The babies are 5 months old now, and I expect they will all be in their new homes within the next week! I have many people here in Kodiak anxiously awaiting their new family members :)
I have just returned from a 3 week vacation to Florida. Fortunately, I had a very trustworthy house sitter while away, so the babies did okay while I was gone. I actually took 3 fish with me all the way to Florida! One nice thing about betta fish is that they are really great travelers! They made it through security and didn't have a single issue for the 21 hours of planes and airports. I took Neptune and 2 babies with me; one Mustard Gas like his daddy and one multi-colored female. Neptune is now living with my brother, and actually has some tank mates! A couple of tetras and a dojo loach, and he's getting along splendidly with them! I'm so proud. The female is living in a 30 gallon tank in my mother-in-law's classroom with a pleco, a crayfish, and 2 minnows. From what I have been told, she likes hanging out in the hollow log with the crayfish. The MG male is with my friend Lisa, with a space all to himself. I'm told he's very curious!
I came home to what seemed like completely different fish! The only one I still recognized was the blue-green female that I am planning to breed to Casper. And there was one very big surprise waiting for me; I have 3 marbled bettas! I was NOT expecting that AT ALL! They are piebald marbles, meaning their heads are "bald" flesh colored, and their bodies have spots or "marbling". 2 are males and 1 is a female (as far as I can tell!). The female is cute because she appears to have a mustache. One of the males reminds me of a panda, because he is black and "white", but the white is actually the "bald" coloring. The other male is my favorite, maybe of all of the fry; he has the piebald head and a few bald spots on his body, but is mostly black with black and blue fins that end in almost a butterfly effect (cellophane or clear coloring on the edges). BUT he also has yellow spots in his fins! He will be living in Neptune's old tank until I decide whether or not I will keep him.
Now that this batch of fry are all grown up and "leaving the nest" it's time for me to start thinking about my next breeding! Once I saw my marbled fish, I really wanted to breed him! But I still want to breed Casper to the blue-green female because they should produce some nice blue colors, and of course everyone loves the blue bettas! So now I am thinking about breeding 2 more pairs 1-2 months apart. It will be a lot more to keep up with, so it's something I will really have to think about. I will also need a 20 gallon grow out tank. Lack of a decent sized grow out tank was the biggest problem I had with this batch of fry. Hopefully I can find one locally that isn't already inhabited! If I do breed the marbled one, I think I would breed him to Neptune's sister, Esmeralda, to maximize my chances of getting more marbled coloring. From that pairing, I would expect mustard gas and marble coloring.
And now, the pics! Enjoy!
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| Blue-Green Female aka "Casper's Girlfriend". Her color is a little washed here |
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| Marbled Male #1 aka "Sir Awesome Fins", flaring at his brother |
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| Sir Awesome Fins again; better view of his awesome fins |
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| Blue Male |
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| same blue male, but better lighting and he's flaring here |
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| Marbled Female, aka "Mustache Fish" |
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| Marbled Male #2 aka "Panda Fish" |
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| Mustard Gas Female. She looks like her Aunt Esmeralda when she's fully colored |
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| Mustard Gas Male who now lives in Florida! Photo courtesy of my friend Lisa:) |
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