Betta
From Arofanatics.com
Introduction to Betta Splendens
Giants Crowntail Halfmoon Doubletail Plakats
Acclimating newly bought Bettas
Introducing a new betta to your tank
Water Care Management Specialization
pH Management & Control How to maintain constant water pH where tap water is > 7 How to maintain constant water pH where tap water is < 7 Maintaining Plakats
Maintaining Halfmoons
The most common preception doubts people may have towards halfmoons are simply it's an "expensive and high maintenance fish". The halfmoon fish is not necessary weaker than its shorter fins comrades in terms of body health. The challenge of halfmoons are the long fin variation, which is maintaining the delicate and fragile fins. The most common faults faced by halfmoon beginners are 1. maintaining the finnage, 2. maintaining the finnage, and 3. still maintaining the finnage. Rearing halfmoons may give some people a sense of bittersweet satisfaction once they have finetuned and master the art of keeping halfmoons.
1. What to look for in a good halfmoon
There are many things to look for in a good halfmoon. Many people have different opinions and tastes but 3 things I look for in halfmoons is deportment, finnage and color in no particular order. If one of the 3 is not apparent, I probably would not pick the fish. Truly, this is dictated by the goals you are trying to accomplish. For example, if you are aiming for producing showgrade fishes, it is important to pick the best traits and settle none for the least.
Personally, I would not breed tail-biting fishes(if I am not sure of its line and background history) especially plaguing for the halfmoons and doubletails. It is generally a bad deportment behavior. Due to through selective breeding, the part of the phenotype genes namely, this unfavored deportment may be inherited over to the next generation. One of the headaches and the last thing a hobbyist would want to see is the silly fishes ripping off their own tails assuming all conditions are favourable. Not much to worry though, once in a while, there will be such a fish which decides to spoil market of which the hobbyist could only bang his own head.
Other important things to look for include : strong standing dorsal, even and straight rays, a sharp D at the caudal edges, body:fin balance proportionality and outcurling rays for OHMs. The list is non-exhaustive if every minute details were to be covered.
2. Challenges of Maintaining Finnage
There are noticeable finnage problems when maintaining halfmoons. The first are pinholes on the caudal fins, chipped fins at the outermost edges, melt fins, minor to major fin tear, finnage thinning or worse, losing the 180deg caudal spread and eventually fin clamp. It has been possibly identified as a common pH swing problem. To a newbie beginner, a simple and innocent water change can cause any of the problems above. Because of this fragility, beginners may lose heart easily. Occasionally still, this may plague the advanced hobbyist. Therefore, this is a persistent challenge and it is common for one to expect to face many problems and therefore not to feel disheartened.
Another challenge posed is the many different school of thoughts pertaining to the water change regime. Some schools being identified include the "play by ear types", "duplicate the nature environment", "survival of the fittest", "results that prove facts aka theorycrafters" and the "Street Smart". How often is often, how do we know when it is enough, how much is too much and harmful for the fish? But this challenge will be covered in the other sections.
The 3rd challenge is truly, maintaining the water pH. The fish is more tolerant to pH swings, unfortunately the finnage is not. I noticed that there is a correlation in which, it depends on how the fish was raised up as a fry. If it is subjected to a wide pH range and amidst harsh conditions, it is highly possible for the finnage to grow more resilient and tolerant to pH swings. Ideally, on my personal experience and observation, halfmoons seem to adapt best in water conditions it was brought up in and accustomed to. Trying to match that water condition is ideally key. However, in different parts of areas locally or globally, it is impratical to match the exact water condition as some areas may contain more or lack of certain minerals in the water. The closest bet is therefore to maintain the pH and use KTP extract or leaves to soothe the fish. If you breed it successfully and maintain the good water parameters, that generation of fries should grow up beautifully, well-adapted to the water condition it grew up in. It is noted that the excrements and urine of the fish as well as the infusion of carbon dioxide into the water can cause the ph to drop significantly. Each 0.1 increment of pH is exponential.
3. Exercising
Halfmoons carry heavy finnage. The longer the caudal, the heavier work. An analogy is tall people with long arms require more effort to do pull-ups. The truth is that maintaining the finnages as long as you can is not easy. Experts from IBC, experienced breeders and groomers have swear by daily flaring as a good and vigorous exercise for the fish to prolong its form and stretching of its fin. A healthy halfmoon would raise up its protuding gills and flare beautifully and actively against another opponent. For young halfmoons 2.5mth age and up, it is recommended to flare more often than older fish as they have faster chance to stretch their fins further from SD to HM or HM to OHM(if it has outcurling edges). This analogy is like those young gymnastics students who can stretch his/her body to the extreme.
