 in total. While you can combine shipping cost with other folks, importation fee is where you're stuck. If you're lucky to find nice fella doing the importation, then your overall cost isn't a big deal. Otherwise, you may just as well kiss your hobby goodbye, cause it's just too darn expensive to keep it.
Now, this discussion is not against any transhippers/importers! They justify their cost accordingly. Hey, it's predatorial world that we live in ;) Someone has to feed somebody else's tummy, otherwise nothing will get done. There may be people who attached themselves to the goodness of others, but that's very rare. Does this remind you of something? I bet so, remember how the big supermarket giants such as Coles and Woollies charge exorbitant prices for their "fresh foods" when you know the farmers aint getting anything much for it? Well, giant supermarket always say that they only take very small profit from it. Do you ever believe them? So, whenever you heard "advancing Australia bettas' quality" coming out of someone's mouth, you ought to question if that's just bull of crap or coming from their hearts.
I think everyone pretty much understands the dynamic of this delicate relationship between buyer, seller, shippers, and transhippers. Buyer is afraid to insult transhipper, seller is afraid to insult both buyer and transhipper, and transhipper only afraid when there are too much competition around, otherwise they're pretty much the boss around the house. Also, most buyers are typically happy for transhippers to charge them for their service, provided the charges are reasonable. But once the balance of fees getting to the point where one side looses his standing, then you'll see the dying of bettas as a hobby. In fact, bettas never did took off in Australia. It was initiated a number of times, many hobbists start the process, but then it just die off. Why you must ask? Well, one of the factors is cost. The other is remoteness of our location from each other. But we believe, cost is the main driving force. If we ever want to make bettas as an ever-growing hobby, we need to start with all the support infrastructure. This includes:
The first category is similar to buying branded goods (Dior, Armani, etc). Yes, the quality is reflected on the price you pay for it. But have you bought "cheap-quality-but-expensive-price" clothes such as Guess or any other labelled goods? You are not buying the goods (cause it really is crappy quality) but you buy the "brand" !! So, with bettas you really have to be careful to identify whether you're buying the brand or you're getting the goods (and the brand) that you so rightly deserved that come with the price tag.
The second category is similar to finding treasure in the supermarket. In the supermarket, everyone is pretty much selling "the same quality" stuff, but from time to time, you see the good quality ones that catch your eye. These "better" quality fish typically offerred for higher prices compared to other lower quality ones, and may escalate their status as "designer" fish.
Of course there is a third category that we have not discussed much yet. That is when everyone is selling crappy fish as "designer" fish. This is very much reflected in the market too. Have you ever wonder how on earth a crappy T-Shirt costs $12 at Paddy's when you know that they cost only a tenth of that in their originating country? OK, you may try to fool yourself by saying "there are importation costs etc involve", well, let me tell you, that's just another bull of crap. Put it very simple, importers make tons of money, otherwise they won't be in the business. It boils down to how much demand out there for their goods. Back in the old days when there are not that many importers around, then you see the $10 T-Shirt as high demand (they are the cheapest with "reasonable quality" compared to your usual $20 T-Shirt). Now that there are many importers importing the T-Shirt, the law of demand/supply should dictate that the price is lower. Well, that's where you're wrong again. The importers or the sellers get their act together such that they FIX the price!
Well, you may then ask, how is this applied to bettas? Pretty much the same way....The more demands on the market, the more people import fish, the cheaper it should be for the price of importation -- provided there are heaps of competition, otherwise you see the price not changing much or even rising. We are starting to see the price of bettas going down recently on bidding places. This is when the demands slow down. But unfortunately it rises soon after that, cause when there are demands, there are also more supply, and it's dead easy for anyone to jack up the price. Then you see how everyone selling standard quality for the price that designer fish being charged. Now, of course you can always defend big supermarket giants by saying "well, you need to know what you buy and your limit in buying", but that's just crap. If anyone has decency to other hobbyists, then they ought to consider their pricing very carefully.
For instance, there are a number of very decent sellers who are more than happy to offer you very reasonable prices for their fish. Not because they can't jack you up with higher prices, but because they understand the hobby and try to support it. They understand how much that you as a buyer have been ripped off by the "system", hence they try to supply with very reasonable prices, in the hope that you will come back to them and buy more. These kind of sellers are more than recommended cause they're not in the business of ripping you off. They've been in the business for a number of years and understand the fluid of bettas hobby....
Anyway, this post is getting way too long. Hopefully it's a good food for thought for other hobbyists out there. As usual, feel free to contact us for comment (if you prefer not to comment on the blog itself).
At the very least, there will be seller, buyer, and dont forget transhipper. Then there would also be shippers along the way. For instance, there typically a shipper on the source export country (such as thailand), an intermediate shipper in other countries such as malaysia or singapore, etc. Most of these shippers are working behind scenes without buyer knowing their existence. But there would be times when you aint getting your fish and when you carefully track it down, then all of a sudden they matters.
For example, when the shippers are misinformed, there would be big chances your fish will be stranded on the airport somewhere ;) Or, when your transhipper who kindly manages the wellbeing of your fish during the transit forgets to notify one of the shippers about date changes, whoala, a bunch of your fish will be staying put and you may say hi to them in due course (typically waiting till next shipment).
The dynamicity and complexity of export import relies on a very simple premise. If everyone is well informed ahead of time, then they can prepare to the best of their knowledge, otherwise "accidents" bound to happen. The very unfortunate facts about import export, particularly of live fish, are the uncertainty of the process becomes critical importance since those live fish can't wait around too much. Once they're delayed for 1 day for instance, then chances you'll see half of your shipment drop dead in their nice little plastic wrappers.
However, this doesn't mean that live fish is very difficult to be shipped. No, on the contrary, there are many companies managed to master the skill of export import. These companies do things "in the large", they usually don't deal with you (for shipping 1-10 bettas) :D. Suffice to say that they're very professional. OK, your fish is small potatoes for them, hence you still have to pest them to "can i see it when you get your import in?", but their dealings with you are very simple too. They import your fish, you tell them "oh, by the way, they are bettas, so you can just put them in small container", which then they would easily do, they take care of all paperworks amongst all the big fish they've imported, you'll ask them when you can get your bettas after quarantine, then presto, you've got your bettas. How much they charged? Very miniscule fee, cause bettas are very much small potatoes for them. Most of the time if you know those companies well, they would do the importation for you for free (dude, it's not like they'll charge you per fish, they have 1000s of fish per import!!). So, the less you pest them, the better.
