Letter to the Membership Bronco Betta has been growing at a remarkable rate due to the efforts of

all of you. Thanks to Dean for being the motivator and umpire of the site.

A very accomplished breeder in his own right, his interactions and inter-

views with breeders all over the world have given us a truly international

flare.

Nathan has been a powerhouse in the tech department. . . and is the back-

bone of these NewsLetters.

So far we have enjoyed articles from many of you with your own experi-

ences and ideas. We have a running conversation going that has gener-

ated a great many valuable ideas for new approaches to problems and a

real treasure chest of information. Great Work - all of you! Hey, and

we're just getting started. If any of you, our members, have ideas for addi-

tional features, please let us know . .

Interview Joep van Esch 2

Interview with Victoria Stark

3

Interviews Continued 4

Joep’s fish 5

Interview with Paradorn 6

P.U.R.P.L.E. 7

DIY Bottle Betta barracks

The Saga Of Plakat Trok Chan

8-12

12

Vote Linda Olson for Executive Board Member

IBC has been one of the finest hobby organizations from its founding.

So well conceived and thoughtfully organized from the beginning, it has

become the model for other betta societies around the world. I have

been privileged to have been a member since 1978 and have served on the

Executive Board before. Our leadership has traditionally provided fair

and open guidance to encourage members to explore their own abilities and ideas,

while maintaining proven standards for the species. As a Board Member

I would like to encourage the pioneering spirit of some who would like to

'push the envelope' on what is possible in creating new developments, as well

as providing access to some of the most valuable work that has been done on

breeding this and related species. At the same time I would want to provide

incentives for members to invest their own individual talents in the organization.

We have a vast wealth of professional level abilities in so many areas from

folks who would welcome the opportunity to participate. All we need to do is

provide an exciting forum for this interaction to take place.

If you share these values and directions with me, and feel I would be

a good choice for Board Member, I would ask for your support in the coming election.

Thank You ,

Linda

How long have you been breeding bettas?

At the end of 2002 I got hooked on Bettas when I accidently stumbled on a betta website on the internet. I gathered more information by visiting several betta sites and I became more and more fascinated by these beautiful fish. I obtained my first pair of Betta splendens (long fin, super delta) in march 2003

and spawned them successfully a few days later.

What are your favorite tail types and colors to work?

Although I initially started to work on long finned fish, my breeding program is fully dedicated to breeding of short finned halfmoons since 2005. My

favorite colors to work on are non-metallic steel and royal blue but also reds.

I notice you have your own standards what made you do this rather than do it the IBC way?

In past years that I have been active as a breeder and judge (certified judge within the European Halfmoon Betta Breeders Club and 2-times apprentice within the IBC), I experi-

enced the strong and weak points of the current show standards and developed my own ideas/views on what the ideal show betta should look like and how this should be applied on shows.

One of the most important things I was missing was a clear description of the ideal dimensions accompanied with good examples to support the written text. Together with my

friend Stefan George Psarakos (Australia) and feedback of several experienced breeder in Europe, we developed models to visualize the ideal shape, balance, dimensions and

proportions of the different finnage varieties of show bettas. The first version of the Bettas4all standard was released in 2010 and used for the first time at the Holland Betta

Show 2010. Now 5 years later the Bettas4all standard has been successfully used at twelve shows in Europe (with 3 more ahead in 2014). The Bettas4all Judging Board is work-

ing hard behind the scenes to further development of the standard, a training program in order to deliver certified Bettas4all judges and detailed fault system. The current version

of the Bettas4all standard, including two articles on its development can be found here: http://www.hollandbettashow.com/bettas4all-standard

In the past years we got a lot of support from breeders worldwide but unfortunately we also were put up with a lot of crap from people saying we are destroying the hobby be-

cause we do not follow the IBC. I would like to make clear that the Bettas4all standard was not created for any personal gain or power. Keep in mind that both the IBC and

Bettas4all are working for the same hobby and it is not about one being right and the other being wrong. We simply wanted to express our ideas and stimulate development

in our hobby. We believe that just like in politics, more than one organization definitely can be of importance here to do so.

Do you have a Dragon Class?