Now, there are many schools of thoughts yet again in how long to flare the fish. Typically from what I observe, I look at how heavy and how hard the fish flare. If the webbings are shimmering and wavering as it flare, but the depth is thin, I would not let it flare too long as it is flaring very hard. For example, I had a male halfmoon who was in a conditioning process with the female in chimney. After a mere 2hrs of flaring to the female, part of the caudal webbing was blown and splitted. If the finnage is thick and not hard flaring, I would let it flare longer. It seems 10-15mins is a good pratice. You may even wish to carry out a 2-3 times flaring interval of 10 mins sessions per day. Older males would get more tired easily and usually I would let them flare from 15secs - 2 mins. Tired males will tend to close up their fins a little and the caudal may clamp slightly and droop.
4. Water Management
6.5 - 7.5 is said to be the safe range of keeping healthy Halfmoons. As Singapore tap water do not contain chlorine, but chloramines, this must be fully detoxified. It is noted that there are 3 types of water conditioners or the "solid crystals". The old generation water conditioners or 'solid crystals' may only remove chlorine. Therefore, it is unsuitable due to failure to remove chloramines.
The 2nd generation water conditoners remove both chlorine and chloramine. However, as chloramine is a chemically complex compound, breaking this bond would release ammonia into the water which is not good for the fish. Example of water conditioners such as described is the Fritz Guard, which you must use with the Fritz Ammonia Remover together. 2 products are now needed.
The newest generation of water conditioners are the 3-in-1s which remove chlorine, chloramine and ammonia and de-toxifying metals and even nitrates. One such highly recommended product is the Seachem Prime. Another good water conditioner is the API stresscoat which is also a 3-in-1, in additional has aloe vera healing effect which can be used for torn fins or broken scales.
5. Tank Space
This one is controversial as some seniors and even thai breeders are able to keep and maintain HMs in small whisky bottles. The minimum tank space and rule of thumb is dependent on 2 factors. The overall size of the fish including the fins length and your schedule of how often you can perform water changes(the lead time of how long you can delay before a water change is due). No hard and fast rules for big or small bottles, the key is really your schedule. Bigger tanks though give more room for the fish to maneuver and stretch. There is also considering the possibility of fish stunting.
Pet containers, Ocean Free glass and curved tanks, Nisso tanks, Nano Tanks, Gex Tanks have been used. Some myths that still require to be unravel include the suggestion not to keep a betta in larger than a 1 feet tank as it will lose its interest to flare and 'mark' its territory due to the huge body pool. The rule of thumb for tank sizes are easy. Smaller tanks require more water change frequency, bigger tanks require less water frequency as it gets dirty slower. Fish in a 1L tank require daily water change. But note that daily water changes may be harmful to the fish in the long run as it needs to re-adapt to the new water condition, unless you know what you are doing and able to match the water condition closely.
To delay the water changing, hobbyists have found workarounds and delay the water cycle change through the introduction of barracks system, stronger ketapang water, plants, drops of seachem prime for detoxification, minimise feeding, using technologically advanced pellets, poo siphoning and even adding technologically advanced BB solutions such as the Ocean Free BB 8000. One who truly understands and uses these arsenal, and experiments with extreme limits are greatly rewarded. Still, in the end, a good plain old water changing is still the best for the fish instead of keep adding additives. Clearly, work on experiments to find your optimized method that is best for your schedule, your mileage may vary.
6. Halfmoon lifecycle
The golden question. But how long can I maintain halfmoons? I have sought this question personally for a long time now. To my knowledge, one thai breeder has described genetics as an influencing factor. For example, if you have a longer arm and you have a stretch-your-hand competition with another guy with a shorter arm, obviously the gravity pull on the longer arm will be more taxing to the one with the shorter arm.
It is no secret that maintaining halfmoon finnages are continued and incorporated to part of the breeding programme due to its short lifespan outburst unfortunately. Typically, if a fish has heavy finnage and length longer that its body, it will lose its caudal form easier. A shorter caudal may be maintained longer. However a fine balance of fin length:body proportionality has to be drawn in lieu to the international betta standards if one so wishes to participate in it. Too short and small a caudal may be unimpressive. Champion lines are naturally the best in the hands of a powerful groomer, with big fins and strong genetics (strength) to carry it well over a couple months.
At best, it is claimed that halfmoons could be maintained for up to a year plus. 8 months is a good cycle, while others can maintain it perhaps another 6 months or a novice who is still not skilled enough, may not be able to maintain it beyond up to a month to 3 months.
(Counters are welcomed to introduce new perspectives or important considerations that have been overlooked in this section.)
7. Best Pratices
There are best pratices for keeping halfmoons. For older fishes, feed them less, as they will produce less bio. Keeping them in dark KTP would make the fish more active and the low pH of parts of ammonia are transformed to ammonium which is virtually harmless to bettas. The key is to delay frequent water changing. Several experts have suggested to change 100% of water every 5 days only if you know what you are doing. An example is able to match closely the pH. Note that this may be highly subjective to another's view. Ex-hobbyist Myron Tay of IBC recommended daily siphoning of poo.
