I was kind of worried that Bill wasn't building his bubble nest as usual.Usually his nests are huge
and quite magnificent to look at. However he finally built his nest today and when I checked on him
an hour later,there were eggs there.Joy!
The sad thing was as soon as I noticed the female picking off her eggs,I removed her but she
thrashed and caused me to have to stir up the water quite a bit.Sadly the nest disintegrated and the
eggs were floating in every direction.
I pushed the eggs back into the nest and Bill too started to eat the eggs.I thought he was merely
picking them up to put them back but he actually ate them.After he started attacking the main nest I
had to remove him.There are only 15 or less eggs left and I don't know if they will survive without
his care.
This is a common but sad start I guess.I just have to wait and see what happens in the next 2 days or
so.I pray things go well
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Bill and Dottie : The Arranged Marriage
My dad and I have been thinking of breeding Bill for quite some time. At first I was rather hesitant
due to me being in college and space for the fish. However, since I'm back for 2 and 1/2 months, I
decided to give it a go.
Relatively speaking I'm pretty new to breeding bettas but I've done my research and I also rely on
my dad's knowledge of the Betta's he owned as a child.
The initial plan was to find a gal as vivacious as Bill and with the same coloration. Hopefully, Bill's
white coloring is a dominant gene, but the chances of that are slim.
I must say that finding a white female is hard. Males are not so rare but females for some reason
seem to be mostly blue and red! So finally I settled on a brilliant blue one and named her Dottie.
Now she isn't dotty as her name may imply but she was named Dottie after my mom Dorothy.
I have an old glass tank that has got to be over 6 years old, lying in my backyard so I decided to use
that instead of my plastic 2 point something gallon tank. I washed it up and rigged up the filter and
bought a bunch of plants for the aquarium.
First, I gently transferred Bill into the tank, followed by Dottie. They seemed a lil surprised at first.
Tensely I watched the two of them, hoping that they would at least be able to bear each other. To my
surprise, they get along pretty well. The exception is that now Bill has a bride, he gets pretty excited
and keeps trying to mate with her. The silly guy hasn't even built a bubble nest yet!
Usually Bill would build the nests in the span of a day and I hope he will build one soon. Can't wait
to see him take care of his eggs! I'm starting to feel as if I'm the one giving birth. The annoying thing
is that my older tank sprung a leak, forcing me to transfer them both back to Bill's old tank
temporarily.I did so want them to enjoy the larger tank.
This is a picture of Bill and Dottie. I don't have a camera, so the pics are taken via my phone and it's
not really clear. I think Dottie was overfed in the petshop thats why she looks so huge. Since she was
in a tank with a whole lot of other Betta's I guess one of them must have gotten into a fight with her
and ripped her fins. Nevertheless, she's still a beauty and after a few weeks with me she'll be just
fine.Yay!
That's the tank that eventually sprung a leak.Pity but the did look awfully happy in there
That's Dottie down there and that's Bill going insane again
Ah that big showoff there is Bill :)
I hope that these two will be able to get along well enough so that i can have a whole bunch of
adopted fish kids in a few days :)
due to me being in college and space for the fish. However, since I'm back for 2 and 1/2 months, I
decided to give it a go.
Relatively speaking I'm pretty new to breeding bettas but I've done my research and I also rely on
my dad's knowledge of the Betta's he owned as a child.
The initial plan was to find a gal as vivacious as Bill and with the same coloration. Hopefully, Bill's
white coloring is a dominant gene, but the chances of that are slim.
I must say that finding a white female is hard. Males are not so rare but females for some reason
seem to be mostly blue and red! So finally I settled on a brilliant blue one and named her Dottie.
Now she isn't dotty as her name may imply but she was named Dottie after my mom Dorothy.
I have an old glass tank that has got to be over 6 years old, lying in my backyard so I decided to use
that instead of my plastic 2 point something gallon tank. I washed it up and rigged up the filter and
bought a bunch of plants for the aquarium.
First, I gently transferred Bill into the tank, followed by Dottie. They seemed a lil surprised at first.
Tensely I watched the two of them, hoping that they would at least be able to bear each other. To my
surprise, they get along pretty well. The exception is that now Bill has a bride, he gets pretty excited
and keeps trying to mate with her. The silly guy hasn't even built a bubble nest yet!
Usually Bill would build the nests in the span of a day and I hope he will build one soon. Can't wait
to see him take care of his eggs! I'm starting to feel as if I'm the one giving birth. The annoying thing
is that my older tank sprung a leak, forcing me to transfer them both back to Bill's old tank
temporarily.I did so want them to enjoy the larger tank.
