Down with Betta viral fever (update on pg 2)

[aquadream]

Beautiful fishes and equally good setup

cheers
Rajeev

[cichlids]

Nice bettas

[maaz]

from where you get it all this beautiful HMPK i am looking for those...

[anuragsonik]

Very Beautiful fishes...The dumbo/elephant ear/big ear HMPK is just amazing. Truly inspiring collection.

[syed.ali]

Lovely setup, liked the tanks

[pkattitude]

Thanks Guys

from where you get it all this beautiful HMPK i am looking for those...

I got them from Bishwanath from kolkatta.

can see the trend moving from getting normal bettas to show quality fish. i need them tooooo.

Sushant, I am planning to order more (with Syed's help - he knows a better source) so may be we can club the next time.

[parthapratim22]

I like all your fishes and tanks.

[devchitra]

very beautiful bettas.

[pkattitude]

Hi friends,

Thought I will give an update.

Overall, my bettas are doing good and have settled in.

The leaf thing
Based on the discussion I had in another thread, I have introduced some leaves in their tank. The leaves I used are from a tree called amaltash (Cassia fistula). The tree has a lot of medicinal value. I remember using its leaf in childhood to cure enlarged tonsils. My bettas are loving it - I can say this because a couple of them were not doing so well and not accepting food but within 2 days of the introduction of leaves, they responded fairly well.

Breeding

I tried to pair them up. The usual way - placed the females in a seperate container within the males tank. Placed a half cut Styrofoam cup for the male to make a nest. Waited for the female to show horizontal bars and then released her in the male's tank. Two pairs were involved in this experiment. Details are below:

Male (Blue Dumbo HMPK) X Female (copper HMPK)
The male started chasing the female like crazy - flaring and biting her. I waited for half an hour - in that time he beat the hell out of her. So, I decided to separate them again till the female regains health and is ready to mate.

Male (White HM) X Female (copper HM)
This male is behaving like he needs 'the blue pill' - he is roaming around with the female as if they were not bettas but discus or angels. As if they are saying "lets just be friends". I don't know why this is so - I am suspecting that this is because he is partially blind (as I mentioned earlier that he had a pop eye and a cloud eye when I got him). Even the female is not trying to nip his fins or anything. The only time this guy flares a bit in anger is when i drop food and the female steals it. Anyways, seeing their behavior I have left them in the same tank.

I will try to post some pics tomorrow. Suggestions and comments are welcome.

[Romi]

Keshava,

The betta might not be so strong as an individual. So unless you find something to feed thim that allowsh him to close the gap between bad health and good health, he might not be able to do it by himself.

Can u risk keeping some aquarium water outside in a tub? It will after some time attract mosquitoes which will lay eggs. After each 4 days, filter the water in a strainer (sold for straining tea). You might find some mosquito larvae. Feed these to him regularly, he will lose the pop eye and filmy eye, at least one if not the other.

U can also try to feed them tetrabits, they take some time to take to it, but once started, really benifit. There are some Betta-specific foods available from Hikari, try those too.

Also, u really should use almond leaves, i suspect your sand is just crushed marble, a bad idea in tanks unless u are keeping hard water fish. Bettas like tannin-stained acidic water, though they are adaptable. But when u have a betta like yours, he needs the extra 'facilities' more than others. Food and space with clean heated water is what a betta like that one needs to improve.

If u manage to breed him despite all the obstacles, u might get stronger fry, because the females are obviously unrelated, so inbreeding, the bane of rare betta strains, will be offset somewhat.

Just my two cents.