Anyway, that's provided if you're lucky enough to find these importers. Remember, they dont want to deal with you cause you're small potatoes. But many "big" aquarium have licenses to import fish, so it's the matter of your skills to know them and "tag along" their imports. If you're not lucky enough, then there are other kind souls out there that would help you import the fish for you, for a fee of course. Now, this may not sound promising if you import regularly, but that's the service and you're more than welcome to use it !
The very unfortunate fact on dealing with bettas is the price that you scoop for the fish and the price that you pay in total. This reminds you of something isn't it? Yes, the petrol price! Though bettas is even crazier than petrol.
Let's analyze the situation....Cost of a betta is about a few dollars (give or take). This is the "clean price". Some "designer" bettas costs up to 100 times more than that. We'll discuss "designer" very shortly. Anyway, that's just the cost of the fish. Next you need to add the cost of the importation and shipping. In terms of bettas, this usually is even more expensive than your fish!! So, how crazy is that? Let's say you buy $2 Crowntail, add it up with shipping/import fees, you may ended up paying upto $50 in total. While you can combine shipping cost with other folks, importation fee is where you're stuck. If you're lucky to find nice fella doing the importation, then your overall cost isn't a big deal. Otherwise, you may just as well kiss your hobby goodbye, cause it's just too darn expensive to keep it.
Now, this discussion is not against any transhippers/importers! They justify their cost accordingly. Hey, it's predatorial world that we live in ;) Someone has to feed somebody else's tummy, otherwise nothing will get done. There may be people who attached themselves to the goodness of others, but that's very rare. Does this remind you of something? I bet so, remember how the big supermarket giants such as Coles and Woollies charge exorbitant prices for their "fresh foods" when you know the farmers aint getting anything much for it? Well, giant supermarket always say that they only take very small profit from it. Do you ever believe them? So, whenever you heard "advancing Australia bettas' quality" coming out of someone's mouth, you ought to question if that's just bull of crap or coming from their hearts.
I think everyone pretty much understands the dynamic of this delicate relationship between buyer, seller, shippers, and transhippers. Buyer is afraid to insult transhipper, seller is afraid to insult both buyer and transhipper, and transhipper only afraid when there are too much competition around, otherwise they're pretty much the boss around the house. Also, most buyers are typically happy for transhippers to charge them for their service, provided the charges are reasonable. But once the balance of fees getting to the point where one side looses his standing, then you'll see the dying of bettas as a hobby. In fact, bettas never did took off in Australia. It was initiated a number of times, many hobbists start the process, but then it just die off. Why you must ask? Well, one of the factors is cost. The other is remoteness of our location from each other. But we believe, cost is the main driving force. If we ever want to make bettas as an ever-growing hobby, we need to start with all the support infrastructure. This includes:
- forums (plenty of this)
- transhippers (if they charge reasonably)
- reasonable costs of bettas (which relies on transhippers above for imported bettas)
- sharing ideas/skills (plenty of hobbyists to do this)
- place to show off what you've got (and sell them to other hobbyists)
The first category is similar to buying branded goods (Dior, Armani, etc). Yes, the quality is reflected on the price you pay for it. But have you bought "cheap-quality-but-expensive-price" clothes such as Guess or any other labelled goods? You are not buying the goods (cause it really is crappy quality) but you buy the "brand" !! So, with bettas you really have to be careful to identify whether you're buying the brand or you're getting the goods (and the brand) that you so rightly deserved that come with the price tag.
The second category is similar to finding treasure in the supermarket. In the supermarket, everyone is pretty much selling "the same quality" stuff, but from time to time, you see the good quality ones that catch your eye. These "better" quality fish typically offerred for higher prices compared to other lower quality ones, and may escalate their status as "designer" fish.
Of course there is a third category that we have not discussed much yet. That is when everyone is selling crappy fish as "designer" fish. This is very much reflected in the market too. Have you ever wonder how on earth a crappy T-Shirt costs $12 at Paddy's when you know that they cost only a tenth of that in their originating country? OK, you may try to fool yourself by saying "there are importation costs etc involve", well, let me tell you, that's just another bull of crap. Put it very simple, importers make tons of money, otherwise they won't be in the business. It boils down to how much demand out there for their goods. Back in the old days when there are not that many importers around, then you see the $10 T-Shirt as high demand (they are the cheapest with "reasonable quality" compared to your usual $20 T-Shirt). Now that there are many importers importing the T-Shirt, the law of demand/supply should dictate that the price is lower. Well, that's where you're wrong again. The importers or the sellers get their act together such that they FIX the price!
Well, you may then ask, how is this applied to bettas? Pretty much the same way....The more demands on the market, the more people import fish, the cheaper it should be for the price of importation -- provided there are heaps of competition, otherwise you see the price not changing much or even rising. We are starting to see the price of bettas going down recently on bidding places. This is when the demands slow down. But unfortunately it rises soon after that, cause when there are demands, there are also more supply, and it's dead easy for anyone to jack up the price. Then you see how everyone selling standard quality for the price that designer fish being charged. Now, of course you can always defend big supermarket giants by saying "well, you need to know what you buy and your limit in buying", but that's just crap. If anyone has decency to other hobbyists, then they ought to consider their pricing very carefully.
For instance, there are a number of very decent sellers who are more than happy to offer you very reasonable prices for their fish. Not because they can't jack you up with higher prices, but because they understand the hobby and try to support it. They understand how much that you as a buyer have been ripped off by the "system", hence they try to supply with very reasonable prices, in the hope that you will come back to them and buy more. These kind of sellers are more than recommended cause they're not in the business of ripping you off. They've been in the business for a number of years and understand the fluid of bettas hobby....
Anyway, this post is getting way too long. Hopefully it's a good food for thought for other hobbyists out there. As usual, feel free to contact us for comment (if you prefer not to comment on the blog itself).
Monday, 2 June 2008
rainbow sale
There are a bunch of fish for bulk sale. Their age from 2-3 months old. all from giant lines of HMPK and HM.
this sale is called rainbow sale cause you get mixed of colours on a sale, mix of everything that we have. all fish properly labelled. if you're interested to know the history of your fish, let us know on the order.
condition of sale still the same as our charity ones: you either donate the money to charity and send us shipping cost, or you pay us up for the fish cost + shipping cost.
Lots available:
Lot 1: top quality (best of the lines), very little to no torn on tail
Lot 2: medium quality, some torn on tail (usually just one torn on anal fin; without the torn, they would make one of the best ones).
Lot 3: medium quality, some torn
None of the fish has any genetic problems. All damages on tail (torn) are recoverable very fast and easily, however they're very difficult to be recovered on our tanks cause they bound to "fight" with other fish on our grow up tanks.