For flaring, regarding to the carding of the fishes, block the upper tier of the water so that the fishes are trained to flare at the middle and bottom of the water. This helps to maintain a standing dorsal and prevent the dorsal ray from bending or breaking due to its exciting rush or forceful maneuvers during flaring.
Maintaining Crowntails Maintaining Giants
Introduction to Color Types and Sub-Variances
Red Cambo Red Cherry Red Extended Red Yellow Orange Blue Green Copper Black Melano Dragon Pineapple **
Finnage Variations (Provide AAA Pictures**)
Veiltail
Delta
Super Delta
Roundtail
Spadetail
Crowntail
Combtail
Double-Ray
'Y' Rays
'V' Rays
Balok Rays
Double Double-Ray
X-Ray
CombTail
HalfSun
Halfmoon
DoubleTail
RoseTail
Traditional
How to tell between different types of females (Provide AAA Pictures)
Veiltail
Delta
Super Delta
Roundtail
Spadetail
Crowntail
CombTail
Double-Ray
'Y' Rays
'V' Rays
Balok Rays
Double Double-Ray
X-Ray
HalfSun
Halfmoon
DoubleTail
RoseTail
Traditional
Identifying signs of a betta falling sick
Very Lethargic swimming Fin Clamp Pinhole Fin Deteriorate Caudal Spread Reduction
Diseases, Treatment & Medication
Velvet Dropsy Finrot Fungal Infection Pop-eye Swimming Bladder Disorder Constipation Ich Internal Bacteria Disease *head/body pointing to the sky*
Betta Food
Live Food
Adult / Baby Brine shrimp
Blood worms
Tubifex worms
Mosquitoes larvae
Daphnia
Microworm
Frozen
Frozen Bloodworm
Frozen Mosquitoes larvae
Dried
Tetra bites betta
Articon betta pro
Betta Conditioning for Competition
Acclimating fish in aged KTP to clear water Transportation
Betta Conditioning for Spawning
Conditioning betta for spawning makes no different with other common fresh water fishes. The main concern is creating conducive environment preceding to the spawning process.
Some consideration when preparing the pair for spawning:
1. Pairing Exposure
Under normal circumstances on modern breeding method, pairing the male and female betta would be the most logical choice. In this way, the female betta will be exposed to the male betta using some sort of side by side container over a period of time. The frequency of exposing the female to male also varies from breeder to breeder. Some also contributed factors to age of fish, health condition and experience from previous mating.
2. Water Quality
As much as the breeder could, try to maintain the water quality on the container used to host the pair. It could be ranging from changing the water frequently using aged water to maintaining the cleanliness of the container from dirt, poo and excess food, to the extent of providing some sort of elixir that could induce spawning mood, our beloved Ketapang solution.
3. Quality Food
There many schools of thought when providing a kind of food for the pair for spawning. Some like to use live food (tubifex, daphnia, bbs, grindal worm, blood worm, mosquito larvae), and the other religiously claimed that a normal pellets will do. This consideration might varied depending on breeder choice and the fish up bringing it self. The rule of thumb still the same, give them frequent food than the normal frequency we used to feed other betta. This way will preparing their condition for the battle ahead when they are in the spawning tank whereby rigorous physical activity take place on the process of mating.
Some notes based on experience, feeding the female with high contains on fat and protein intake is good for inducing eggs reproduction. While for the male, since there is no further channel for the protein and fat intake, it would be wise to feed them less than female in the same frequency. Too much protein/fat will create an adverse effect for the male that can lead to kidney failure. Normally following this situation, dropsy will be coming as the reaction.
The food that we feed to the pair also need to be cleaned and varied. This will ensure that they get the nutrient from different source of food and prevent risk of disease like constipation, bacteria infection or swim bladder that normally happened if we stick to one source of food.
4. External environment factor
It is observed, when conditioning the pair for spawning, a quite and warm place is a very good place to induce the spawning mood. Although is not a must, but providing a place where they can focus their attention to their well being and partner introduction could be contributed to successful mating.
Apart from the above consideration, of course there are many deviation that could lead to unsuccessful spawning even after the above points followed. This will be discussed on another section.
Breeding Tank Setup
Indoor Outdoor
Plants for Betta
Types of Plants
Hornwort
Java Moss
Cacomba
Java Fern
Money Plant
Water Hydrilla
Guan Yin Teck aka 转运竹
Natural filtration of plants
Precautions when using water plants
Commercial Products for Bettas
Water Conditioners
Tanks
Food
Supplements
BB
Vitamin
Referencing : Source Citations
Contributory Credits : Melwave, Robi2000, Armageddon, (Insert AF nick for contributory work etc...)
