Archive for: October 2006

Bettas have come a long way…

Betta fighting have started about 150 years ago where gamble on fights are very common. During these gambles, houses and even wives often changed hands. The fishes used were mostly wild caught in rice paddies and streams and some were bred by people fighting these fishes.
The people of Thailand respected the Thai King a lot and when the King of Siam at then played with these little fighters, many people followed. From there, many people started breeding bettas and sales and betting of fighters became many’s livelihood.

In the 1800s, the King of Siam gave some of his personal bettas to a man named Dr. Theodor Cantor, who was a doctor in the Bengal medical service. Nine years later, Theodor publishes an article in which he describes those fighting fish and names them: Macropodus Pugnax.
But in the 1900s, Mr. Tate Regan pointed out that there were already a specie called Macropodus Pugnax, hence the need for a new name. Regan came up with Betta Splendens.

This is just the introduction to the history of keeping Bettas as pets. Tail forms such as HMs or Crowntail came much later.

VTs and DTs came about first in US and was created by Warren and Libby Young. Warren named the VTs they created Libby Betta in honour of his wife.

This fish was first created in 1920s in Cambodian fishes. That was the first mutation they created and is the most commonly available one. The second mutation was created in the 1960s and these were bred for commercial purposes. The development of the extended fins in these fish were much noticable and more easily detected in young males then the VTs of the first mutation

Bettas have been selectively bred for the past 100 years and the past 50 years were all concentrated on producing Bettas with better finnages. The early Bettas were exported to Europe from Thailand. These fishes have a bigger caudal fin then wild bettas and were used for fights.

Then in the 1960s, Edward Schmidt Focke of Germany bred the first delta betta from those imported fishes from Thailand. These Delta Bettas were not as long finned as those of Libby Bettas but have broader fins then common bettas that time. Then in 1967, IBC was setup by a group of dedicated Hobbyist and their aim was to breed fishes with finnages broad and symmetrical instead of long.

In the early 80s, a French name Guy Delaval and some other breeders imported these fish to France. Guy Delaval bred these fishes for an increase in angle in the caudal fins and in 1987, he actually had a few fishes that had caudal fins that reach up to 160 degrees. Guy Delaval then showed some of these fishes in a show in France and Rajiv Masillamoni realised that Guy Delaval had come up with the impossible. The fishes at that time had finnages that hit 160 degrees maximum and could not swim well as they were not symetrical.

Laurent Chenot and Rajiv Masillamoni joined in trying to preserve these fish. They tried to breed these fishes but they will not breed as they were too inbred. The male did not even know how to do the spawning rituals such as blowing the bubblenest and wrapping the female. Laurent Chenot and Rajiv Masillamoni then got fishes from many petshops and lines from different people and a very good male that was named R39 was thrown out from crosses between Delaval’s fishes and a black doubletail line from America.

This fish was bred by Rajiv Masillamoni to all of the females of his and Laurent Chenot lines. Some Halfmoons turned up and Laurent and Rajiv continued breeding hard. In 1991 Jeff Wilson joined them. When Jeff saw our fish he called them Halfmoons. Rajiv thought that it was an appropiate name for it.

Tag :betta, betta fish, halfmoon betta

Came across this article in a local newspaper …

The fighting fish has never been in the same league as the Arowana, the Japanese ‘koi’ or the Flower Horn Fish, even though most Malaysians have reared them sometime in their lives. But some wild species of the fish are dying out, says SAM CHEONG, who spoke to a group trying to save them.

THE Malaysian Betta Society is a little-known group with a tough agenda: To keep the Malaysian fighting fish from extinction.

They have a lot on their plate as 20 of the 52 species of wild fighting fish in the world come from Malaysia and some of them are facing extinction.

But people like society president Mohd Dzulhardy Mohd Adanan, whose first love is the fighting fish, the effort to save the species is well worth the time.

According to him, some of the species endemic to Malaysia like the Betta livida will die if efforts are not made to conserve their population.

Found only in Tanjung Malim, it is slowly dying out due to development.

“We should be proud of the fact that the Betta livida is found only in Tanjung Malim.

“As there is worldwide appreciation of this particular species, we should be doing our best to make sure it does not go extinct,” he said.

He said the fish population in Tanjung Malim was rapidly dwindling due to human encroachment into their natural habitat.

Dzulhardy said that even the natural habitat of the common Malaysian fighting fish, genus Betta imbellis, was being threatened.