If you're interested to get the complete colours of all lines, we recommend for you to get 2 lots.
We will give a surprise gift with each purchase.
Shipment $20, pick up can be arranged though shipping is the recommended way. Contact us on mybettas at gmail dot com.
Thanks.
this sale is called rainbow sale cause you get mixed of colours on a sale, mix of everything that we have. all fish properly labelled. if you're interested to know the history of your fish, let us know on the order.
condition of sale still the same as our charity ones: you either donate the money to charity and send us shipping cost, or you pay us up for the fish cost + shipping cost.
Lots available:
- Lot 1 -- 10 fish (5 pairs) for $150
- Lot 2 -- 10 fish (5 pairs) for $100
- Lot 3 -- 10 fish (5 pairs) for $75
Lot 1: top quality (best of the lines), very little to no torn on tail
Lot 2: medium quality, some torn on tail (usually just one torn on anal fin; without the torn, they would make one of the best ones).
Lot 3: medium quality, some torn
None of the fish has any genetic problems. All damages on tail (torn) are recoverable very fast and easily, however they're very difficult to be recovered on our tanks cause they bound to "fight" with other fish on our grow up tanks.
If you're interested to get the complete colours of all lines, we recommend for you to get 2 lots.
We will give a surprise gift with each purchase.
Shipment $20, pick up can be arranged though shipping is the recommended way. Contact us on mybettas at gmail dot com.
Thanks.
Friday, 23 May 2008
Expression of interest anyone?
There are 11 pairs of our best young giants available, for those who are interested. They are exactly 2 months old::
1. gold giant pair HM, 8 rays
2. copper gold giant HM pair, 8 rays
3. black red (green scales) giant OHM pair, 8-16 rays
4. platinum red giant HMPK pair, 4-8 rays
5. platinum red (gold) HM giant pair, 8 rays
6. intense yellow HM giant pair, 4-8 rays female, 8 rays male
7. cambodian red HMPK pair, 8 rays
8. green HM giant pair, 8 rays
9. red loss cambodian HMPK giant pair, 4-8 rays
10. platinum red BF giant HMPK pair (perfect pattern), 4-8 rays
11. intense yellow giant HMPK pair, 4-8 rays
4-8 rays indicates that the fish minimally 4 rays but already has some rays split to 8. All of the above are for breeder-quality giants most with size close to 2 inches (for 2 months old, u can't beat that!).
Any of the above pairs are available for generous donor who support our charity cause, otherwise feel free to offer us suitable price :)
1. gold giant pair HM, 8 rays
2. copper gold giant HM pair, 8 rays
3. black red (green scales) giant OHM pair, 8-16 rays
4. platinum red giant HMPK pair, 4-8 rays
5. platinum red (gold) HM giant pair, 8 rays
6. intense yellow HM giant pair, 4-8 rays female, 8 rays male
7. cambodian red HMPK pair, 8 rays
8. green HM giant pair, 8 rays
9. red loss cambodian HMPK giant pair, 4-8 rays
10. platinum red BF giant HMPK pair (perfect pattern), 4-8 rays
11. intense yellow giant HMPK pair, 4-8 rays
4-8 rays indicates that the fish minimally 4 rays but already has some rays split to 8. All of the above are for breeder-quality giants most with size close to 2 inches (for 2 months old, u can't beat that!).
Any of the above pairs are available for generous donor who support our charity cause, otherwise feel free to offer us suitable price :)
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Questions and Answers
From time to time, we've got a number of questions about bettas that we thought better be answered in this one page :) Thanks AB and PM for list of questions. If you have more questions to ask, shoot us email and we'll list them here. The list will be added from time to time. Here they are...
- Q: what size of tank for the giants? A: it varies, but larger size is better. Usually a 10" tank is good for 1 giant, 12" tank is the minimal for a pair.
- Q: What is the size of your community tank? A: Our "community" tanks typically the 140+ L plastic container (tank). We found plastic container is more durable compared to glass tank. Ever wondered the experience of broken glass tank? :)
- Q: How frequently do you change water, how, and how much? A: everyday, suck all water out to dry & take large bucket to pour to the tank back (mix hot and cold tap to make sure temperature is warm), all of it about 90+%
- Q: Do you put other chemical (de-chlorine, multicure, others)? A: no. the fish aint sick, why give meds?
- Q: Aren't you worry that you injured the fish? A: no, they are hardy as rock :)
- Q: Do you have death on your tank? A: yes, about 1 or 2 fish every week each tank, the weakest dies first
- Q: How much you feed your fish? A: each week we spent about $100 to feed them with live worms
- Q: Isn't it a little bit too expensive? A: yes, but we justify it as they gave us enjoyment. We believed it's better to feed your fish best food rather than leaving them malnourished :) Their colour is more vibrant, they are more active, and we gets lots of enjoyment from it...
- Q: What's the temperature of your tank? A: standard 20C - 28C. We use heaters in the tank (unreliable room temperature)
- Q: How many tanks do you have? A: range between 8 to 15. Currently we have 8 growing up tanks, 2 breeding tanks, soon we'll add another 4 breeding tanks, etc.
- Q: What's the secret of your successful betta spawn? A: correct tank size, good parentage, ready pair, abundance food, good temperature, and you're ready to go. Spawning is easy, successful large spawn is different. Rearing is different -- it needs diligent and knowledge. Similar to being "good" mother ;) there are tricks not widely available on the books. Individual breeders need to know their fish well (but not too much motherhood!!)
- Q: Do you use special technique in your breeding? A: if you mean meds or almond leave, no. Our breeding tanks are bare empty. Sometimes we put plant there for artistic value (not for breeding reason).
- Q: What's your smallest, average, and largest spawn size? A: smallest around 50 fry, average around 150, largest 800-1000 (lost count when they're too many of them).
- Q: What's the common disease you've experienced? A: old age? we don't have diseases at all. maybe perhaps ick, but that's because sometimes the heater dies (hence temperature drop). dropsy occurs rarely.
- Q: How many fish do you have and buy from others? A: the number of tanks give you indication of number of fish :) We have around 500-1000 fish at any single point in time, but usually only about 500. We buy fish from time to time, from local breeders but mostly imported from international breeders.
- Q: What do you do with your spawn? A: some are sold to other breeders or interested individuals, some are given away to boyscout members (we're active in boyscout), some going to pet shop, some are given away to support other activities (such as charity etc)
- Q: Do you have preferred international breeders? A: no, usually we work based on their words and some pictures. We do have some connections and monitor their stock regularly to see if anything fits our breeding program.