We do not have a class for ‘dragons’ or metallic fish because I personally think this would create a lot of confusion. Metallics have been characterized very well but with respect to ‘dragons’ there still are a lot of questions to be answered. We all know these fish with the thick armory like scaling but what is their genetic makeup? They seem to share a lot

of characteristics with the metallic trait yet still they are different. More on this can be found in an article I have written together with Victoria Stark-Parnell some years ago based

on our own experiences which can be found here: http://www.bettaterritory.nl/BT-AABDragons.htm.

Getting back to the original question with respect to a separate show class for ‘dragons 'and/or metallic, I think this is nearly impossible to put in practice as I know from experience it can be very hard to distinguish fish which are not showing the full genotype in their phenotype and are carrying metallic/’dragon’. For example, it often is

impossible to distinguish a non-metallic turquoise fish from a heterozygous metallic royal blue based on the phenotype alone and you will have to breed it to learn more

about its genetic makeup. I think there are enough other options within our standard to divide show classes in order to promote an interesting competition.

Why do you think the Gene pool is getting compromised?

I personally believe that nothing has been “lost” but that all the building blocks are still there. This is true for dark body reds, non-metallic iridescents, opaque's, and even classic

cambodian reds. Daring to make a cross with another color other tail type or even a wild type fish can be crucial here. Keep in mind that even if you have to go one step

back, this can be an investment in many more steps forward in the generations to come. It just requires people to work with the tools available and to take their lines a bit

further than just F1 and then buy new fish again because they are not immediately top-quality show fish. Go work those lines!

What do you feel is lacking as far as the breeding world of bettas is concerned?

I can not come up with anything to add to the things which already have been discussed in this interview……………..Oh now I think of it maybe one thing, share your knowl-

edge & experiences! There is room for secrets within this hobby.

Run us through your selection and breeding methods including the raising of fry, what size tanks you use and how you house your adults etc etc

I do not have any secrets in this hobby. This is exactly the reason why I have shared all my spawns from the moment I have started 2003 on my personal website

www.bettaterritory.nl under the heading “spawn-log” in the menu. There you can find detailed spawn logs with my expectations and pictures of the (grand)parents and their fry of

more than 160 spawns. More on how I condition and breed my fish can be found under heading “breeding” in the menu of my website as I believe this would be a bit too elabo-

rate to write down here in this interview. With respect to selection, in my opinion it is important to keep in mind that bettas are more than finnage alone. Health, longevity, vital-

ity and ability to maintain their finnage throughout their lives are a desired characteristic. I like my breeder pairs to complement each other for their weaknesses. Both phenotype as genetical background are very important in this whole process of selection. My ideal betta is vital and healthy, has a strong body and peduncle with a smooth mouth-to-dorsal

top line. The finnage has to have a smooth appearance and has to be in proportion with the body.

till be intact.

What is the difference between your show and an IBC show?

The biggest differences between Bettas4all and IBC shows are:

Differences in the descriptions of the ideal form (dimension parameters) of the various finnage varieties.

A separate show class for doubletail plakat males and females.

A separate show class for crowntail plakat males and females.

A separate show class for veiltail plakat males and females.

A separate show class for Form & variation males and females

Show classification: At shows according to the Bettas4all standard fish are initially benched based on their finnage variation and sex only. Depending on the number color

varieties and the number of breeders entering them, the classes are further subdivided in order to promote an interesting competition. This way we want to prevent that people become winners in a class without any fish to compete against.

Awards: The number of awards per showclass also is depending on the number of fish per class - 1st - 5th place in classes with more than 10 fish entered.

- 1st - 3rd place in classes with 4 - 10 fish entered.

- 1st place, in classes with up to 3 fish entered.

The philosophy behind this again is the fact that with this system prizes get more weight and actually say something, e.g. winning 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes in a class where

only 3 fish are entered does not say much, but winning a 5th prize in a class with more than 10 fish entered does!

Judging procedures

But for me personally the most important thing of shows I enjoy best is the ability to meet other hobbyists and to exchange fish and experiences. Shows are all about fun

and I believe this is something hobbyists experience at shows worldwide regardless of which standard is used.

You have written quite a lot about bettas do you ever plan on a book?

