# newbie betta help....



## 907betta (Oct 22, 2013)

Hi, am new to the betta fish, "sort of" had fish before but just not a betta, anyway can someone help me pick a good quality betta? i know i want a HM maybe a big ear one, but just not sure what to look for quality wise, I am looking at aquabid but theres so many i dont even know where to begin, looking at the seller Banleangbettas, sorry if this is not the right place to ask this question but couldn't else where to put it thanks!


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=289041


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

There are several breeders that you can get good pet quality bettas from. You don't have to buy from a petstore. Aquabid CAN be a good place to look. I would check the seller's reputation before buying. Breeders on here that I would recommend are Chard, Martinsmommy (she's expensive but has excellent stock and I don't know how much in the way of how much pet quality that she has) Myates and Basement Bettas.


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## bambijarvis (Jul 15, 2012)

Pet quality is anything you find attractive. 
Things to look out for are blindness(more common with dragon scales as they sometimes grow over the eyes), weird bumps(may be a tumor which can shorten the life of your pet) and signs of illness(you don't want to buy a sick fish).

Like dramaqueen said, aquaid is a good place to look, wide selection.
But try asking breeders here.
Chard is affordable and his fish would make lovely pets.
Martinismommy I'd suggest if you planned to breed, otherwise she might cost too much.
Basementbettas has some gorgeous fish. You can probably ask if she has some she'd sell cheaper as pets if you don't plan to breed.
Haven't seen much of Myates but I've heard good things.

I'm not sure if any of the above have HM dumbos....your best bet might be Chard56, I know he's usually working with a few different types. 

If you find a fish on aquabid you like, and would like us to look at it for you and see if we can point things out(good or bad) feel free to post links(doing it in this thread will keep for the forum clean and they would be relevant to your first post.)


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I have 2 of Myates' fish that she bred. They're gorgeous!


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## Basement Bettas (May 12, 2012)

You need to decide what you want as quality is personal and subjective. As a breeder breeding to an established standard and competing in shows, my quality is going to be beyond what most care to consider. Review the discussion here recently on evaluating a crown tail. Owing a show quality fish or even breeding it is not necessarily better if you have no desire to continue to produce a quality line of fish or show. It is not like a show quality dog.

If you want to just breed some fish you find attractive then purchase what you like and breed healthy fish.

If you want to be a bit more of a serious breeder, first place to go is the IBC and join. The site is a bit awkward right now but it is being reworked. Once you join you have access to the standards and the top breeders in the hobby. The standards are necessary as you need to understand the colors and faults. Hard to breed quality if you do not know what it is. 

Then you have to learn to recognize that quality the standard is looking for. This place is educational.. but if you want more, many of the top breeders have FB pages geared to producing quality fish and helping others in the hobby. My page is much bigger than I ever imagined it would be. Aside from a few crazy cat antics, I try to educate people on form and the standards. I'm a bit pinched for time here lately, but I try to regularly feature quality fish and review the better ones for good and bad points offered on AB. I also have a site and forum that has general questions, but also tends to have a bit more info directed at the more serious breeder.

As you learn about the standards and get the desire to produce really good fish and want to show.. then you tend to establish relationships with a more experienced breeder that can help you along. I have a few I am mentoring towards the show ring. So there is the even more in depth discussions on quality. 

Realize anything you buy is a cull. You just have to find a breeder that has some of the better culls around. Few breeders will show their breeder quality fish let alone offer them for sale. If you get lucky you get the "B" string that are show quality. Most often you get the "C" string. Here are some of my recent culls [ "C" string] offered for sale. I have not produce enough males to show let alone offer for sale.. so I tend to offer females..









Most do not have their top quality this good... and this quality may not be what you need or even want. So advice is.. read, join some forums where the breeders frequent and ask questions and learn. If still really interested join the IBC and get help selecting your breeders. Then good luck and hope to see your fish at the shows.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

+1. Good info.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Have to agree, quality is what YOU want and like when it comes to pets.. for breeding and to breed to show it's a different matter. But if you want quality for a pet I would look more for health and what you think is pretty


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