So here is the second thread. The previous one too many pages already.

Hi. Newbie here. Normally how long is the betta's life span ??

if well take care it can hold for 1 year plus

I just bought a betta today. The bettas in the shop were kept in the most inhumane way I ever saw Kept in tiny sealed plastic bags, but the water not even enough to cover the whole fish, the plastic only big enough to fit the betta. Though of not buying but a bit pai seh coz I knew the shop owner and asked for bettas...The fella looks so happy now that I put him in a little tank. Pity the rest of them... hope someone buys them soon.

That's how they are transported.... Inhumane, yes... Usuallym they are transferred into a bottle soon after, otherwise, they will die due to lack of air.

Sigh, the poor poor life of a betta.

Yewlin, for the HMPK i brought from u..roughly how long i needa change the water ar?

yes, generally said to be 2 years. but some people say up to 5 years (yes, found some before through google).

for best health condition - once every 2 - 3 days. but since this is HMPK, it's more forgiving on water changes (the fin curl) compared to HM and CTs.

Thx bro.

Hope they will transfer them soon..but they were selling them in the little plastic like that. Most of them already listless. Even the one I bought was in such a plastic. Just a cheap RM3 betta, but I hope he grows big and well soon


Here is a not so clear pic of my betta. Just fed him this morning. Was wondering how much should we feed our bettas?

This post has been edited by jaswwp: Jul 25 2006, 09:37 AM

adui..the one i sell to u is HM lah not HMPK. i sell to u for HMPK price only..u are damn lucky u know

okay back to the topic.

normally i will change water 2-3 days..if i lazy or sick will change it once a week

hehehe finally our sifu is here

this is CT betta so u need to pay more attention to the water change
if not u will see the tail become no tail

may i know wht u feed? pellet? frozeen blodworm?

don't la like that. btw i donno how to get to your place. all i know is UITM, McD, Xian Leng, SACC..........

how to get fish from you? btw wat u selling nowadays ah? PK?

I though it looked a little like a CT, but was not sure coz got vast difference between mine and those on google, haha. Anything special I need to put in the water? So far only put a little bit of the salt I got from the fish shop.

I feed pellet. Not so sure of the brand, its the type that one pellet is as small as a speck, not the red color type. My dad used it to feed his bettas last time. Is bloodworm better?

Know u selling me cheap..TY..
Will take good care of them
^^
No worries..

err..it is CT but not the show grade CT

normally i will put abit of salt , anit-clorin and if Bro Jitticus bring some ketapang leave to me i will put it also.


hrm...if ur CT eat pellet, u can feed with pellet . if you got bloodworm it is better loh...i'm sure all fish like bloodworm

Bloodworm I think not so feasible unless I buy the freeze dried, because there's no other fish to eat the bloodworms besides this betta, unless I feed to my dad's guppies also la. Those freeze dried worm ok? Whats the purpose of ketapang actually?

ohh...

if you know the kesas to port klang got a twin petrol station one right, pass by u will see a 'huge' proton showroom on ur left hand site and there is a sign board show 'HICOM' on ur left hand site turn left don't go up fly over. Once u trun left you will see the trafic light , you turn left again don't go to the trafic light. After that you will see a proton on ur both site with their fly over there . You go straight until you reach the end you will see T-Junction with the trafic light. Once you reach trafic light turn right and go down hill you will reach a round about. You will see a sharp building opposite you . On the round about turn 12 O'clock and go straight until the end you will reach the t-junction again . Now u turn left and you will see a BH Petrol a.k.a BP station on ur right hand site, next of the petrol station is a taman you can park at there . once you reach there u call me. I will find you hehehehhe

you can get the fish from me by poslaju if you trust my judgement of the fish , or sell collect..mean sendiri choose

now i got nice HMPK , HM not sure is HM or SD yet coz still juv.

yah normally i will get freezen one coz i'm working mah can't get live one hehehehe

do you know black water or dark water ? same concept of the ketapang leave.

Oh, I think I heard of the black water thing before. Previously my dad kept his Betta's in 2 large flower pot with planty of aquatic plants outdoors. They bred a few times, and the babies were very nice too. Unfortunately all of them died in a few months though, maybe because rain water got into the pots. This is the first betta I am keeping indoors.