In the past 10 years I have been collecting a lot of information on all aspects of this hobby and have gained quite some experience with keeping, breeding and showing these fish

myself. I have a huge personally library on all aspects of this hobby which I hope to combine with my personal experiences one day in a book. The book is written in my

head, but unfortunately I lack the time in this stage of my life to write it all down. I hope I will be able to realize this in the coming years.

How hard is it to get good stock in your country?

Within the Netherlands, we at the moment are limited to 4 experienced breeders who have been successfully breeding and have been active at shows.

Interview Joep van Esch www.bettaterritory.nl & www.bettas4all.nl

Joep’s fish can be seen on page 5 of this publication

How long have you been a breeder and you took some time off of Bettas for a while can you tell us a little more about these things?

Well I started breeding and keeping bettas at around 11 years old, and since I stopped having birthdays at 29, it is impossible to calculate just how long ago that was ;). Suf-fice it to say, AWHILE. I moved to Sweden at the end of 2010, and disbursed my stock. I gave most of my bettas, including fry just a few weeks old and my old friend Teach

the Oscar, to my friend Bryan.

What was the first Betta you owned and what were the first types you spawned?

Hard to remember the first! Definitely one of the first was a blue veiltail named Astro. What a warrior that fish was. I came home from school once to find him missing from his bowl, and

after 20 minutes of searching I found him partially dried up under a table. I replaced his body in his bowl while I had a good cry, and when I came back he was swimming around. He lived for

3 years and fathered hundreds of fry!

Do you favor a particular color and which would it be and why?

My problem has always been that I favor too many and can never limit it to just a few. Over the years I think my best lines have been the extended reds and metallics. This time around I

would like to really concentrate on melano and other types of black.

We talked a little bit about purple you made some progress what happened and how far did you go with it?

Once on a phone conversation with Doc Lucas I asked him how I would go about making purple, and he insisted breeding royal blue and red would eventually produce it. While it did produce

a purply-blue, it did not breed true, producing all shades of blue and multi when bred together. I then tried to create purple using copper and black, but just ended up getting distracted by the

black/coppers it produced. The method that almost got me consistent solid purples came through using "purple gas" (purple/yellow bicolor) bettas, and slowly eliminating the yellow. Unfortu-

nately the line threw too much butterfly and marble and I finally got frustrated and switched to other lines which didn't make me want to kick a grandma.

If you talk to 10 breeders, each one will have their own method of spawning fish can you give us an in depth of how you go about the process from the very beginning until the end tank size,

water depth temp etc etc.

I just keep it simple. Anything that holds a few gallons of water will usually work, and I just fill it to a depth of around 5-6 inches and choke it with plants (except for a small clearing around

the nest spot). I usually keep my fishroom warm and humid, so tank heaters aren't necessary. I prefer clear plastic lids for nesting sites since it is easier to see the eggs if you shine a light down

from above. The most important thing I have learned is to just leave them alone and let them get on with it. Too many potential spawns are ruined because of overexcited or hypervigilant

breeders.

Who would you say is the best breeders you know of?

There are so many I know I am going to forget some. For current breeders, I think Sarawut Angkunanuwat of Siamimbellis.com is amazing. Mark Ibara of Hawaii almost effortlessly pro-

duced some of the best fish I've ever seen, Sieg Illig's plakats can't be rivalled, Marianne Lewis and Gilbert Limhengco did some real groundbreaking work with color/pattern, and Karen

MacAuley always consistently produces big, healthy, vibrant bettas which win everything in sight.

What live food do you use and how much per feeding fry, adults and so on.

New fry get hard boiled egg yolk for the first week and then a combination of microworms/bbs until the next week, when they are put exclusively on bbs. There were a variety of foods I fed

my adults. I tried to keep things interesting. Frozen/live daphnia and bloodworms, Guppy Bites pellets, live mosquito larvae, chopped worms, beef heart, etc. They were fed twice daily and

fasted every Sunday.

what do you house your bettas in container wise and do you use sororities?

At the moment they are housed in their own little planted aquariums of about five liters each. I don't have any sororities right now since I only have 2 female bettas, but of course I have in the

past. I have even successfully kept an all-male tank, but I wouldn't recommend that to the beginner ;).

You and I talked about my theory a little bit and like myself you also believe that melano is actually a mutated red gene, please explain your reasons for thinking this.

It is mostly speculation at the moment, but I think it is an interesting theory, and it may have merit.

