# Tom's Journal



## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

I had originally planned this post for ‘Meet the BettaKeepers’ section of the forum. And aftertrying to post it here in the journal section, I realize I am going to have to break up this post into several posts…
My name is Tom and I have raised fish most of my life—which Isuspect is considerably longer than most of the members here. While growing up in New England, I wouldchallenge myself with different fish breeding projects. Betta were the first labyrinth fish I bredand although I was successful, it took me thirty years to get back tothem. It was only recently that I wasinspired to keep them again and, somehow, I have become addicted to betta.
More than twenty years ago I moved from the USA to SouthKorea, eventually buying my own home here. Back in 2011, I set up an indoorpond on my enclosed but unheated veranda. I raised the native roundtailedparadise fish out there year round and would trade in the fry at a localpetstore. But, while the shop’s owner is more than happy to take my extra cory’s,plecos and cichlids, he was having trouble moving the paradise fish. But I knewmy pond would be perfect for breeding tropical fish in summer, so I consideredbetween dwarf gouramis or betta. I went to the store to choose and found somevery attractive (to my eyes) bettas, my mind was made up. I bought a male and two unrelated females... (to be continued...)


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

The fish cannot see each other easily and can easily hide ifthere is excessive aggression. In May, I put the three adults in the water. InOctober, I took out three healthy adults and approximately 80 young bettas,ranging in size from 2 to 6 centimeters. 


I kept them for a while for a week or so for observation, tomake sure they were healthy and to decide which ones I wanted to keep formyself. I kept all the adults, fouryoung males, and about a dozen young females—one of which turned out to be amale, making it a total of six males that I kept from the summer spawns. Since then, I saw a beautiful all-black malethat I couldn’t resist at the petstore and I took him home. I am sure I willbuy others as well if I find myself attracted to his/her colors. 


In the coming weeks, I hope to write about some of thebettas I have now, about upcoming betta breeding projects, and about my otherkinds of fish as well.


Anyway, it is nice to meet you all!


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## Tuigirl (Aug 3, 2014)

Looking forward to seeing and reading more!


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

*Baby plecos*









I fished these little guys out of the sorority tank along with more than a dozen of their siblings. They emerged from their father's cave on Tuesday and for the past six days have been eating a mixture of boiled zucchini and artemia. Once they are big enough, they will be traded in at a local petstore.


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

New betta fry, now about five weeks old. They have started taking prepared foods which is always a relief.


They were fathered by the black metallic lace I bought in the Fall. The mother had an equal portion of black and turquoise. I fished the young betta in the inset out of the pond temporarily for a photo, and put him back. The inset was manipulated by lightening it a little so I could see the fish better and judge how they are developing. So far, so good. I estimate there are about two dozen


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

*Betta growth-- 5 to 10 weeks*

In my last post, I had written that my betta fry were at that time five weeks old. At that time, I separated one fish from its nest-mates to raise alone. I did that because I wanted to record the changes that occur in the baby's body shape, fins, and color over time, By raising him alone, I could be sure I was photographing the same fish. He is now ten weeks old.


Betta Fish and Betta Fish Care - Nerite's Album: My Bettas - Picture
(I tried uploading the photo here, but it kept failing...maybe because of the size.)


In the last ten days, the young betta has developed a white margin along the unpaired fins which surprised me as neither of his parents have this trait (but a couple of uncles on his mother's side had incomplete white margins.) He is not really representative of the colors shown by his siblings, In fact, he is unique. I can't help but wonder if that was a product of being reared separately and not having to compete for food, though that seems unlikely. Most of his brother's and sisters show little to no blue and instead have greenish/black scales and many have deep cranberry or wine unpaired fin (one has gold with a rose iridescence-- I'll post pictures of him and the others later)
He is currently back with some of his siblings, but they will have to be jarred within the coming month.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Click "Go Advanced" and the paperclip icon.  loving the journal.