This is a picture of Bill and Dottie. I don't have a camera, so the pics are taken via my phone and it's
not really clear. I think Dottie was overfed in the petshop thats why she looks so huge. Since she was
in a tank with a whole lot of other Betta's I guess one of them must have gotten into a fight with her
and ripped her fins. Nevertheless, she's still a beauty and after a few weeks with me she'll be just
fine.Yay!
That's the tank that eventually sprung a leak.Pity but the did look awfully happy in there
That's Dottie down there and that's Bill going insane again
Ah that big showoff there is Bill :)
I hope that these two will be able to get along well enough so that i can have a whole bunch of
adopted fish kids in a few days :)
Bettas Boring? You Just Haven't Met Em Yet
So many of us have this perspective where Bettas are beautifully colored but awfully docile and dull
fishes.
Boy, you are so wrong.
If you have kept Betta's before you would know that each one of them has their own unique
personality. Therefor, I'm proud to introduce to you, Bill the most boisterous Fighting Fish I ever had
the pleasure to meet
So this is Bill. I named him after my dad, William. I was feeling really down and lonesome from a
break up, so I decided to break the dorm rules of not having pets and bought Bill! Because of his
white coloration and breed, he cost me around RM35. Usually, Bettas can be purchased for roughly
RM5 to RM15 for males and about RM1.50 per female.
Supposedly, Bill is a half moon betta, I'm not really sure but one thing rings true, he's a beauty. It's
really fitting that the species is called Betta Splendens, because it sure is splendid looking! I have
come to understand that white bettas are pretty rare and can fetch up to a hundred bucks a fish.
As I mentioned earlier, Bettas have unique personalities. Bill can only be described as having
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) !He NEVER stops moving! And he thinks he's the
king of the world. If you stick your fingertip in the water, he will bite or nibble it aggressively. He
circles and paces his tank nonstop and finds ways to entertain himself like playing under the filter
current, searching for nonexistent food bits between rocks and staring at me while wriggling
incessantly. This hyperness of his is what drew me to him initially. When I was in a pet shop, and I
notice that people are really cruel and put them in containers that are hardly any bigger than the fish
itself, Bill was the only one trying to move about even though there was virtually no space to move
about in.He was agressive even in such a close confinement. The other fishes looked half dead, the
poor things.
When I come back from classes everyday, he swims up and down excitedly. Put a mirror in front of
him and he puffs his gills like a pufferfish!Yeah, he's the boss!
I noticed though that they can get depressed if left alone for too long. Once I left Bill in the care of a
friend whilst I went home for a week long study break. When I came back, he seemed to have been
traumatized or something. His wouldn't come and greet me and he didn't seem as cheerful or active as
usual. Even his coloration seemed different. Bill is mostly white but he's speckled lightly with blue
and red, however this is hardly noticeable. When I came to take him, he had changed to a really
reddish tone! I admit it did scare me for abit. After cleaning his tank and spending a few days talking
and looking at him, he went back to his pale white, energetic self. Thank God..
It seems that Bill doesn't have a particular liking for my brother. When Daniel came to have a look
at him, he merely turned his back to him! And refused to greet him. Somewhat annoyed, my brother
leaned close and yelled "BWARGH!" which startled him a bit. Still it was funny.
To show you how diva-ish this lil fella is, here's a video clip of him. At first it seems like he's having
fun by himself but when he notices me filming him, he stops and rushes at me with his gills flared as
if saying, "Watcha looking at PUNK?!" before he gets bored and swims away. Sorry for the lopsided
video!
I LOVE YOU BILL!
fishes.
Boy, you are so wrong.
If you have kept Betta's before you would know that each one of them has their own unique
personality. Therefor, I'm proud to introduce to you, Bill the most boisterous Fighting Fish I ever had
the pleasure to meet
So this is Bill. I named him after my dad, William. I was feeling really down and lonesome from a
break up, so I decided to break the dorm rules of not having pets and bought Bill! Because of his
white coloration and breed, he cost me around RM35. Usually, Bettas can be purchased for roughly
RM5 to RM15 for males and about RM1.50 per female.
Supposedly, Bill is a half moon betta, I'm not really sure but one thing rings true, he's a beauty. It's
really fitting that the species is called Betta Splendens, because it sure is splendid looking! I have
come to understand that white bettas are pretty rare and can fetch up to a hundred bucks a fish.
As I mentioned earlier, Bettas have unique personalities. Bill can only be described as having
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) !He NEVER stops moving! And he thinks he's the
king of the world. If you stick your fingertip in the water, he will bite or nibble it aggressively. He
circles and paces his tank nonstop and finds ways to entertain himself like playing under the filter
current, searching for nonexistent food bits between rocks and staring at me while wriggling
incessantly. This hyperness of his is what drew me to him initially. When I was in a pet shop, and I
notice that people are really cruel and put them in containers that are hardly any bigger than the fish
itself, Bill was the only one trying to move about even though there was virtually no space to move
about in.He was agressive even in such a close confinement. The other fishes looked half dead, the
poor things.