Are you a member of IBC and if not do you plan on joining? I

am not currently a member, and I am undecided about renewing right now. I think the IBC best serves those in Area 1 and may be somewhat less necessary for those of us in other countries

who are not participating in IBC shows.

What are you working on at the moment and do you think Decker ever took the Kobyashi Maru test and why did he evolve?

I have decided to concentrate mainly on blacks and koi because it stands to reason that, if Kirk were the only one to defeat the Kobayashi Maru exercise, then Decker failed in grand fashion.

But since he merged with V-ger and consequently warped into another dimension, it probably isn't relevant.

How hard is It to get good stock where you are in that country and why is it a problem?

Almost impossible! It is strictly illegal to ship live fish through the mail here, all the pet stores get their deliveries from trucks which pick up the fish at customs and trundle the orders to the

stores. The transshippers aren't chancing it. But we have had a new pet store open in my city and I think I have managed to convince the owner to place orders for me, so we'll see what he

comes up with.

I forgot to ask you about the Armageddon betta , what it is and if you have ever worked it before?

I think it is reasonable to assume that the "armageddon" pattern comes from the same place the "dalmatian" spotting pattern came from, which I think is where we also got the "yellow spotted

melanos" from back in the 90's. The patches and spots seem to affect only the red and non-red areas of the fins, so you see it almost exclusively on yellows, oranges, and Red/NR bicolors, like

MG. I hesitate to say it is a form of marble, because it behaves differently from marble. I'm not sure where it comes from, but I think it is gorgeous.

Interview with Victoria Stark of bettySplendens.com

Who are some of your favorite breeders and why?

I can not really say that I have a favorite breeder as I think there are many great breeders all over the world. But I really do admire those hobbyists who work with their lines

and dare to think outside the box in order to achieve a certain goal.

If you were in charge of the IBC, what direction would you like to see it go and what if any changes would you make?

I really respect the IBC as an organization and this is exactly the reason why I already have been a member of this club for a long time. I personally do not have the ambition

to be in charge of the IBC nor do I want to give anybody the impression that I could do it better. The IBC should continue their work for the hobby on their way and so

do we with Bettas4all. Respect for each others organization, opinion and views in my opinion are very important in order to keep being constructive for the hobby. Af-

ter all we all love the same beautiful fish!

My personal thinking is that shows are the reason many old strains are being lost what is your opinion?

I personally do not think this has to do anything with shows. Shows always have been there, but I think that the following things might play a role:

Easier to purchase fish: It nowadays is much easier to get new stock from anywhere in the world and In the past breeders really had to work their lines in order to get further as the stock was limited to a relatively small number of hobbyists which could exchange with eachother.

“Betta-hypes”: Most hobbyists are very sensitive to “hypes and the internet also plays a big role in this. Suddenly everybody want to breed the new color- or finnage-

variety and older classic colors or varieties are then becoming more rare.

Lack of patience: People want fast results: Nowadays not many hobbyists really work with their lines in order to create a “signature line” of their own which they main-

tain and improve through the years. Most hobbyists want fast results and unfortunately do not have the patience to build something from them as it is much easier to

buy a new pair when a certain spawn does not immediately bring those potential show winners.

With respect to old stains being “lost” I personally do not think anything is lost, more on this has already been covered in question 5.

What steps would you take to preserve our habitat lose of the Wild species and do you think as breeders we can save them?

In the past decades several species already have gone extinct because of habitat loss or extensive hunting. I think this can only change when the responsible authorities are aware that the faith of these animals actually lies in their hands. I believe hobbyist groups and organizations definitely can play a role here to create more awareness for this

problem.

With respect to saving them as breeders I am a bit skeptical as we can not match natural selection in our tanks nor can we keep the minimal required numbers in order to main-

tain a healthy population required for a species to survive in the wild (genetic diversity). Off course we can attempt to maintain certain “wild” species within an aquarium

community for a longer time with regularly exchanging stock but the question here will be whether these fish after many generations still represent the original wildtype (not

only phenotype) and whether they can actually ever be re-introduced if the habitat would s

Besides the purple strain what do you think the hardest strains are to maintain?