This post has been edited by jaswwp: Jul 25 2006, 10:59 AM

wanna try my HMPK more easy to maintain

yeah. agree with that. i prefer PK / HMPK also.

eh how to get them from you la - you haven't reply my Q i only know UITM / McD / SACC area.

and how much are you selling?

Hehe sorry I'm a noob, not sure of the short form stands for what, only know that CT - Crowntail

PK = plakat
HM = Halfmoon

Ketapang leaves are used to primarily soften water and create an ideal condition for CTs. Their finnage requires a lot of work and is very sensitive to water changes.

However, if you use too much extract/IAL (daun ketapang), CTs don't like it either.

i tot already answer in the first page , never mind there is the answer again

option 1
=====
you can get the fish from me by poslaju if you trust my judgement of the fish, postage should be RM5.00

option 2
=====
sell collect..mean sendiri choose

if you know the kesas to port klang got a twin petrol station one right, pass by u will see a 'huge' proton showroom on ur left hand site and there is a sign board show 'HICOM' on ur left hand site turn left don't go up fly over. Once u trun left you will see the trafic light , you turn left again don't go to the trafic light. After that you will see a proton on ur both site with their fly over there . You go straight until you reach the end you will see T-Junction with the trafic light. Once you reach trafic light turn right and go down hill you will reach a round about. You will see a sharp building opposite you . On the round about turn 12 O'clock and go straight until the end you will reach the t-junction again . Now u turn left and you will see a BH Petrol a.k.a BP station on ur right hand site, next of the petrol station is a taman you can park at there . once you reach there u call me. I will find you hehehehhe

Price : for HMPK will sell at RM25-RM40.00 depend on the quality and age of the betta

hope this time i answer ur Q yah

yes sir. spot on. hrmm.......RM 30 poslaju. i sure hope i'm at home when poslaju arrive or else susah. haha.

Oh thanks. But where can I buy or find Ketapang leaves?

Nice betta & nice setup there....Well done....

Yah if u are not at home susah abit for poslaju later u will received a 'salt fish'

Thanks, but actually its a betta Kit I bought, so everything was inside already The only thing I added was the little floating plant, nabbed it from my dad's fountain.

u can get it FOC , may i know where u stay?

Cheras... but work in TTDI. Its not a thing that pet shops sell ar?

hehe. it's not the fish i'm worried about.

it's the POSLAJU people i'm worried about ie crashing my little HMPK. no way man.

those fish are damn hardy. if ever they die, it's probably they got crushed haha.

oh you work TTDI - like that yewlin can poslaju to me i can pass to you during lunch time. haha.

anyway - you should try having betta in bigger tanks. they look even nicer. i'm planning to put mine in 3ft tank this time.

yah..one thing is crushed

Yewlin, u told me that day but i forget adi...
Where to check out Betta from the net ar? waT link adi ar?
N wat is the website that is trustable to buy betta thru net?

www.aquabid.com

OR

u canget it from singapore breeder or thailand breeder but make sure the money is X USD currency yah

Wow, one betta in a 3 foot tank? Going to look so big for a small fish, hehe... even my gerbils live in 2 foot tanks only.

They do but at a higher price. (Look at the box in the pic below - it is a pic of the water conditioners I use for my CT.) It retails at RM7.50 for six medium sized satchets. What I do is I cut open one and divide them into smaller portions. Saves money.




Just to give you a fair idea, ketapang leaves comes from the Indian Almond Tree and they grow wild in M'sia. I found five trees less than two-three minutes on foot from my front gate. The tree is very big and it has very wide big leaves. Refer to the pics below for an idea of dried IAL leaves:







(I was planning on taking a snapshot of my neighbour's IAL tree. Maybe tomorrow evening would be good - have class tonight.)

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Jul 25 2006, 02:03 PM

Where to get breeder's info from SG n THai wo?

u can get from here

http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23

there are alot of ppl selling there

Thanks dude..
Will checK checK

Very informative, hehe... I don't think I know how to recignise the tree or leaf though, they all look same to me

Whao! Saw many cooL betta thru those forum...
Can't wait to get more..

yes. but gerbils in 2ft tank, the movement is confined to that 2ft x 1ft footprint.

fishies on the other hand have 2ft x 1ftx y ft movement (y, depending on water gap from the top and gravel space at bottom)

you try la. 2ft tank house betta nice.

here's mine........... well now this tank is already a marine tank.