When I come back from classes everyday, he swims up and down excitedly. Put a mirror in front of
him and he puffs his gills like a pufferfish!Yeah, he's the boss!
I noticed though that they can get depressed if left alone for too long. Once I left Bill in the care of a
friend whilst I went home for a week long study break. When I came back, he seemed to have been
traumatized or something. His wouldn't come and greet me and he didn't seem as cheerful or active as
usual. Even his coloration seemed different. Bill is mostly white but he's speckled lightly with blue
and red, however this is hardly noticeable. When I came to take him, he had changed to a really
reddish tone! I admit it did scare me for abit. After cleaning his tank and spending a few days talking
and looking at him, he went back to his pale white, energetic self. Thank God..
It seems that Bill doesn't have a particular liking for my brother. When Daniel came to have a look
at him, he merely turned his back to him! And refused to greet him. Somewhat annoyed, my brother
leaned close and yelled "BWARGH!" which startled him a bit. Still it was funny.
To show you how diva-ish this lil fella is, here's a video clip of him. At first it seems like he's having
fun by himself but when he notices me filming him, he stops and rushes at me with his gills flared as
if saying, "Watcha looking at PUNK?!" before he gets bored and swims away. Sorry for the lopsided
video!
I LOVE YOU BILL!
Blackie
This is a tribute to a fish I had years ago named Blackie. This guy had some spunk in him I have to
say. He was a wild guppy born with a spine curvature, the only one in the brood. I had him for over a
year before he died of unknown causes.
Blackie never grew up, he was always slightly bigger than a newborn fry. His spine curved sideways
and that caused him to swim a lil lopsidedly. When he was born I thought he would have died but he
stayed very much alive. He was my favorite fish, because he was so determined and because he
seemed to recognize me. He would swim up to me and stay there, a little black spot in the huge tank.
I miss him. He reminds me that things in life may go wrong, but that doesn't mean that you should
give up. Instead you can try your best and inspire others to do the same. Love you blackie :)
say. He was a wild guppy born with a spine curvature, the only one in the brood. I had him for over a
year before he died of unknown causes.
Blackie never grew up, he was always slightly bigger than a newborn fry. His spine curved sideways
and that caused him to swim a lil lopsidedly. When he was born I thought he would have died but he
stayed very much alive. He was my favorite fish, because he was so determined and because he
seemed to recognize me. He would swim up to me and stay there, a little black spot in the huge tank.
I miss him. He reminds me that things in life may go wrong, but that doesn't mean that you should
give up. Instead you can try your best and inspire others to do the same. Love you blackie :)
Don't Look Down On Them! The Wild Guppy
Alright! This here is my favorite fish ever. The Wild Guppy. I'm not very sure what it's called
scientifically. Some sites call it poecilia reticulata, others call it poecilia vivipara. I think poecilia
vivipara should be just just about right though. Poepcilia reitculata refers to the commercialized
variety of guppy which is more colorful and commercialized. Here in Malaysia, we just call them the
Longkang Fish, literally translated it means the Drain Fish, because you can find millions of them in
nearly any drain here!
Once again, I wish I had a camera as a kid because I kept hundreds of these lil guys. I remember
how my dad and us kids ( at that time just me and my younger brother) , would wake up early on
Saturday mornings and cycle out in search of these fish. All you had to do was find a drain that had
em! Then jump in and catch em with a net.
Unlike the commercial guppies that you find in pet shops near you, these guys were relatively
plainer and their tails and fins are much smaller. They aren't fully colored but their bodies tend to be
translucent with dots or streaks of color. Red, blue, green, yellow and any other color you can think
of. The males are smaller and are more colorful than females. Some of them have color in their tails
and fins. Some are just spotted or streaked on their bodies. This is a picture of what a typical male
wild guppy looks like
Usually this is what a wild guppy looks like. If you catch the ones in the wild, there may be even less
colors on it's body
This lucky guy has color on his dorsal fin and body but his tail is translucent. I think this one has
undergone selective breeding, thus is more colorful than the usual variety
This one here is a female. Females are void of color and can grow larger than males. It's very
rare to find females with color
The fun part about these wild guppies are that they are super easy to keep. They are very resilient,
they can survive in even the murkiest kind or water, able to withstand strong currents ( I even found
these guys at a waterfall once, and they were real beauties!), and they breed nonstop! They usually
live a year or two, sometimes even a lil longer.