One thing that comes to mind and makes me laugh even now was my never ending battle with the "dalmatian" gene. I accidentally used a fish that I didn't realize carried dalmatian, and in the

F2 here were all these spots. I would work so hard to breed it out, think I had succeeded, and then BAM! Spots. Merciless. Getting good, dark reds without black scale or black edge was also

pretty challenging, especially since they tended to be very murdery with each other.

I have talked to a couple breeders overseas that have actually mastered the rosetail trait do you think there is a place for them in shows if so why and if no why not?

If it is carefully watched, absolutely. Rosetail can be very beautiful. Unfortunately, too many don't seem to know when to quit and it goes overboard. The fish has to have rays strong enough

to carry its own finnage, and be able to swim comfortably. Extreme rosetail (with the poor color, abnormal scales, etc) should never be spawned. Breeding bettas is an art form. You have to

really observe your results and think "what should my next move be?" If your fish are getting too fin-heavy, think about adding in a fish (like HMPK) with shorter fins and stronger rays. It is

a delicate balance.

Why do you think some strains are so difficult to find anymore and what do you think caused this?

The non-metallic and non-marble lines are virtually impossible to find anymore. Metallic and marble have taken over everything.

Do you heat the whole room or do you use separate heating for each thing?

I heat the whole room. I sometimes wonder how other breeders manage who are heating the containers separately. Does every fish get a tank with its own heater? When I was using a drip

system I just put a submersible heater in the water reservoir, and it kept heated, filtered water pumping through a hundred little individual boxes. That worked fine.

Tell us what you think is the ideal Betta form for both male and female.

My favorite betta type is the asymmetrical halfmoon plakat. I just like the angular, sharp look with the longer pointed anal fin. For longfins, male and female, I look for balance and symme-

try, strong fin rays, sharp caudal edges, and broad dorsals. I love the "Skyhawk" dorsal look, and I think it contributes very much to that image of ideal symmetry. The males should have a

smooth top and bottom line, with a slight arch to his back behind his head. I think that gives him a very masculine, strong appearance, like a stallion. He should be aggressive but not deadly.

Females should have the same appearance of balance and symmetry, but be more demure, with a softer form and round little pot belly.

Do you think Dragons should have ther own class in shows and what do you think is being left out that you would like to see added to shows?

You mean for IBC shows? Yes, I think there are enough dragons now to warrant their own class. I also think betta shows should feature all sorts of finnage and form variations, including

veiltails. All bettas are beautiful in their own right.

finally have you noticed that when you spawn 2 royal blues you do not get the same things as you did in the old days? No true green anymore, no cornflower, what do you think is the prob-

lem and how would we fix it?

Same problem as previously mentioned, I think. Too much metallic and marble floating around the gene pool. There was a time you could spawn iridescent bettas and be reasonably sure of

the outcome, now you get all the normal colors along with butterflies, marbles, and blue cheeks (masked). For a while, Dan Young and I were working together to bring back the "pure" iri-

descent betta. I think others are also now trying to do the same. But it is important to keep those lines pure, and outcross only to fish from trusted friends who are doing the same.

Interview Joep van Esch ... Cont. From PG. 2

Interview with Victoria Stark...Cont. from PG.3

Joep’s fish

How long have you been breeding bettas and how did you start? ---

I bred bettas since I am children. Fighting fish is Thai culture almost the boy have experience of this. Just bred for show beauti-ful fish.

2. You have a lot of names ha-ha which one do you prefer Beta Genetic, Farm fish 66 or Paradorn?---

I like name bettagenetic but call me paradorn is better because it's me.

3.what are your favorite tail types to work with---

100% sure is halfmoon

4.This is one of the most important questions you are the father of The superblack betta how did you create this and why?---

first I heard from IBC that bettas don't have really black. Only black that IBC confirm that time is Black melano.They talk about Melano is not black they are bicolor so I try to think about Super Black line.

5.Most breeders do not know anything about genetics do you and if so how do you use them when selecting your fish to

breed?---

My first time to bred halfmoon.Guide book of IBC help me so much.They talk about Ired , Nonired, Opaque, Nonopaque some-thing like this.I learning about this to improve color of bettas and Standard of IBC is everything for good genetics of male and female to breeding program then get good halfmoon on next generation.Actually bettas show not for beautiful fish but bettas

show for good genetics of bettas to breeding and keep good quality for next generation.