Goldfries: That's a very nice looking tank.

Jas: Don't worry. Give me a day or two and I'll take a nice pic of the tree for ya. ^.^

jaswwp, now you having betta too

Yuekuan, trust me, you don't wanna go thru the hassle of buying fish from overseas yet.

Chance of them arriving dead are high. What's more you have to pay hidden costs. Most are charged in USD. You have to pay between 18 to 25 USD for shipping depending on where they come from. If you pay using Paypal, they charge you 3.5% extra. If you pay using Western Union, a charge of USD 15 per USD 100 dollars is charged.
Using bank to bank transfer, our local bank charges RM10 and when it arrives at singapore, their bank charges SGD20.

You lose so much money to the conversion and commision. Might as well buy better quality fish from locals.

I bought from Singapore once and Thailand once. From SG, it cost me RM 175 for a pair of HMPK, from thailand, it cost me RM120 for a single female HMPK. With that amount of money , I bought the champion HM from David wong.

Hi meiteoh, Mabel I presume. Welcome to lowyat as well. You'll find it is much more active over here compared to our local forums. Don't know why. Maybe it's because our BSM forum is slower. Sigh. Anyway hope to hear from more of our BSM members here too.

Jitticus.

i got bad news ..the sala bf female from irvin one sudah mati
now already feed my soon hock.

will meet you today to go to my friend house yah ...golden albino here i come

This post has been edited by yewlin: Jul 25 2006, 04:08 PM

Oh!
Ok!

wa!
go where..
Nvr ajak..
I wan go c c also d ma...
hehe

hehehe later lah brother sabar yah...btw the golden albino is discus yah

yup that's the thing. if buying just to keep for decoration (like me) then really not worth it.

if you buy - you will usually be buying GOOD STUFF and have a breeding plan for the purchase.

Damn nice dude.....

Jit: You're giving me away la!

Haha.. main saje la, I failed in keeping guppy, because of my filter got problems, even though change the water 2 times a day they still died in the end, sigh.... so decide to try out a betta.

Just now went Pets Wonderland, bought the Hikari Betta Bio Gold for my betta, it seems to like it very much. I wanted to get the water conditioner too, but can't find those posted here on the forum, only saw one black water product by the Ocean something brand, rm 13.

This post has been edited by jaswwp: Jul 25 2006, 11:28 PM

Just get any brand that has anti-chlorine and anti-chlorimine (sp?). ^.^

Wow, very nice tank.... no la, the gerbils are not confined to 2 X 1 feet, I have stands and coconuts for them to climb about on too, hehe... I might move my betta to a bigger tank one day, now still monitoring its condition, its eating well but not very lively at other times... been like that since I brought it home. Could be the long car ride or the bad environment it was kept in at the pet shop. Hope it improves soon. I have been using aged water for it since I brought it home yesterday.

This post has been edited by jaswwp: Jul 25 2006, 11:35 PM

Probably depression. It needs to be stimulated by a mirror or another male.

your guppy deaths could be due to many reasons - and changing water 2 times a day could actually be worse instead of being helpful.

again that depends on # of guppies vs tank size vs filteration system vs # of times fed per day vs amount fed per feeding.

btw food from Hikari's good.

Waa..V2 already
Yeah..dun worry, will try ma best

BTW..have Questions:
1. anyone here from Penang and know pet shops at penang/butterwoth that got/sell betta's stuffs,live food,etc2 especialy for Betta??

2. whose got java moss?? or who knows where can i find/buy them? [if can..penang ] want 2 plant moss, haha.

thanks

This post has been edited by nazisson: Jul 26 2006, 04:14 AM

Give him some time. Maybe he's adjusting to you. It helps also if he has some place to hide like some of those fake silk/cloth plants.

Yeah, usually when he is not swimming about he is hiding behind those little fake plants. He will flare at my finger sometimes when I put in front of him and move about. This morning I put 5 hikari pellets in for his breakfast, the fella so greedy, gobble 2 pellets one after another, and start on the 3rd..then he spit it out again coz his mouth is still full.