- Q: What's most disappointing things in breeding? A: watching the juvies fighting :) They flare very pretty but torn fins never been an enjoyment.
- Q: What's some silly questions asked to you from other people? A: not so much silly, perhaps just ignorant. Some didn't appreciate what we have and thought that all fish are "the same", hence expect the same price for example. There are so much different quality of bettas and one has to understand the reason behind a single "price". For instance, you can buy clothing from Target for $40 and that's decent and you can't compare that clothing with the one that you bought in big boutique. Not only the material is different, but the "style" is so apparent and different. Very much like comparing fake diamond and real one ;) The differences are sometimes so subtle...
- Q: I've bought fish from you before, can I still buy a pair from the "same" line? A: yes, provided the line survived. Sometimes we had to terminate the line (very unfortunately) due to various reasons.
Saturday, 17 May 2008
For Sale or Charity
We have some giants young and adult available for sale or charity (while
stock lasts).
Prices as listed. You either:
- age: 2 - 3 months
- length: about 2 inches
- colour: blue, red, yellow, platinum red, black maroon
* 2 rays pair: $30
* 4 rays pair: $50
* 8 rays pair: $80
adult giant HMPK
- age: 3.5-4.5 months
- length: 2.5+ inches
- colour: blue, red, yellow, platinum red, black maroon, green
* 4 rays each: $50
* 8 rays each: $80
young giant HM
- age: 2 months
- length: about 2.5 inches
- available in DTHM and HM lines
- colour: copper gold, gold, copper black, green, blue,
metallic green, yellow, platinum gold, black blue lace
* each: $40
Note that some fish may have very small nip due to growing and
sharing community tank.
Shipping cost $20. Pickup meeting can be arranged if you live in Sydney,
but not preferred, email us first to arrange time/date (have to bother
neighbour's son to help give fish).
Contact us at mybettas at gmail dot com if interested.
additional disclaimer: if you donate considerable sum to charity and would like to 'redeem' some fish, we're more than happy to choose some of the best of our lines to be sent to you. This is our way to acknowledge how thankful we are for your help to those who are in need. Please do not hesitate to 'redeem', as we're more than happy to share our fish to good person such as yourself. Thank you!
some more pictures of the green and lace. they are taken during feeding, too much disturbance and activity going on :). The green is taken on flash, the lace without flash. No pictures of DT atm, too difficult to take their pics, but roughly same size and beauty.
More pics of the copper gold, DT and single tail HM. A little bit fuzzy but here they are :)
stock lasts).
Prices as listed. You either:
- pay us the prices for chosen fish, or
- you donate the money to charity (MSF is recommended: http://msf.org.au) and pay us shipping cost if shipping is required
- age: 2 - 3 months
- length: about 2 inches
- colour: blue, red, yellow, platinum red, black maroon
* 2 rays pair: $30
* 4 rays pair: $50
* 8 rays pair: $80
adult giant HMPK
- age: 3.5-4.5 months
- length: 2.5+ inches
- colour: blue, red, yellow, platinum red, black maroon, green
* 4 rays each: $50
* 8 rays each: $80
young giant HM
- age: 2 months
- length: about 2.5 inches
- available in DTHM and HM lines
- colour: copper gold, gold, copper black, green, blue,
metallic green, yellow, platinum gold, black blue lace
* each: $40
Note that some fish may have very small nip due to growing and
sharing community tank.
Shipping cost $20. Pickup meeting can be arranged if you live in Sydney,
but not preferred, email us first to arrange time/date (have to bother
neighbour's son to help give fish).
Contact us at mybettas at gmail dot com if interested.
additional disclaimer: if you donate considerable sum to charity and would like to 'redeem' some fish, we're more than happy to choose some of the best of our lines to be sent to you. This is our way to acknowledge how thankful we are for your help to those who are in need. Please do not hesitate to 'redeem', as we're more than happy to share our fish to good person such as yourself. Thank you!
some more pictures of the green and lace. they are taken during feeding, too much disturbance and activity going on :). The green is taken on flash, the lace without flash. No pictures of DT atm, too difficult to take their pics, but roughly same size and beauty.
More pics of the copper gold, DT and single tail HM. A little bit fuzzy but here they are :)
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
some pictures
here some pics of growout tanks containing red giant lines....
another one...
more...
sample red platinum boy
adult 3.5 months, 2.7 inches male
its sibling female, larger than the male...at 2.8 inches
These lines are mixture of the pure red cambodian, red platinum, red gold, etc. All of them King Giant Betta HMPK lines (3 inches more).
another one...
more...
sample red platinum boy
adult 3.5 months, 2.7 inches male
its sibling female, larger than the male...at 2.8 inches
These lines are mixture of the pure red cambodian, red platinum, red gold, etc. All of them King Giant Betta HMPK lines (3 inches more).
AB's green spawn
here is the picture of green spawn that we did for AB (thanks for permission, AB).
Basically AB provides us the pair and we spawn them as part of our spawning service. This picture was taken about 1.5 weeks ago. This sunday, AB will take the whole spawn with her, congratulation on growing them up....
By quick calculation, there should be about 500 or 600 fry there, all grown to 3 weeks this sunday.
Basically AB provides us the pair and we spawn them as part of our spawning service. This picture was taken about 1.5 weeks ago. This sunday, AB will take the whole spawn with her, congratulation on growing them up....
By quick calculation, there should be about 500 or 600 fry there, all grown to 3 weeks this sunday.
Monday, 5 May 2008
new blood
Now that we've emptied half of our tanks, time to introduce new bloods to the system :)
Currently we maintain a number of giant HM and HMPK lines including (but definitely not limited to):
A few restructuring of the tanks happening as well now. We managed to reduce the number of tanks from 20 to 8. 7 of them are growing up tanks and only 1 tank has breeding pair at the moment (they just spawned yesterday!).
Currently we maintain a number of giant HM and HMPK lines including (but definitely not limited to):
- red gold
- gold
- copper gold
- green
- melano
- cambo red
- intense yellow
- platinum red
- MG
- copper gold
A few restructuring of the tanks happening as well now. We managed to reduce the number of tanks from 20 to 8. 7 of them are growing up tanks and only 1 tank has breeding pair at the moment (they just spawned yesterday!).
Friday, 18 April 2008
charity sale
We're going to have another charity sale of our giant lines. The fish you're getting are all giant HMPK with age ranging from 2 - 3 months. Large and small :) Length ranges about 2-2.3 inches.
Their colour ranges from cambodian red, red loss, red gold (very limited), black/red/blue, black/red/green, melano, yellow, and green metallic (only 2??).
