# WOW!!! Look at this beautiful fish!!!



## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Are these suitable for the planted aquarium if you are JUST keeping this fish in there? (no others, just this)

It is selling on aquabid right now...I am a bit weary since it would be coming from Singapore.


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## New 2 Fish (Dec 31, 2004)

Looks like a betta, so yes. Just e very careful what other tankmates, if any you put in there. 
That fish is flaring, in response to what it sees as a threat- another male or just its own reflection. Its fins won't be spread out like that all of the time.


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Despite what popular culture seems to think, Betta splendens is not aggressive to other fish if kept in quarters that are sufficiently large. They are absolutely peaceful toward cardinal tetras, angelfish, corydoras, and the like in 50g+ tanks.

I found them to be aggressive and highly territorial in 10g and 5g tanks toward even pencilfish and rasboras.

They are, however, always aggressive toward other members of the same species -- especially other males, which will rip each other apart.

Carlos


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

I forgot to mention....when I was in grammar school I actually bred the bettas once. The male built a nest out of bubbles while I was keeping the female inside a jar that was in the tank. After feedeing them live bloodworms for a few days the female became plump so I let her out and they made eggs. It was fun to watch the male and pick up the falling eggs and place them in the nest. The babies never survived and I lost interest (probably 9 years old). I have never kept these fish inside a real tank as I always put them in little plastic 1 gallon aquariums. This is why I was curious if it would do well by itself in a planted aquarium.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

I had one in a 58G tank and it manage to kill two ottos.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Jersey... I have a male Betta in a 30G planted tank with a Angel fish, Molly, Otto's, Cories, pleco and they all do very well together.

_How much is the bidding starting out at, for a fish like that?_


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

The bidding is at 60 dollars right now. Here is the link http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettasct&1133183313


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## brad (Jul 10, 2005)

Are you going to bid on the fish? Understand that shipping of 6$ to transhipper is not the total shipping. It'll be closer to 40$ for shipping, putting the total price of the fish at around 100 smackers.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

brad said:


> Are you going to bid on the fish? Understand that shipping of 6$ to transhipper is not the total shipping. It'll be closer to 40$ for shipping, putting the total price of the fish at around 100 smackers.


I don't know....if I did it would be an impulse buy. When I mentioned this to my girlfriend she did raise her brow giving me the evil eye.


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## PlantsAndMe (Apr 3, 2005)

Crowntails need extremely clean water; more than halfmoon IMO. If the water becomes dirty in any way, the rays will curl up. The color is clean for an opaque white and the double ray is fantastic. The pricetag, however, is more than the fish is worth IMO. If you plan to buy imported bettas, go here: http://www.livetropicalexport.com/


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Remember also that Bettas also do not have a very long lifespan (this one will probably last about a year or maybe a little more). 

Not really worth it all things considering, unless you are a hard core Betta breeder who absolutely needs a fish like that.

Carlos


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Damn, you guys talked me out of it. There goes that idea. :toimonst:


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## PlantsAndMe (Apr 3, 2005)

Actually, since it's only 4 months old, it could live well over 2 years (maybe even more than 3) under good care. Just buy him a 1 gallon tank with filtration and heater and feed/clean him well.


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Couple more beauties I found on aquabid. I think they are pretty to look at so enjoy all these pictures.


























































This one went for 180 bucks!!!!


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

I have bought 6 fish from Stingray's Bettas over the last year. They are very nice and high quality. Just wanted to give feedback on the guy..


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## PlantsAndMe (Apr 3, 2005)

No matter how many colors a bettas can get, this is my only desire (for now):










That's a halfmoon plakat with melano gene.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Jersey, 

If you are into bettas, please come to NJAS meeting and I will introduce you to Rich Martucci - our betta specialist. He has 250+ bowls and huge selection. Rich is well recognized betta breeder in US. 

Just let me know what you are interested in.


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## [email protected] (Jul 18, 2005)

*betta's*

I have one male in my five gallon which I just planted over the weekend. Doing great his color became more intense. but in the fifty five gallon planted (planting not finished) I have 4 female bettas in my comm with sailfin mollies, sailfin platys, lyrea tail sword, guppies, cories, neon tetras, long fin tetras, serpea tetras(?spelling), one male blue gouriami . All inhabitants are happy and healthy, bettas are a great edition to a aquarium esp the females. I have had my system going for over a year


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## JerseyScape (Nov 18, 2005)

Jay Luto said:


> Jersey,
> 
> If you are into bettas, please come to NJAS meeting and I will introduce you to Rich Martucci - our betta specialist. He has 250+ bowls and huge selection. Rich is well recognized betta breeder in US.
> 
> Just let me know what you are interested in.