6.What foods do you feed from Fry to adult?---

I feed by dephnia for fry to dault , blood worm and fake food for adult sometime.

7. In case you get disease what do you do about it?---

I change water every 3 day then use medecine that antibacteria after change water.Important I keep bettas in stable tempera-ture place.Temperature not swing from the win.

8.What size tanks do you breed in and what age do you put fish in ponds if you do this?---

I bred them in 5 liter tank then the fry 3-4 days I will put all to 80 liter tank.mald and female for bred will be medium size to big size.Almost use medium size because big size very hard to success.Female very aggressive and kill the male.

10. Why do you think many of the old strains are disappearing and what can we do about it like Classic Cambodian, True red, Black Lace, and non metallic Blue?---

I not sure how many fish that old color get best in show? if old color get best in show often classic color will be comeback.IBC standard have many class that good for keep genetic color of bettas.Thai bettas show have less of class they mix color in one class so best in show almost AOC then breeder not bred classic color all try to bred AOC.We lost genetic of classic color that

very nice that they are.

11. What new types of bettas are you working on? And how come if you are the Father of the Superblack, we never see you offer many?---

CTPK is my target because Halfmoon hard to keep for someone so breder make HMPK so CT hard to keep then I think CTPK will be. I not sure I expert of superblack actually I don't know who tell me father of superblack ^^ I know how to come super-

black only.

12.What can we do to preserve the wild bettas on your country?--

About me I don't know place that they live in the nature but some Thai people in upcountry know them.The specialy know will be children.

13. What do you think has happened to the old strains of Blue that used to produce true greens and Cornflower Blue?--- I

not clear your question.If you mean try to bred true green with blue.I think out put will be green turqouise and blue.

14. And finally are you a member of IBC and if so, why is that important to you?---

IBC is very important for me to success.I get good halfmoon of my breeding program before that I not success so long.I learning standard educate and try to bred with male and female as standard.I am IBC member.

Interview with Paradorn Note from the editor:

Paradorn is a very well known and respected breeder from overseas, English is not his native language.

No parts of this interview were changed from what he sent in. The reason for that is so there is never a

reason to believe that we change what a breeder says. Please excuse the language barrier and enjoy get-

ting to Know such a great influence on our Hobby.

Thank You Paradorn for your time and contributions.

P.U.R.P.L.E. I've been asked many times how I went about making my Purple line of Bettas. I got back into breeding Bettas a little over 6 years ago. Back then I didn't have access to Halfmoon females so I had to choose from the Veiltail

or Crowntail females that were available to me. Petco had just started selling their King Bettas which were not much

more than large fighter Plakats at that time. I spawned two of them with a Brown and Yellow Veiltail female. Com-monly referred to as Chocolate. Click on the first picture and follow along on the captions.

A big Green and Red “King”

male from Petco I bred with the

Chocolate female.

The other “King” betta. A Royal

Blue male I spawned to the

Chocolate Veiltail female.

The original female I used in

the purple line.

The first couple of generations

produced some very dark purple

Blue offspring with red finnage.

A few black ones with a purple

tint showed up as well.

The veiltails that showed up

would have similar coloring.

Black and Red Veiltail with Pur-

ple Iredescence. Some would

think the Purple was mutating fro

melano but to my thinking this

Red had replaced the yellow fin-nage of the Chocolate coloring

and Purple had somehow mutated

from the royal Blue and MG or

Purple Gas which is related to the

Chocolate coloring

An early purple Veiltail with Yel-

low finnage. Not like the Purple

Gas betas that had an iredescent

purple scaling on the bou with the

yellow finnage. This is a solid purple body color transferred to

the finnage

This is more like yellow wash

than a “MG” thing.

I would still get Steel offspring.

The “King” gened made for

some very large veiltails and

the Plakats were on the big side

as well.

The Purple red and Green Red

Veils were over 4 inches in

length. I tried selling the green

version as a watermelon with

some success.

The Purple ones were only

about 20% of the spawn to

start with lots of different

colors too.

I got them up to 50% and

more Purple in the finnage

after several generations.

It was a couple years before I had a

solid Purple one like this.

Seemingly unstable and random color combinations show up almost every

generation. Here is one Purple, Black, Red, and yellow. Red and yellow are

not supposed to be able to be seen at the same time but like the Armaggedon Bettas and some of the Koi betas, they

don’t listen!