Note that these giants are solid King Giant Betta that can grow up to 4.5 inches (well, at least their parents were of that size). Mostly 4 or 8 rays split but there are mixtures of 2 rays here and there also. All very thick rays. Nip here and there are expected as they grow in community tank (with only selected few had the luxury of their own tanks). All nips will regrow with no problems.
Some sample pictures avail of the above, but don't expect us to take pictures of the exact fish (no time and place for picturing -- sorry).
First come first served basis.
Steps to participate:
Also available are 2 males + 1 female (cambo red and platinum red cambo line) breeders. They are breeders, nip/tuck may be noticeable but otherwise they're perfect for breeding. Males are slightly OHMPK, 4 or 8 rays (didn't bother to do the counting these days). They are about 2.5+ inches (didn't bother to measure either), with very thick and wide body. Age about 4.5 months. These trio will be sent from AK in QLD to you (thanks AK!).
Condition of participation:
PS. only avail for Australians.
Their colour ranges from cambodian red, red loss, red gold (very limited), black/red/blue, black/red/green, melano, yellow, and green metallic (only 2??).
Note that these giants are solid King Giant Betta that can grow up to 4.5 inches (well, at least their parents were of that size). Mostly 4 or 8 rays split but there are mixtures of 2 rays here and there also. All very thick rays. Nip here and there are expected as they grow in community tank (with only selected few had the luxury of their own tanks). All nips will regrow with no problems.
Some sample pictures avail of the above, but don't expect us to take pictures of the exact fish (no time and place for picturing -- sorry).
First come first served basis.
Steps to participate:
- send us email, telling which colour that you'd like, we'll confirm if stock still avail
- go to any of your charity, donate directly to the value of what you think the fish are worth for (include $10 for the shipping cost here).
- show us the proof of donation
- send us the other half of shipping cost (i.e. $10)
- we'll send you the fish agreed and we even cover the shipping charges (well...consider that we're donating half of the shipping charges to the donation in part of your money)
Also available are 2 males + 1 female (cambo red and platinum red cambo line) breeders. They are breeders, nip/tuck may be noticeable but otherwise they're perfect for breeding. Males are slightly OHMPK, 4 or 8 rays (didn't bother to do the counting these days). They are about 2.5+ inches (didn't bother to measure either), with very thick and wide body. Age about 4.5 months. These trio will be sent from AK in QLD to you (thanks AK!).
Condition of participation:
- we reserve the right not to send you fish if we consider that you haven't opened up your heart trully. for example, sending $11 ($10 shipping and $1 for fish) to charity and asking 20 fish is just not on.
- as guidance, each fish worth as much as you consider them to be, but at least ought to be more or less the price charged by your petshop (and they don't even supply giants!)
PS. only avail for Australians.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
do you have gambling problem?
It just strikes me that breeding bettas are not much different from gambling :)
When you have gambling problems, it usually involves tendency where you keep loosing money and yet ignorant about it and still believed that the next bet going to win you back all the lost you've experience so far.
Well, most people who breed bettas in countries with 4 seasons know that you aint going to make money out of bettas hobby. It gets worst when you breed them!
For instance, we have been bettas for yongs now and have worked out some ways to cut our expenses but there aint a way for us to break even. We breed them and keep them like one of our own (child), hence we always make sure that they've got the "best" for everything. When it's cold, heater would be on. Food always life food (would you give your child crappy food?).
Keeping all those luxuries make a very expensive hobby. But there is more!! if you breed bettas, then it's only a matter of time before you'd like to cross your line out to improve it (otherwise you breed them just as 'normal' pets which you may not even care whatever quality that you get from your bettas). Now, that's the tricky part....there aint no one in AU can supply good/better bettas, so we have to import the "seed" from other countries. And importation aint cheap! Furthermore, this has to be done at least every so often. We at least cross out every 2 or 3 generations. This comes so quick, we pretty much has to rely on importing these guys every month or two.....
So, at the end, breeding bettas is no more different than gambling. Sure you've got the enjoyment of seeing them grow yada yada yada, but your pocket will dry very much faster too. This assumes you don't have any other problems with your current lines. What if all of a sudden your gorgeous male/female died and there wasn't another "good" replacement for it? there you go....import a new one! That's provided you can find a decent one that fits your breeding plans and should we say for "reasonable" price????
The folks in QLD or northern land are luckier. At least they dont have to worry about getting freezing cold for their bettas.
When you have gambling problems, it usually involves tendency where you keep loosing money and yet ignorant about it and still believed that the next bet going to win you back all the lost you've experience so far.
Well, most people who breed bettas in countries with 4 seasons know that you aint going to make money out of bettas hobby. It gets worst when you breed them!
For instance, we have been bettas for yongs now and have worked out some ways to cut our expenses but there aint a way for us to break even. We breed them and keep them like one of our own (child), hence we always make sure that they've got the "best" for everything. When it's cold, heater would be on. Food always life food (would you give your child crappy food?).
Keeping all those luxuries make a very expensive hobby. But there is more!! if you breed bettas, then it's only a matter of time before you'd like to cross your line out to improve it (otherwise you breed them just as 'normal' pets which you may not even care whatever quality that you get from your bettas). Now, that's the tricky part....there aint no one in AU can supply good/better bettas, so we have to import the "seed" from other countries. And importation aint cheap! Furthermore, this has to be done at least every so often. We at least cross out every 2 or 3 generations. This comes so quick, we pretty much has to rely on importing these guys every month or two.....
So, at the end, breeding bettas is no more different than gambling. Sure you've got the enjoyment of seeing them grow yada yada yada, but your pocket will dry very much faster too. This assumes you don't have any other problems with your current lines. What if all of a sudden your gorgeous male/female died and there wasn't another "good" replacement for it? there you go....import a new one! That's provided you can find a decent one that fits your breeding plans and should we say for "reasonable" price????
The folks in QLD or northern land are luckier. At least they dont have to worry about getting freezing cold for their bettas.
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Selling last and best giant female
Sadly, I think we have to sell our best and last cambodian red giant female HMPK. We can't breed her as there are no spaces left.
Anyway, here is her detail:
length: 3 inches
spread: 175 degree
type: HMPK
colour: cambodian red
age: 5+ months (hatched early Nov)
branch: 4 (from 8 branches line)
special price: $200 ono
shipping: $25
Note that this female is best for breeder. She's 100% King Giant Betta and typically you can't get similar female from anywhere (most people will not sell you one).
Contact us on email if you're interested.
