For the love of Betta's

[KatarinaH]

The very first fish we (NetCop & I) bought for my daughter was a male betta. We've been buying betta's ever since.

I thought after failing miserably with betta's that it would be the end of our betta buying for the sake of the poor fish.

Then a friend of mine who tried her hand at aquariums and decided they weren't for her told me that I could have her Plecos and female betta otherwise her husband was going to put them in the Ottawa river. 

Needless to say I rescued her from that and took her into my community tank.

She was named Betty and is the girl you see in my avatar.

Being a novice I quickly went to Big Al's and found a male betta who's colours matched Betty's and named him Boop. (NetCop calls him "The Boy" as Boop is appearently too feminine for a pink male betta with purple and red speckles) I thought he was being far too aggresive for my taste and seperated him into his own little emerald garden tank.

Eventually I found another girl I fell in love with again she was pink like Betty before her. But I had gotten kicked out of a popular pet store for pointing out that they were killing hundreds of livestock creatures due to neglect and cleaned out all of thier dead fish. Needless to say since I got kicked out of thier I couldn't buy the newest female betta I had fallen in love with.

NetCop went back to the store for me and bought the fish as it was not him kicked out it was me. I happily put her in my tank and enjoyed knowing that she would not be one of the ones that would die of neglect/starvation/disease at a Big Box Store's hand. Wanting a name that went well with Betty(being as Boop is already taken) I decided to call her Veronica or Ronnie for short.

I started going to Big Al's since my usual store wouldn't allow me in anymore and found one little loner female betta being picked on by the others. Poor thing. She was pink with this beautiful bright teal on her tail and fins and I had to call her mine. (yes fourth pink betta, 3rd pink female.)

I immediately thought of her as a dainty girl and knew that Midge would suit her perfectly.

This is how I came across my girls.

After being allowed back in my previous store again I went back thier and NetCop as well as my daughter wanted female betta's and we bought them one each.

Roxie is NetCop's female betta and Left Out is Bup's

Okay so 6 betta's is a lot of betta's right?

Edit: Somewhere Between 6 and the new guy we went to PetSmart and bought two new females yet to be named.

NetCop just brought a seventh one home. Another Male..

He's a rich dark blue with bright orange/yellow on his fins and a hint on his tail as well.

I wonder what his name is going to be.

[KLKelly]

Your story cracked me up! You are my hero 

Congrats on all of your new additions.  I love female bettas and would love to have a 29gallon bowfront betta sorority tank one day!

Karrie

[Vizerdrix]

Excellent!  I know how you feel, I hate going into a store and seeing all those poor bettas in their tiny little cups.   (IMO, just because a fish can survive in those conditions, doesn't mean it *should*).

As you can see from *my* avatar, I too love bettas!   Perry is a constant joy, and so entertaining!  I find myself sitting in front of his 5g tank just watching his antics and those of his tankmates (6 glass/ghost shrimp and a golden apple snail).

Are you thinking of ever trying to breed any of them?

[Julie]

Cute, I think I have Boops bro lol.
How about some pics?

[beowulf]

Always loved bettas, I have one in a castle for you could say, he is in my 110g community tank and seems to be ok with it so far.

[KatarinaH]

My Girl Veronica Going Through Hoops


Boop checking out my finger seeing if I bear treats


Midge rubbing up against my hand waiting her bloodworms


My Bup's Fish "Left Out"

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Roxie (NetCop's Girl)


But here is the latest male.

As for our two newest females I've yet to snag a picture of my camera shy 4th girl and NetCop is yet to take pictures of his newest.

[renadia]

WOW what  a nice Betta family, like the names you chose  We have a handsome betta that has been transfered to the 10 gal this week. I don't know if he likes in there or not he stays behind the filter post. We shall see if Hubert adapts if not we will put him back in his 1 gal. Maybe my sons pirate tank is not him 

[White Lightning]

I am a BIG fan of Bettas as well. Kinda fancy the looks of the male over the female betta.  I have a wall solely for my bettas.

[NetCop]

Well, after bringing home a new male betta (which I had no intention of buying any fish that day) I brought this guy home and put him and a female I got about 2 weeks earlier together (I had never tried breeding bettas before).

As you can see in this picture they hit it off.
She's now back in the community tank, and here he is taking care of the nest which you can see the eggs in the nest (whiter looking area of the nest):

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[KLKelly]

That is so cool!!!!  How are they for raising the fry?

[NetCop]

Well this is a first for myself and the betta (no, I didn't mate with the betta).
We'll have to see if he's a natural or an incompetant newbie.