My Experience with Betta Splendens

I became interested in Betta Splendens about 3 years ago when I was looking for a colorful fish, that was easy to keep for my community aquarium that I was setting up. My dad had always kept a betta in the tank we had when I was a very young child so I naturally headed for the area of PetsMart where they keep the Bettas.

I came home with a cute blue and red one that ended up living until the ripe age of 2 1/2. He turned out to be a little too aggressive for my guppies (Bettas will attack other fish that resemble a betta and my fancy male guppies had long flowing tails similar to a Betta's) so I bought him his own 10 gallon tank which he loved! I started doing some research and I learned that Bettas could be fed small amounts of unseasoned, cooked meats so one day I put in a little piece of chicken tied to a string and he went berserk! He flared (when Bettas spread their fins and gill plates, making them look big and tough when threatened or excited) and attacked the chicken, ripping it to shreds then gobbling up. My little pet shop betta was so beautiful prancing around and showing off that I was hooked!

From that point on I went out on the web looking for information and I stumbled across Bonnie McKinley's web site Black Magic Bettas and I was betta crazed! Everything progressed from that point, and now I have 6 pairs of Bettas (3 double tails and 1 half-moon) and a fry tank full of 3-week-old betta fry. I joined the International Betta Congress and I am in the process of joining the California Betta Society. All this because on one little pet store betta! But watch out - it can happen to you too and you become (dum dum dum!) betta crazed!!!

Beautiful double tail bred by Liz-Hanh Morin

Have YOU been struck by the Betta Crazed disease?

	Do you find yourself going to the pet store for the sole purpose of seeing what new Betta stock arrived?
	Are you on your computer more than an hour a day looking at pictures and information on Bettas?
	Have jars with Bettas in them mysteriously grown from one to 10?
	Do you find yourself always swinging by the Tupperware section of the grocery store to see what potential Betta jars might be in stock?
	When you look at your home do you start thinking, "Hmm, I may be able to fit a few jars there..."?
	Is your freezer space slowly being taken over by frozen foods?
	Do you have weird worms crawling around in plastic containers?
	When you go grocery shopping, is half of your list supplies for your cultures?
	Are more than half of the people you know online Betta enthusiasts?
	Are your hands and arms constantly wet from changing jars?

If you are effected by one or more of these symptoms you might just be... drum roll please ... Betta Crazed!!

I am a member of the International Betta Congress