Anyway, here is her detail:
length: 3 inches
spread: 175 degree
type: HMPK
colour: cambodian red
age: 5+ months (hatched early Nov)
branch: 4 (from 8 branches line)
special price: $200 ono
shipping: $25
Note that this female is best for breeder. She's 100% King Giant Betta and typically you can't get similar female from anywhere (most people will not sell you one).
Contact us on email if you're interested.
Friday, 4 April 2008
switching food: dropsy
Last 2 weeks, we ran out of black worms (supplier didn't get them) and we had no choice but to switch to frozen blood worms. Anyway, the juvies were quite puzzled to see the frozen worms not moving about, hence didn't take the food in the first feeding.
Now that they've gotten used for a whole 2 weeks with frozen worms, interesting things started to came about.
With fresh black worms, they always have huge full belly. With frozen, it never be the case. They only eat when necessary and then stop altogether, ignoring the food. Hence they never get full belly.
Well, that's not the problem. Moving onto day 4 of frozen worms, we started to notice that a few (four or so) of the juvies didn't want to eat...then they got dropsy.
Once they've got dropsy, that's it....no way to safe them if it's too late.
Food related dropsy sometimes quite easy to solve, just have to starve them a couple of days.
Anyway, the interesting part is to see switching to frozen food can cause dropsy. I think it has to do with bloating effect caused by frozen food.
Now that we've got life black worm stock, all is great. No more dropsy, all juvies had fat big belly, and they're a lot more active!
Now that they've gotten used for a whole 2 weeks with frozen worms, interesting things started to came about.
With fresh black worms, they always have huge full belly. With frozen, it never be the case. They only eat when necessary and then stop altogether, ignoring the food. Hence they never get full belly.
Well, that's not the problem. Moving onto day 4 of frozen worms, we started to notice that a few (four or so) of the juvies didn't want to eat...then they got dropsy.
Once they've got dropsy, that's it....no way to safe them if it's too late.
Food related dropsy sometimes quite easy to solve, just have to starve them a couple of days.
Anyway, the interesting part is to see switching to frozen food can cause dropsy. I think it has to do with bloating effect caused by frozen food.
Now that we've got life black worm stock, all is great. No more dropsy, all juvies had fat big belly, and they're a lot more active!
Selling giant juvies
Thanks for all the interest for our breeding stocks. However, due to space, we have no choice but to sell our giant juveniles as well. Some of their details:
type: HMPK or OHMPK.
colour: cambodian red, red loss, yellow, blue, and red/blue (while stock lasts)
age: 2 months
length: about 1.5-2 inches
price: AUD$50 per pair (random mix)
gift: a special gift is given for every order
shipping included.
They're still young and small, but guaranteed to be 100% giants. You should see their sizes grow double in 1-2 months time (provided large space and good food given).
Contact us at mybettas at gmail dot com if interested. Thanks.
type: HMPK or OHMPK.
colour: cambodian red, red loss, yellow, blue, and red/blue (while stock lasts)
age: 2 months
length: about 1.5-2 inches
price: AUD$50 per pair (random mix)
gift: a special gift is given for every order
shipping included.
They're still young and small, but guaranteed to be 100% giants. You should see their sizes grow double in 1-2 months time (provided large space and good food given).
Contact us at mybettas at gmail dot com if interested. Thanks.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Selling breeder stock
There are too many bettas at our place at the moment, so we have to sell the breeder stock to get more place (won't be able to spawn any more -- all tanks are full).
Currently on the line:
* green OHM giant pair
* red cambodian OHMPK giant pairs (3 pairs)
* young red cambodian HMPK giant pairs (10 pairs).
Male HMPK length between 2.6 (young) to 3 inches. Female HMPK length between 2.6 young to 2.8 inches. Green OHM giant is *not* PK line, not sure the length (need to measure it up)
Currently on the line:
* green OHM giant pair
* red cambodian OHMPK giant pairs (3 pairs)
* young red cambodian HMPK giant pairs (10 pairs).
Male HMPK length between 2.6 (young) to 3 inches. Female HMPK length between 2.6 young to 2.8 inches. Green OHM giant is *not* PK line, not sure the length (need to measure it up)
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Another giant pair avail for sale
This time, we've got blue/red pairs. Siblings. Age 3.5 month. Come from blue mask line.
Male 8 rays, female 4 getting to 8 rays.
Male is OHM. Female is full 180 degree.
Male and female length: about 2.6 inches
Both are HMPK.
Price: AUD$ 200
Contact us at mybettas at gmail dot com
Contact us direct for pictures. We're having problem uploading pictures here...
Male 8 rays, female 4 getting to 8 rays.
Male is OHM. Female is full 180 degree.
Male and female length: about 2.6 inches
Both are HMPK.
Price: AUD$ 200
Contact us at mybettas at gmail dot com
Contact us direct for pictures. We're having problem uploading pictures here...
giant width vs length
We notice that a number of giants available in the market have tendencies being ok on length, i.e. they're 2.8" or so in length, but they're in fact quite 'skinny'.....
Our giants, at the age of 3.5 months, are actually very thick on the body as well as lengthy (2.6 inches). For instance, check out the 2 blurry pictures shown of our giants in previous post awhile back. One of the giant is very thick and the other one is quite skinny. The thick one becomes the majority for us these days (or maybe because we had the tendency to choose thicker ones for spawning).
The problem with the thick one is that it is very difficult for the male to wrap the female. Once the size of the female gets to 2.8 inches, the male can only try and try to wrap the female without much success. These females have tendencies of being very fat and huge as well, so their width is quite easily upto 1.5 times the width of the male (mind the eggs!). This reminds me of "bender" of Futurama when he's trying to bend thick steel. Perhaps that's the reason why we don't see much of 3+ inches females available, cause in order to wrap such female, one needs at least 3.5 or 4 inches male for ease of spawning experience ;)
Our giants, at the age of 3.5 months, are actually very thick on the body as well as lengthy (2.6 inches). For instance, check out the 2 blurry pictures shown of our giants in previous post awhile back. One of the giant is very thick and the other one is quite skinny. The thick one becomes the majority for us these days (or maybe because we had the tendency to choose thicker ones for spawning).