Jay,

I am not really into bettas, I just thought that that particular one looked spectacular. I have an empty planted 15 gallon so I am looking for some type of unique fish that would do well. Thanks for the invitations to the NJAS, I will definitely be there in January when you guys start again. Please take my e-mail address and let me know when everything is happening [email protected]

Thanks


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

JerseyScape said:


> I don't know....if I did it would be an impulse buy. When I mentioned this to my girlfriend she did raise her brow giving me the evil eye.


Over the years, which has given you more complaints, your fish or your current girlfriend?

Just a thought.


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## kimbm04r (Apr 22, 2005)

I have raised Bettas since 2000 and the price of that fish is not out of the ordinary for breeding stock. However, if you intend to just have him as a pet then I would probably go with just a pet shop fish. Check out bcbetta.com. She has Bettas at a more reasonable fee from time to time.


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

I'm really appreciating this thread. I've been so into plants this last year that I haven't thought so much about fish. Also I have a thing about Betta's that has to do with always avoiding the part of the lfs that has a hundred of them in these teeny little cups - it kinda freaks me out. Anyway it's fun to look at them from a different perspective.

Thanks, Bill


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## imatrout (May 12, 2005)

Thanks for bringing up this topic. I've always wanted to try these and I think you all just convinced me.


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## raven_wilde (Nov 16, 2005)

Yeah me too, I've wanted a crowntail betta for some time now, I often find myself drooling over those listed on ebay... I don't dare buy one now though, my angelfish would rip him apart... some day though, or maybe if I ever get that nano cube I want.

Anyway, just a note on aggression learned from keeping these guys in the past... it totally depends on the fish. I've had some males that you think would be into destruction but have totally turned out to be the sweetest shyest fish ever... and I've also had females that would not tolerate anything at all in their tank with them. In fact, the first fish I bought in college when I started keeping fish again were a pair of bettas, male and female. In the process of trying to breed them the female killed the male, I guess she didn't like the treatment she was getting or maybe she didn't approve of the nest he built. After that I tried keeping her with some neons but every morning I'd wake up and there would be another one missing. Eventually I found that the only thing that she'd allow in her tank with her were cory cats, and I suspect that was only because she never ventured down to the bottom of the tank... or maybe because the cories had spines. In any case they are some of my favorite fish, and when I get the chance again it's going to be hard to restrain myself from dropping a lot of $$ on an ebay auction.


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## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

Both the bettas I've had have been pacivists.

The first one, whom I called doughnut, I only saw flare once. That was after he jumped and hit is head on the filter and scraped scales off. One time I put a mirror up to the tank and he just looked over the top of the mirror at me "Oh there you are".

This new betta is very inquisitive, and flared at the platys a few times but got no reaction so went off to other things. He is more willing to run than stand ground.

My wife had a betta in a bowl. He hated being taken out while his bowl was cleaned and would flare at the cup used to hold him during that. He also didn't like music sometimes and would go off, other times he apeared to enjoy it.


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## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

tsunami said:


> Remember also that Bettas also do not have a very long lifespan (this one will probably last about a year or maybe a little more).
> 
> Not really worth it all things considering, unless you are a hard core Betta breeder who absolutely needs a fish like that.
> 
> Carlos


Only a year? My record for a Betta was 4.5 years. Longest I know of is 6 years.


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

My Bettas typically live about 2-3 years after buying them. That is why I said "maybe a little more" considering that the fish has already lived part of its lifespan.

The normal life span of a Betta splendens in the wild is, in fact, 2 years if a bird or fish does not eat them first.

Most of my fish out live Bettas -- even cardinal tetras and green neon tetras.

However, I am stepping away from Betta splendens recently in favor of the 'wild type' species I am surprised no one has even mentioned in this thread such as:

Betta imbellis,









Betta smaragdina,









Betta sp. 'Mahachai',









...which are definitely worth considering, especially since they are A) more peaceful toward conspecifics than Betta splendens so you can keep several males in the same tank if large enough and watch interesting behavior, B) are less at risk of having their fins nipped by other fish, C) they are beautiful in their own right, even if they do not have the long fins or glitz of the carefully bred Betta splendens crowntails, halfmoons, plakats, doubletails, etc. The three species pictured above are all part of the so called 'splendens' group and are relatively undemanding.

Carlos


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

tsunami,

do you know where to get them?

Thanks


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Yes, they are often available on aquabid actually. If you do a search for past auctions and email the sellers, I am sure they will have some of these jewels for sale. It is a little bit of footwork, but they are not hard to find with some searching and an email.

Prices should run 2-10$ each for wild Betta imbellis. The other two tend to be a bit more expensive.

Carlos


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