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

*11 Weeks Old: big changes on the way*

The betta kids are now 11 weeks old and there have been some changes. One of the females turned almost completely white nearly overnight. And the one who's development I have been following through photos is also showing signs of marbling on his head. Right now it looks like swirls of light purple, but I suspect it will lighten quickly and his entire head region could be changing color--- the edge of his gill plate is already nearly white. It could be a very different looking fish his twelfth week...
I won't mind the change, but I hope he keeps the thick blue scaling and his current fin color. I really like his fins, especially the caudal. But even that has changed. Previously it had a white border, but now the edges are cellophane. But what I like most about the tail is how reflective it is. When he is swimming, it flashes in the light. I tried to capture that in a photo, but it is hard to capture.


Next time, I will show some of his brothers and sisters.


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

*Some of the others*

For several weeks, I have been posting updates about a single individual of my late December spawn. However, for whatever reason, he turned out to be not representative and does not share the same color as the majority of his siblings. Most look like the pair below-- The reddish hue on the fins varies from orange to red. The female in the photo is the only one of her nest-mates to have red ventral fins.




The next photo is of an individual male. Taken in parts, I generally like most of his features. I like the red anal fin with the black border and lighter rays, I like the dark color-- it is not that purple, he is just reflecting light. I like the pattern on the caudal fin with black on the edge and on the base as well as the dorsal. BUT, I am not sure how I like all those elements on one fish. I would really prefer one pattern to be repeated in all the fins.


The next photo is of a young female about three weeks younger than the others. She shares the same parents as the others but from a different nest. I really like her bright red fins and her shiny black body. I look forward to seeing what she will look like in a few weeks. (Ignore the white thing at the top of her head. I put food in the tank to get her to come away from the plants)


The last one, believe it or not, shares the same parents. However, almost immediately after coloring up, she marbled out. For awhile I nicknamed her 'Tiger' because the marbling had caused a striped pattern, but it didn't last long. Her grandfather on her mother's side is marbled and suddenly, at the age of almost 9 months, her mother is starting to demonstrate marbling her unpaired fins. I am hoping her fins develop more than they have-- they seem stubby to me right now. But I like the dagger-like pattern on her tail.


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

*Marbling out....*

Last week I mentioned that the little betta I had been following since his birth had started to marble out. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when white started to show. I really like his shiny blue scales and his butterfly-patterned fins. Maybe he will only marble out on the head which was a different color than the rest of him anyway. That will look ok. Right?


<< Looks at attached picture>>


AAAAAAAAAARGH! 


OK-- he's not that bad. But it is a big change and not at all what I was going for when I chose his parents. Except for his now all-white sister, none of his siblings show any sign of marbling... yet. And this is just an intermediate phase. His color is slightly different whenever I look at him. I suspect much of his body, except for the head, will lose its color. I am a little disappointed that his dorsal is turning white and it looks like the caudal is lightening too. In the picture he is waggling his tail wildly as he chases the food I dropped in to get him out of the plants so I could take a photo-- I am actually very happy with the shape of the tail and how it is developing. 


In the previous generation, about 15 percent of the individuals lost all or most of their blue pigment. A few turned completely white.... which I really liked. However, as they aged... they are now 8 months old.... they developed a pink wash. On those that were all white, this looks good as they simply look like pink betta. However, on those that had a some blue pigment still in their fins, this does not look very good. I am hoping... but doubtful... that I can avoid that pink wash in this generation. Time will tell.


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## Nerite (Oct 17, 2016)

*This tank (I)*

In May 2016, I awarded a bonus for performance from my job. With it, I decided to set purchase a thirty gallon tank and finally get the Amazon Leaf Fish that I always wanted. They were being advertised on a site I shop at for the equivalent of about 35USD apiece. 


I planted the tank heavily with hygrophila, anubis, lobelia, some kind of water moss, a shorter variety of crypts, and planted dwarf hair grass along the bottom. The substrate was a fertilized sand and I didn't skimp on it--laying it an average of three inches deep throughout the tank. Two well-branched pieces of driftwood were added to anchor the moss and provide extra shelter as I read leaf fish are skiddish. I used peat to get the pH down to about 6. I also started a colony of feeder fish-- they cannot usually be trained to eat anything other than live fish.


When I was ready, I attempted to order the fish, only to discover they were sold out. Since that time, they have not been able to get the fish in. Neither have other, local petstores. I have waited patiently, letting the plants grow, and only adding a trio of bristlenose plecos I kept from the August spawn. 


But-- my patience has almost ended. I need to decide what to put in this tank. It needs fish.


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