They are live bearers, meaning that they give birth to live young but you have to watch them as
usually the mother or another male will gobble them up as soon as they are born. They are really tiny
and are born with egg sacs so you don't have to feed them till the egg sacs disappear.I usually
separate the parents as soon as the fry are born or I know they will become fish snacks to the
hungry parents. Cannibals!
That tiny thing there is the wild guppies baby. Cute eh? I'm not sure what the record number of babies
are but usually my females would give birth to 10 or 20 plus fry. They just popped out one by one!
Nowadays, I don't have the pleasure of keeping wild guppies anymore because I'm already in
college and my dorm doesn't allow pets. Not that it stops me anyway! I have a betta to keep me
company now. It does make me sad though to see the natural habitat of these fishes being cemented
up and destroyed. I hope that they keep breeding because it would be a shame if they became hard to
find. I wish I had pics of my own fish which I specially bred in the past but I guess what's gone is
gone
My Introduction to the Finned Ones
I think I was around 10 years old when I first developed a love for all things fishy. Though for some
reason, I don't really fancy them as food.
The first fish I ever had was a darling dwarf gourami. Scientifically it's called a colisa lalia. Posh?
Very. I just called mine Mac. We bought a pair of them, one for my younger brother and myself.
Back then all pets were taboo items in my house. My mom had a strict rule, "No live animals in the
house!"
Well, a dead one wouldn't be very fun would it now?
It's kind of sad that I don't have pics of old Mac and Goldie now but they kinda of looked like this
guy over here
Sweet huh?
After doing some research, I found that dwarf gouramis originate from India and Bangladesh
mostly. Fitting, because they kind of remind me of the colorful saree's and bangles Indian girls wear,
with their orange hues and brilliant blue green stripes.
One thing that made old Mac boy very endearing was that he had a habit of blowing or spitting
water up in the air when I came near him. Maybe it was just his way of saying, "FEED ME
HUMAN!" But still it was rather cute. I didn't have a tank back then so I kept Mac in a huge
Horlicks bottle. Being a kid, I wanted to give Mac a nice house he could hide in and a nice leafy
plant. Having no cash whatsoever, I fashioned a lil house for him out of an old soapbox. Poor
Mac. I soon learnt that soapboxes are not meant to be used as hiding places for fishes.
Eventually, my dad bought me a tiny lil plastic aquarium. So I guess that's how I fell in love with
fishes. It seems that this passion of mine for anything finned and gilled kind of runs in the family.
My uncle breeds top notch arowana's as a hobby, supposedly they are really beautiful and he sell's
some of them to serious buyers. Another uncle of mine breeds koi. My dad loves fish as well
and tells me that he used to keep many kinds of fish as a kid. He's my main supporter when it comes
to fish and breeding them. There's just something so amazing about it.
As for me, I prefer smaller and much more common fish. The kind of fish people tend to overlook
but have plenty of potential and character. As long as my fish are happy, I can say I am too.
reason, I don't really fancy them as food.
The first fish I ever had was a darling dwarf gourami. Scientifically it's called a colisa lalia. Posh?
Very. I just called mine Mac. We bought a pair of them, one for my younger brother and myself.
Back then all pets were taboo items in my house. My mom had a strict rule, "No live animals in the
house!"
Well, a dead one wouldn't be very fun would it now?
It's kind of sad that I don't have pics of old Mac and Goldie now but they kinda of looked like this
guy over here
Sweet huh?
After doing some research, I found that dwarf gouramis originate from India and Bangladesh
mostly. Fitting, because they kind of remind me of the colorful saree's and bangles Indian girls wear,
with their orange hues and brilliant blue green stripes.
One thing that made old Mac boy very endearing was that he had a habit of blowing or spitting
water up in the air when I came near him. Maybe it was just his way of saying, "FEED ME
HUMAN!" But still it was rather cute. I didn't have a tank back then so I kept Mac in a huge
Horlicks bottle. Being a kid, I wanted to give Mac a nice house he could hide in and a nice leafy
plant. Having no cash whatsoever, I fashioned a lil house for him out of an old soapbox. Poor
Mac. I soon learnt that soapboxes are not meant to be used as hiding places for fishes.
Eventually, my dad bought me a tiny lil plastic aquarium. So I guess that's how I fell in love with
fishes. It seems that this passion of mine for anything finned and gilled kind of runs in the family.
My uncle breeds top notch arowana's as a hobby, supposedly they are really beautiful and he sell's
some of them to serious buyers. Another uncle of mine breeds koi. My dad loves fish as well
and tells me that he used to keep many kinds of fish as a kid. He's my main supporter when it comes
to fish and breeding them. There's just something so amazing about it.
As for me, I prefer smaller and much more common fish. The kind of fish people tend to overlook
but have plenty of potential and character. As long as my fish are happy, I can say I am too.
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