In the 1950s and 1960s, one could find them in ditches and padi fields.

But they are dying out, again due to development and a lack of interest in conserving them because of their limited commercial value.

“They are not as colourful as their short and long-finned cousins such as the Betta splendens. So, there’s little commercial value in conserving this species.”

Fish breeder Bobby Chua from Durian Tunggal, Malacca, said wild Bettas were harder to spawn in captivity.

He added that efforts were being made to re-stock the species before they became extinct.

“Right now, I am trying to breed a wild specimen from Borneo called the Betta macrostoma that can grow up to 15cm, one of the largest fighting fishes in the world.”

Chua has invested more than RM4,000 in setting up a hatchery for the giant fighting fish where he hopes to cross-breed it with a show fish to create a new strain.

“In captivity, it’s hard to create the right environment for the Macrostoma to breed. That’s why they are so scarce.

“My stock was found on the outskirts of Miri in Sarawak. This particular specimen is endemic to that part of the world.”

Chua also lamented the fact that Malaysians had to depend on foreign efforts to keep the fish from going extinct.

“The breeding of such species is being pioneered by Betta enthusiasts overseas. It seems to me that fish with low commercial value may go extinct right under our noses unless we do something about it.”

Much of the knowledge, added Chua, was sourced from foreign web forums.

“In terms of technology and technique, we in Malaysia are behind. The top Betta breeding and exporting countries are Thailand and Indonesia. Right now, there are fewer than 12 professional and full-time breeders in the country.”

While fighting fish in the wild are dying out, the exact opposite is the case with species with commercial value.

Thanks to people like Chua, designer species are making their presence felt and bringing in the dollars.

While the average Malaysian may be happy to spend RM5 for a fighting fish, there are those who will part with up to RM680 (US0) for designer species.

Chua, who fell in love with fighting fish at nine, said there was a mind-boggling variety of new “strains”.

There are two classes of fighting fish, the show fish and its wild cousin. Both are highly sought after by enthusiasts and experts from the US and Europe.

“I began breeding the Bettas at my farm in Durian Tunggal, Malacca, four years ago. From my imported stock, I have spawned a few generations of fighting fish and some of them are sold to overseas buyers through my website,” he explained.

The 32-year-old has also won some local competitions that have heightened his credibility as a breeder of champion Bettas.

He said it required a lot of time and patience to maintain and breed the fish.

Apart from producing a variety of high-end fishes, Chua also cultivates his own “live” fish food to sustain his hobby. The Internet, he added, had been a crucial factor in keeping his interest going.

With an initial investment of RM2,000, Chua started producing his champion Bettas, selling them to buyers in the US for very high prices.

Since 2002, he has produced more than 1,000 fish at his farm to cater to foreign buyers.

Fish fans bitten by the ‘Betta bug’

EXACTLY who are the people spending hundreds of ringgit on fighting fish?

Kuala Lumpur-based fighting fish owner Pank Jit Sin rekindled his old hobby last year, becoming very serious in getting the best out of his investment.

“I got bitten by the Betta bug and purchased 15 fishes that cost me about RM1,500.

“Right now, I am concentrating on breeding a strain called the Salamander Butterfly which I got from Thailand.”

Pank said rearing show Bettas is not a hobby for everyone as they require plenty of know-how and commitment.

“You’ll need to have plenty of time to maintain the fighting fish and its environment and this is very labour-intensive.

“To show them off at competitions, the fish have to be flawless in terms of presentation, colour and pattern.”

Malaysian Betta Society president Mohd Dzulhardy Mohd Adanan said there was a lack of awareness when it came to identifying the fighting fish.

“Generally, people think that the colourful show fishes are caught from irrigation canals and peat swamps.

“As a matter of fact, the majority of the exotic-coloured Bettas are imported from countries like Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia.”

He said that show Bettas are highly favoured by collectors and breeders for their vibrant colours and good pricing.

Basically, he added, there were two variants of the fish. First, there’s the short-tailed Betta followed by the long-tailed variant.

Further down the scale, fighting fish are divided into “full-moon” and “half-moon” strains. Such, commented breeder, Chua, were the advancements in genetic technology pioneered in the US.

Dzulhardy added the tropical environment in our country had also played a crucial role in the production of high-quality show Bettas.

By the way, the record-sale for a single champion fighting fish stands at RM5,700.

“I hope people won’t jump on to the bandwagon by thinking that high-quality fighting fish are just cash cows,” he said.

 

Tag :betta fish