The problem with the thick one is that it is very difficult for the male to wrap the female. Once the size of the female gets to 2.8 inches, the male can only try and try to wrap the female without much success. These females have tendencies of being very fat and huge as well, so their width is quite easily upto 1.5 times the width of the male (mind the eggs!). This reminds me of "bender" of Futurama when he's trying to bend thick steel. Perhaps that's the reason why we don't see much of 3+ inches females available, cause in order to wrap such female, one needs at least 3.5 or 4 inches male for ease of spawning experience ;)
Monday, 24 March 2008
green giant OHM
we've got nice green giant pair OHM long fin. Their body is not as big as standard giant, due to their long fin nature, but they're definitely from giant background as the body width is much bigger than standard long fin. We haven't measured their length yet, perhaps one of these days when we have them isolated and when we have time :)
the beauty of this pair is that the female is OHM, and the male is also OHM. The 1st batch of fry is already about 1 week old now, and to our amazement, more than half of them already have the OHM finnage! It seems parents come from at least 16 rays branching -- doesn't seem to be 32 rays, but who's counting the rays these days when they branch so heavily :)
They seemed to come from platinum or opaque line cross to mask green. So half of the fry is opaque in body (easily distinguishable even when they're just small fry!) and the other half is of darker body.
The plan is now to cross this pair to our other giant lines, hence improving their size as well as their finnage. The output colour doesn't seem to bother us for the time being. So we'll see how they cross to our melano giant line, cambo red giant, wild blue/red giant, and our own mask green giant MG. That if this pair can stay strong for all of these spawnings. By the look of it, they're very young age and very agressive, so that's the good thing about it. Also long fin makes it a snap to spawn these fish, as they don't have the problems we've been facing with HMPK line.
the beauty of this pair is that the female is OHM, and the male is also OHM. The 1st batch of fry is already about 1 week old now, and to our amazement, more than half of them already have the OHM finnage! It seems parents come from at least 16 rays branching -- doesn't seem to be 32 rays, but who's counting the rays these days when they branch so heavily :)
They seemed to come from platinum or opaque line cross to mask green. So half of the fry is opaque in body (easily distinguishable even when they're just small fry!) and the other half is of darker body.
The plan is now to cross this pair to our other giant lines, hence improving their size as well as their finnage. The output colour doesn't seem to bother us for the time being. So we'll see how they cross to our melano giant line, cambo red giant, wild blue/red giant, and our own mask green giant MG. That if this pair can stay strong for all of these spawnings. By the look of it, they're very young age and very agressive, so that's the good thing about it. Also long fin makes it a snap to spawn these fish, as they don't have the problems we've been facing with HMPK line.
giant OHMPK for sale
We've got 1 of our best male OHMPK for sale. He is cambodian red OHMPK. Very thick finnage and wide body. Length 2.6-2.7 inches. Age at 3.5 months only. Never spawned. Picture to come soon.
Sibling female HMPK (full 180 degree) avail. Length 2.7 inches (slightly bigger than the male). Thick finnage.
This line comes from 8 rays line. They are very young and will grow to be much bigger and larger.
Male only cost AUD$150
Female only cost AUD$200
Pair cost AUD$250
Shipping Australia only at $25 to most places except western AU, contact us for detail.
Contact us on email at mybettas at gmail.com if you're interested. As the above female is larger than the male, you need to be knowledgeable on spawning bettas before you attempt spawning them. Alternatively, we can find smaller female if you wish.
Sibling female HMPK (full 180 degree) avail. Length 2.7 inches (slightly bigger than the male). Thick finnage.
This line comes from 8 rays line. They are very young and will grow to be much bigger and larger.
Male only cost AUD$150
Female only cost AUD$200
Pair cost AUD$250
Shipping Australia only at $25 to most places except western AU, contact us for detail.
Contact us on email at mybettas at gmail.com if you're interested. As the above female is larger than the male, you need to be knowledgeable on spawning bettas before you attempt spawning them. Alternatively, we can find smaller female if you wish.
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
we're moving!
we're moving yesterday to our new home. nicer and bigger than the old one but lots of things to do...
in the meantime, we're going to be very busy this week and the next, apologies for not replying to your queries in the meantime.
in the meantime, we're going to be very busy this week and the next, apologies for not replying to your queries in the meantime.
Thursday, 21 February 2008
pictures of giants
These 2 giants need new home. We haven't been able to make use of them cause all tanks are occupied for spawning and rearing....It's so sad really, cause they looks very nice to each other (fighting that is) and their size is just amazing to see.
They're about 3x the size of normal hmpk. nice to see how they swim side by side with the others in our tank, but over the time they get to be the bully and got irritated with other fish around them.
Anyway, if you're interested, shoot us an email. We may just sell you 2 for the price of one, hopefully you can make use of them. They come from 8 rays spawn, but these 2 are only 4 rays. When they spread their caudal, they are actually ohmpk. the blurry pictures don't do them any justice at all, but then it's very hard to take pictures of moving object (plus crappy camera, but who's complaining, right?)
In the picture, you can see the front male of not spreading to its max. it's quite clear of its 4 rays (and very thick fins). Also you can see how they compare in size with other hmpk and hm in the tank :)
They're about 3x the size of normal hmpk. nice to see how they swim side by side with the others in our tank, but over the time they get to be the bully and got irritated with other fish around them.
Anyway, if you're interested, shoot us an email. We may just sell you 2 for the price of one, hopefully you can make use of them. They come from 8 rays spawn, but these 2 are only 4 rays. When they spread their caudal, they are actually ohmpk. the blurry pictures don't do them any justice at all, but then it's very hard to take pictures of moving object (plus crappy camera, but who's complaining, right?)In the picture, you can see the front male of not spreading to its max. it's quite clear of its 4 rays (and very thick fins). Also you can see how they compare in size with other hmpk and hm in the tank :)
Sunday, 17 February 2008
predatorial of bettas
watching how our giant fry grow and how the bigger ones started to chase the small ones (and sadly sometimes they managed to catch up and eat them) has made me realize the meaning "survival of the fittest".
most tanks are the result of 2 spawns in our place. we spawn them first time, once the fry hatched and free swimming (day 2 or 3), we released another sibling female in the tank, which usually resulted in another spawn the day after release. Even with only 2 spawns, it is so apparent how aggressive the first batch is....by the time the 2nd batch is free swimming, the first batch already started to eat BBS. only a matter of couple of days before they go very hungry and started to chase the 2nd batch fry. perhaps that's because giant grows very fast?
anyway, usually only half of 2nd batch fry can survive at later stage, that's discounting any other events that may happen during their growing up....
another thing that also amazes me....there are times when i saw the father chase and eat the 1st batch fry!! i think he got pissed off when the larger fry started to it its much smaller sibling, so he chased the larger fry and kill it....that's how cruel life is!!! it's just to show how the father wants to make sure that the larger fry does not pose any danger to his other fry....
