# Meet My Boys



## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Hey there,

Just thought I would share some pictures of my bettas with you all, they are not the best photos as I have been rather busy lately but you get the idea. By the way the butterfly halfmoon is a rescue betta and was sick when I bought him a couple of weeks ago, just to explain the damage to his caudal fin.

So I have.....

1. Berry the lavender/salamander Dumbo Halfmoon Plakat
2. Secret the (melano) Black orchid crowntail
3. Eclipse the Black copper butterfly crowntail
4. My new Royal blue butterfly halfmoon 

I am open to name suggestions for number 4 as I haven't come across anything I think really suits him yet........

Anyhow here they are
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## DSquad4 (Jan 17, 2013)

Very nice! The black orchid crowntail is especially cool


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## blu the betta (Dec 31, 2012)

i love the halfmoon butterfly!


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## mushumouse (Dec 29, 2012)

those are all great looking fish, but secret looks AMAZING in that picture. it's like he's half betta half lovecraftian horror.

eta names... the first think that came to mind is jay, as in blue jay. he's got all three colors, ha. there's a very clean and graphic look to the way his fins are colored that's super interesting too, you could name him swiss international style.


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## Viva (Oct 18, 2012)

They're all gorgeous! I love dark colored bettas.


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Hey there,

Thank for all the comments everyone mushumouse, glad you like the pic of secret... I called him that because he is extremely shy and turns his tail the minute he sees the camera to swim away and hide hence the photo. When I bought him he was the first black orchid I had come across in my area they were really hard to get hold of and I really loved the way that all his fins had really evenly spaced rays. He was pretty small when I got him and he is now the largest crowntail I have ever come across, (aside from the giants of course!) within six months his fins had become so huge that he now has difficulty swimming because they are so heavy!!!! bit sad really but on the odd occasion that he does flare he looks quite impressive.


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## BeautifulBetta123 (Aug 27, 2012)

They are so gorgeous!


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Thankyou


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## RandomCookie (Dec 18, 2012)

Such gorgeous fish!! :shock:


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## tilli94 (Nov 30, 2012)

:O looove secret and eclipse. They're gorgeous!!!


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## Rin9 (Jan 18, 2013)

dang...your orchid CT is epic...


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Thanks guys,

For a long time all the pet/fish shops in the area only supplied your basic veiltails and crowntail in the usual blues and red etc (even though I think they are all lovely) however as I get further in to the betta keeping I was disappointed that I was unable to obtain more fancy varieties locally. Fortunately I started asking the petshops would they ever get the fancy varieties and they began to stock them just for me because I was buying quite a few back then. 

I always wanted to get a pure black/black orchids or pure white betta though and the petshops could only get onto them for huge amounts of money, I was already paying upwards of $50 for the other fancy varieties and just could not afford to pay any more than that being a struggling (financially) student and all. A few months back however I could not believe my eyes when I came across secret in a petshop. At the time I was 'having a break' from the fish and only had my two old bettas left. Should have known though despite initially telling my self 'no more' I was back a week later buying secret and of course planning to go in for one I left with two, I bought berry too because big ears were not available previously either and I could not resist. Buying those two got me back into the bettas again and I will hopefully have around 10 soon.

I found Eclipse about 2 months ago, I didn't know what to do, I thought he was beautiful but already had a black betta (secret) and was looking for something different however I could not go past the fact that he was black copper and butterfly so bought him too.


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## Fishybitty (Dec 29, 2012)

Beautiful, that crowntail kinda creeps me out! haha


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Hey there,

Fishybitty, lol yeah secret kind of reminds me of a giant black spider, I am not fond of spiders, but I love Secret


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

Beautiful! Secret has some very amazing fins! He looks mysterious, haha. What a great name, too


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Hey there,

yeah I think secret suits him, I named him that because he is really shy but also matches his mysterious looks


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## Zoetrooper (Jan 11, 2013)

Ah! Wow. Secret's fins are simply amazing.


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Hey guys,

I have some bad news, I was really upset to discover this morning that Secret seems to have the beginings of dropsy 

A couple of days a go he seemed a bit off (was lethargic and lying on the bottom of the tank gasping). He seemed to improve over the next day or so but then yesterday all of my bettas seemed to have an adverse reaction to the malachite green I was treating them with. Desperate I did a couple of emergency water changes and this morning they all seem much happier.....except Secret he seemed unwell lying on the bottom gasping again. I just couldn't work it out his appetite is good and he still flares at the betta next door occasionally. I noticed by chance however that his belly looked very full and then it clicked..... I looked from above and can see very slight scale protrusion around the belly. It is really hard to see because he is so dark black in colour but it is there...... I am so down about it. I really love Secret and he is not that old maybe a year at the most....

I have never had a betta survive Dropsy..... the best result I have achieved is that I got a betta with Dropsy to survive with dropsy for about 6 months.... he was always a bit unwell and depressed though and I had to give him almost constant anti-biotic treatments. I felt it really only prolonged his death and in the long term not sure it was the best thing for the fish. He got really bad after 6 months of constant treatment and died despite it.

Now I feel totally helpless about Secret, I don't want to lose him but I can't help but feel it is inevitable. Not a good day


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## Skyrocket Moon (Jan 27, 2013)

D: I know I'm helpless with shark too really bad dropsy on him and espom salt just seems to make him worse. Now all I can do is watch him and keep his water clean.
IT is so bad to only be able to watch a beloved fish go.
q.q


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I think those are the biggest "ears" I've ever seen on berry! And secret has awesome color and fin reduction. Not much I can say about eclipse, he's just perfect! Ant that blue butterfly is awesome, even coloring and solid, deep blue. I like sky or Skye or skïe or something because its like the sky with clouds haha.


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## majesticstorm (Dec 8, 2012)

They are all soooo beautiful! I really like Secret


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## veggiegirl (Nov 20, 2012)

Hey there,

Skyrocket Moon- Yes I know about your poor boy shark unfortunately bettas are really prone to dropsy probably the only thing that I don't like about bettas:-? It was a real knock to discover Secret had dropsy because I didn't expect it also he had a rocky start to life..... got too cold in the pet shop and was sick when I bought him, he struggled with constant bouts of fin rot for months but finally we won that battle and he went on to grow truly amazing fins!!!

MattsBettas- That is actually an old photo of Berry and his 'ears' are about three times that size now!!!!! I always wondered whether they were supposed to grow that big as he is the only 'big ears' betta I have owned until recently. I bought a purple gas super delta big ears last week but he is just a baby and his fins have a lot of growing to do! Secrets fins are the biggest I have ever seen on a crown tail (that photo really does not do him justice unfortunately as you probably read poor Secret not has the beginnings of Dropsy. I was always shocked that he ended up with such amazing fins after suffering from fin rot for so long. As for Eclipse I was never fussed on his fins he has poor reduction and they look sort of messy but I love him all the same and could not go past his colour! My blue butterfly has permanently damaged fins caused by fin rot which he had when I bought him but he still looks quite stunning at full flare. Thanks for all your feedback

majesticstorm- Thanks majesticstorm, a lot of people seem to like secret I am just so down on the fact that he is getting dropsy He had a rough start to life and now to get this at such a young age..... well is just doesn't seem fair


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