Another oddball. Green, black,

with yellow and red in the finnage

Still a little red wash and red

Ventals. I started crossing with

halfmoons. Here is a nice color

of purple on a Delta.

Still working on a halfmoon but the

color is definitely fixed. Not 100%,

but now up to about 80% of the spawn

is purple.

They still like to throw something new and different Purple with Bubblegum pink finnage. Many of these different color combinations this line throws I

would have liked to pursue but maybe once others start breeding some of my purples they can help in establishing

some of them

I saw this one at a pet store and

had to cross the Big ear trait into

my Purples too.

Now I have Purple Doubletail

Plakats to enter in the new DTPK

class.

A Purple Doubletail female won first

place and Best of variety last fall for

floor or form variations

I crossed with longfinned DT and

spawned siblings to see if I can

get a better halfmoon finnage.

They started out as Plakats and I

still have to have my pretty purple

traditional Plakats. I know, I still

have to watch the red wash thing.

P.U.R.P.L.E. What’s that spell? That’s right Purple betas!!!!!

By. Richard Laughery

Betta Barrack from Bottles – BBB

By: Luis Navarro

All of us that embark in the adventure of breeding bettas know that these fish are natural fighters and they must be kept separated, soon after that we get shocked when we realize that we

can potentially end up with hundreds of betta fish and no room to house them separately. When my bettas had their babies I finally realized that I had to do something about the betta housing issue.

Even by my more modest calculations I needed a huge amount of shelf space and containers. As I started to look deeper into the problem I realized that I also had to do a lot of work changing wa-

ter in each of those containers and to make more complicated I had to remove food residuals and fish poop from the bottom of the containers, all of this on a weekly basis… shocker!!!

I eventually did my research and found out that most betta barracks were out of my budget range and started doing more research until I found a picture of a betta barrack made with soda

bottles in the internet, I tried contacting the publisher of that picture but he claimed that he took it from a web site in Thailand and did not have a way of getting back to it and to tap it off he speaks

a different language. So I decided to reverse engineer that project and make some improvements, this is how I came up with an enhance version of Bottle Betta Barrack or BBB.

This article describes how I utilize soda bottles, PVC pipe, faucets and a pump to build my first betta barrack. I will divide this document into:

a) Overall Design

b) Materials required

c) Tools needed

d) Tips and techniques

e) The build

f) Future enhancements

g) Gotchas.

OVERALL DESIGN Before going into the details keep in mind that the Gotchas section has information that may help you as you are reading this so feel free to skip back and forth.

Three very important issues that that made this project possible:

1- The neck of a two litter soda bottle is about half a millimeter larger in diameter larger than a half inch PVC pipe. This makes for a snug fit between a half inch pipe of

PVC and a soda bottle

2- Soda bottles react to PVC cement and will form a solid union to PVC pipe

3- Soda bottles are dirty cheap if you can get them from my local recycling center

The overall design consists of soda bottle connected to a PVC “T” fitting via a middle fitting that makes it possible to screw the bottle onto the “T” giving the whole project modularity this means

that the owner can replace individual soda bottles should one of them fail. Below is a unit of the many that make up the entire system.

.

Below is a picture that shows the overall method of integrating soda bottles in a betta barrack.

A soda bottle is cut from the bottom which will end up being the top as the bottles will end up upside down. Bottles are connected, via a PVC ‘T’ connector, in series to form a section of the Bar-

rack. These sections are connected to the same system to form a complete betta barrack. The bottom portion of the bottle that is cut off is utilized as a strainer, so don’t throw out the bottoms.

We need a strainer to prevent the fish from falling into the pipe system as it would be almost impossible to get the fish out. The bottom of the bottle which is cut off is perforated as a strainer that

will fit snugly inside the bottle.

Now that you know the magic that makes this project possible lets discuss the more of the details of the project.

The “T” fitting that I used is a 1 inch on two sides and a half inch with thread on top. I could have used a half inch “T” but I used 1 inch instead to give strength to the structure. If you are on a

tight budget you can use half inch “T” fitting on all sides but your overall structure will be weaker.

The thread part of the “T” is a key part of the overall design; this makes the barrack modular, meaning that if one of the bottles is damaged for any reason

then it can be replaced

.