most tanks are the result of 2 spawns in our place. we spawn them first time, once the fry hatched and free swimming (day 2 or 3), we released another sibling female in the tank, which usually resulted in another spawn the day after release. Even with only 2 spawns, it is so apparent how aggressive the first batch is....by the time the 2nd batch is free swimming, the first batch already started to eat BBS. only a matter of couple of days before they go very hungry and started to chase the 2nd batch fry. perhaps that's because giant grows very fast?
anyway, usually only half of 2nd batch fry can survive at later stage, that's discounting any other events that may happen during their growing up....
another thing that also amazes me....there are times when i saw the father chase and eat the 1st batch fry!! i think he got pissed off when the larger fry started to it its much smaller sibling, so he chased the larger fry and kill it....that's how cruel life is!!! it's just to show how the father wants to make sure that the larger fry does not pose any danger to his other fry....
giant and anal fin
lately i noticed that the bigger the giant, the thicker its anal fin is. i'm referring to giant hmpk of course. it seems, as our giants getting larger in size, i can notice the tip of its anal fin (towards the pointy end) is slightly bigger than its body width (body that holds that anal fin -- the pointy part).
i usually only noticed this effect when you get old standard hmpk fish. when they get older, their anal fin is getting longer. funny that our giants are very young, only about 2.5 to 3 months and many of them have huge, large, finnage. ok, their size is about 2.2 to 2.3 inches but it's so nice to see they grow so fast and so big in such short amount of time.
Some of them are ready to spawn already (and we've spawned them). that large anal fin and caudal fin prove to be very useful to wrap the female.
talking about female. their sibling female has nothing much special. good caudal fin spread ranging from 2, 4, and 8 rays. but otherwise, their body is very large with nothing special on finnage. it is still cute to see them dances with the male. of course they're not afraid of the mail, cause they're just as big as the male (with exception that the male has bigger fin).
i usually only noticed this effect when you get old standard hmpk fish. when they get older, their anal fin is getting longer. funny that our giants are very young, only about 2.5 to 3 months and many of them have huge, large, finnage. ok, their size is about 2.2 to 2.3 inches but it's so nice to see they grow so fast and so big in such short amount of time.
Some of them are ready to spawn already (and we've spawned them). that large anal fin and caudal fin prove to be very useful to wrap the female.
talking about female. their sibling female has nothing much special. good caudal fin spread ranging from 2, 4, and 8 rays. but otherwise, their body is very large with nothing special on finnage. it is still cute to see them dances with the male. of course they're not afraid of the mail, cause they're just as big as the male (with exception that the male has bigger fin).
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
fascination on long fin giant
recently, there has been some show off for long fin giants. i've never got interest in them previously (as we focus much on short fin hmpk giants). however, this time, the finnage of long fin giant seems to be just fantastic. they seem to hold their tail nicely.
ok, the dorsal and other fin form isn't really that great, but considering how huge they are, you gotta give some appreciation that a good long fin giant is finally able to be developed.
the price is just ridiculous though, so perhaps we have to wait another year to see decent priced giants. funny thing about giants, many dont know when they bought long fin giant, they actually do not breed true. otherwise we'd have lots of giants by now.
our own experimentation has shown us that it is consistently difficult to *always* get 3+ inches giant hmpk. if you're talking about standard pk, then that's no big deal. they're pretty much given already. it's quite easy to get huge giant on standard pk. but once you've put hm line in the mix, somehow F2 or F3 will be shrinking in size.
anyway, we'll see how it goes with our experimentation.
ok, the dorsal and other fin form isn't really that great, but considering how huge they are, you gotta give some appreciation that a good long fin giant is finally able to be developed.
the price is just ridiculous though, so perhaps we have to wait another year to see decent priced giants. funny thing about giants, many dont know when they bought long fin giant, they actually do not breed true. otherwise we'd have lots of giants by now.
our own experimentation has shown us that it is consistently difficult to *always* get 3+ inches giant hmpk. if you're talking about standard pk, then that's no big deal. they're pretty much given already. it's quite easy to get huge giant on standard pk. but once you've put hm line in the mix, somehow F2 or F3 will be shrinking in size.
anyway, we'll see how it goes with our experimentation.
Friday, 1 February 2008
giant eggs
recently we've got a bunch of giants (HMPK) spawning. reflecting back, it's amazing that things go by without us noticing.
i just noticed, for example, on how big the giant eggs are. i got surprised not because i didn't see the eggs or their number, it's more to do with they're only very young, about 2.5 months or so, they spawned very nicely, and with their young age, i thought their eggs will be smaller. At least, with other bettas such as long fin or its short fin counterpart, their eggs are smaller, about half smaller.
their eggs are very big, twice as big as the normal bettas, and as big as an old female eggs (old female has tendency of having large eggs).
anyway, it's very nice to see the size of the eggs and their quantity, being produced from such young female
i just noticed, for example, on how big the giant eggs are. i got surprised not because i didn't see the eggs or their number, it's more to do with they're only very young, about 2.5 months or so, they spawned very nicely, and with their young age, i thought their eggs will be smaller. At least, with other bettas such as long fin or its short fin counterpart, their eggs are smaller, about half smaller.
their eggs are very big, twice as big as the normal bettas, and as big as an old female eggs (old female has tendency of having large eggs).
anyway, it's very nice to see the size of the eggs and their quantity, being produced from such young female
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
the end of black line?
the original super black hm line seems to disappear, unfortunately. the last batch was contaminated and had to be terminated -- plus we were really busy last couple of months and they got neglected :-(.
there are some new crosses from this line to standard melano, but the F1 fry seems to be carrying all melano (2 month old now). perhaps F2 and F3 sibling crosses will yield better result. there is 1 super black hm female left from the line, hopefully we can use her to cross to any of these F1 in time.
there are some new crosses from this line to standard melano, but the F1 fry seems to be carrying all melano (2 month old now). perhaps F2 and F3 sibling crosses will yield better result. there is 1 super black hm female left from the line, hopefully we can use her to cross to any of these F1 in time.
dragon giants hmpk
we're in process of developing full dragon giants. early indication has shown that the dragon scales inherited nicely and what's more, the spread is awesome! some of the fry had shown very nice shiny scales with outward branch (8 or 16 rays) of full 180 degree.
rosetail genes seems to be contributing for this branching though, but it's just awesome to see how vibrant they are and how active when they snap foods...
will keep updating when not busy :)
rosetail genes seems to be contributing for this branching though, but it's just awesome to see how vibrant they are and how active when they snap foods...
will keep updating when not busy :)
lost account
we lost the access account to our web for a couple of months already. we're still trying to find ways to gain access to it. in the meantime, if you'd like to buy some of our fish, email us direct at mybettas AT gmail DOT com.
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