Would like to ask..
What is the diff..N how to differentiate Plakat, HMPK, and HM?

HMs (halfmoons) are long finned, has 180 degree spread, i.e. the tail fin is like... half a circle. Has 4 rays and above, although really good long finned HMs are mostly found with 8 ray branches and above.

HMPKs (halfmoon plakats) are the short finned version of the HM. Mostly has 4 rays. Due to the shorter finnage, needs less support to maitain the 180 degree spread.

Plakats are short finned betta splendens. May or may not have 180 degree spread. Split into 3 categories now: traditional, show, and symmetry. But you dont need to know the difference unless you're into competitions.

diff in tail shape lol
if adult betta,can diff by the tail shape, but if juv..better breeder here answer
Plakat = short tail
HMPK = short tail version of HM.
HM = tail like moon cut in half..erm, 180 degree [correct me if wrong ]
more specific better otai2 answer..haha. i'm oso noobie.

BTW, here the link with pict -> Betta's fin

This post has been edited by nazisson: Jul 26 2006, 09:27 PM

I think you can get all stuffs you want from Chew Thean Yang (Jalan Burma) and Kean Weng (Air Itam).

Ty both!!

Le Bleu yesterday:




Water conditions are good - checked it already - but he just doesn't want to blow bubbles. No clamp fins either and he's feisty too. Dunno what's wrong with the fella. Gah. I'm hoping he'll start blowing some bubbles after his next water change tomorrow.



Anyway, for those who are wondering how to go about setting up a nice bungalow for your fish, here is a glimpse of mine!

Tank set-up (10x10x8 inches):

Lovely fish..hehe, nice setup too. I think I've give my betta another week or 2 to adjust before moving him into a larger tank.

Jas: Do take care with the water change and condition. My fish is still recovering from ray thinning. Treatment started like nearly three weeks ago. Some of his rays are still a little thin but overall, he's doing much better.

Am keeping an eye out for curling too. Might just put his tank in the sun once a week to avoid that. Hear it helps. Of course not too long la. Nanti he'll be cooked.

Btw, are those plants sharp or pokey??? (They look like it. *nervous*)

nice double-ray meiteoh. yesterday i was at Pet Safari looking for betta - no nice ones around.

oh well. btw the curling thing - i really hate it when it happens. (who doesn't?)

Goldfries: A lot of the CTs I saw at places like the petstore at 1-U and Family Pet Center are not very nice. They are either too fat or inactive or dead and their rays are in really in 1) bad shape, or 2) weird looking.

I got Le Bleu at Irene Aquarium near my house and at that time had to choose between him and a red CT. Yesterday when I went, they had some pretty good ones (located near the entrance of the store - the ones near the goldfish/fishes are the cheapo ones) but satu dah mati. Bad sign lor...for me at least.

Hmm, I wonder too if they are pokey. Later tonight mus press and see. So far didnt really see much poop, I think I will change some of the water tonight since it is already the 3rd day. Is it better to change all the water or just suck out the poops?

yup. exactly what i saw.
color - NO
finnage - NO
body - NO
attitude - a bit....

Pet Safari and Pet Family not so bad la the way they keep betta. at least they're properly contained. i saw Pet Wonderland MV - damn they put in plastic bags like taufufah la.

and i'm surprised Irene actually carry such nice one like your Le Bleuu. i'll try to visit Irene today then.

my criteria for choosing a betta is finnage and color. although i prefer it if they could come with nice body shape too.

no proper body shape, flare already also don't look nice.

EDITED : btw - i stilll prefer to have PK / HMPK over HM / CT due to the requirements for maintenance. PK / HMPK missed water change at least the fins don't curl that easily.

This post has been edited by goldfries: Jul 27 2006, 11:14 AM

I'm noob to betta so I just picked one that looks not as dead as the others in the pet shop

Yeah...but CTs are more feisty la.

Irene has good stock ocassionally...but don't go in expecting too much ar. You have to look very very carefully. Semalam I saw one dead RM11 betta - I consider it bad luck lor.

I'm trying to look for green colour bettas at LFS (local fish shops) but haven't had any luck. O'well...Le Bleu is enough for me.



(Besides, I already have a turtle at the office.)

heh. the CT's rays are the one that make them look fierce. like some punk.

HMs / Veiltails and such - aiyah they look like someone with overflowing gown. HMs not flaring, their tail practially pull them down.

yeah i'm not expecting much from Irene. i've not been there for quite some time now.

anyway here's my un-updated fish site. my betta back in 2002
http://aquaria.briancyc.com/index.php?id=g...ta&page=1&pic=8

Some tips:

1) Look at the fins. No tears, no holes, no putus halfway, that sort of thing. It usually means that the fish was sick.

2) Look at the body. No white stuff, no slime trail, no growth. White stuff = fungus. Tummy must not look like he's going to explode. It means that he has been fed too much and can suffer from indigestion and swimming bladder problems.

3) Look at the fish behaviour. Must be alert, aggressive and not just sleeping on the bottom and look half-dead.

4) Look at the tank. Dirty water is a good indication that the fish can be in bad shape (too much ammonia and what-not). Bubbles indicates that he's at least happy with the water condition or is just...happy lor.

This post has been edited by meiteoh: Jul 27 2006, 11:31 AM

thanks for the tips. the 1st 3 points i think ok la, for my fish. Since CT got so many pieces of fin, I'm not sure are they all intact or not actually, but at least no white stuff or anything la. 3rd point, I chose him because he was more alive than the other fish I saw there. the 4th ...Well... considering he was put for sale inside a tiny plastic filled with 2 inches of water theres nothing much to see la. I was just hoping that he wont die on the way home that time, hehe.

Jas: Should be okay la. At least he is well-taken care of. ^.^ Btw, what are you feeding him apart from Hikari pellets? (Variety is the spice of life!)

I feed him another type of pellet, but its very tiny, almost like powder. Have to ask my dad what is the brand, because he poured it out in another bottle already. What else you feed yours?

I feed my bettas mostly frozen bloodworms and daphnia.
Also, I feed them with Atison Betta Pro. If you think your betta likes Hikari, wait till you feed them with betta Pro.

Hm...I give Le Bleu freeze dried (FD) bloodworms, FD tubifex worms, FD daphneia and Hikari pellets. I think he has enough of food already la.

Must take a long time for him to finish all that food, unless you have a few fishes, hehe.

I only have one fish.

Curious to know how much you feed your fish in 1 day? My friend feeds her betta 5 hikari pellets in the morning and 5 at night, and he grew very fat. I'm doing the same now.

Me? I feed just once a day. Don't want him to get too fat. About three to four pellets and 1 or two bloodworms. Then once a week, I skip one day.

That's a lot you're feeding him lor... :S

Oh, I'll try to reduce then. Its because he finishes 5 pellets in a few seconds, like starving or something, haha. I didnt feed him the 1st day I got him back, because getting him adjusted to the environment, 2nd day feed him 1 time, only 3rd day I gave 10 pellets in total for entire day. This morning already gave him 5 pellets, so I guess can skip dinner adi...hehe

Bettas are like that. They'll eat until they explode. (Don't even try to imagine it la.) Some people say that their stomach is as big as their eye. >_<

So don't feed to much, otherwise your betta can get indigestion or worse, have swimming bladder problems.

in fact, FISH (in general) are like that.

in the wild, they will eat what they can (practically non-stop) cos they don't know when's the next meal coming and yet they can go through quite some period without food.

another reason for not feeding betta too often would be to reduce 'damage' to water quality.

Need some help here...anyone managed to save bettas from columnaris before?? i lost all my bettas to columnaris...the fatal sickness for me...i've already lost 2 females, 3 males to columnaris and currently my new female hmpk with symetrical and 180 degree straight edge caudal is down with columnaris again. I dun wanna lose her (best female i've ever got my hand on) so any one has any advice on this goddamn disease?

I'm currently treating her with japanese yellow powder...manage to save one of my female betta with it but that particular female died from internal infections few weeks later. Can anyone tell me where to get fish meds (antibiotics) like interpret 7 in kl??? can't find any lfs tat stock with this antibiotics here in setapak

This post has been edited by evildonkey: Jul 27 2006, 08:05 PM