Before we go any further, Know your available wall space as this barrack is meant to hang off a wall and the wall space dictates how many bottles you can include in your barrack. The number of bottles you are going to put together in each row is restricted by the lenght of the wall you are going to utilize. Consider

that you may need some extra space on the ends to accommodate for the pipes bringing water into the system and draining the system.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

“T” fittings 1 inch ‘arms’ to ½ inch ‘neck’ with thread on the neck

One inch PVC pipe and half inch PVC Pipe

PVC cement, transparent is the best since blue cement will stain the white PVC

connector.

½ inch PVC Slip with Thread

Faucet

Plumber tape

TOOLS NEEDED

1- An electric Saw to cut the pipe

2- Scissors to cut the bottom of the bottles

3- Plastic gloves

4- Protection for your nose and mouth to prevent inhalation of the PVC cement va-

pors

1- Eye protection

5- Ice pick to start cuts into the bottle and to make the drains from the soda bottle

bottom cut out

6- Sharp knife, or cardboard cutting knife

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES Find your local recycling center to figure out if you can procure the number 2 liter soda bottles that you will require before

anything else, you have the option of buying the soda and keeping the bottles for the project that would take a long time. I recom-

mend doing a dry-run with only two or three bottles to figure out if this is something you can do but most importantly if the neck of

the bottle is the appropriate size to take a ½ inch PVC pipe and if the bottles react to the PVC cement the same way as the bottles I

get from the recycling center.

Figure how you are going to procure your bottles before you start this may be a deal breaker depending on where you live, some

towns do not have recycling centers nearby.

When joining together a bunch of “T” fittings find a flat, even surface that you can utilize to ensure that all the “T’s” are lined up.

Figure out the distance needed between the centers of each “T” fitting, you need to get this distance right if you put them to close the

bottles will be jammed against each other if you put them too far apart you will be wasting wall space. Below is a picture of how I

formed each row of “T”s

Find the distance between two bottles next to each other (diameter) that is going to be the distance between the middle of your “T”s.

in my case it was 4 and ¾ of an inch.

Make sure you have appropriate ventilation and breathing protection when using the PVC cement, read the precautions and instruc-

tions on the PVC container.

The Build

Cut the Soda Bottles Cut all around the bottom right where the arrow is to take the bottom off. Use an ice pick to start the cut. Punch holes to the

bottom part which will be used as the strainer to prevent the betta fish from swimming into the piping system. Insert the bottom part

of the bottle with the holes already punched in it (look at the last picture below)

The connector between the bottles and the PVC

Cut ½ inch PVC segments 1 and 3/4 long, one for each bottle in your entire barrack system. These pieces will be cemented to the sleeve

with thread that in turn will screw onto the “T”

Glue/cement the ½ inch PVC pipe to the sleeve as in the second picture from the left above, then glue/cement the bottle to

it ½ inch pipe. When screwing together the bottles to the “T”s use plumbers tape to avoid water leaks.

The ‘SPINAL CORD’

Cut as many pieces of one inch PVC as needed to join all the “T” that you are going to use in my case the one inch PVC that I used

to connect all the “T” was three inches long. Join all the “T” with the 1 inch PVC. MAKE SURE THAT ALL THE NECKS OF THE

“T” (the half inch part of the “T”) TOUCH THE SURFACE OF YOUR TABLE EVENLY. This is pivotal to ensure that all your

bottles end up in the same vertical position. Let this dry up for at least one day

The Water Intake and the Drain Pipes This part of the build is going to be different in every case so I will not go into a lot of details. I will just mention that I use one water

valve to stop the water from flowing into the barrack and another to stop the water from draining. I use one input and one drain valve

in each section of the barrack to have more control over the water flow. One important issue to keep in mind is that the bottle closer

to the draining pipe will drain faster and the bottle that is the farthest away from the drain will drain last. Keep in mind that you are

going to have live fish in the bottles while you are draining the water so pay attention to the bottle closest to the drain as it will drain

the fastest and you might end up with a fish with no water, this is particularly important if you are going to make barrack sections

that are very long, I use 12 bottle barrack sections I do not get to the point where I end up with fish with no water but I imagine that a

section of 24 bottles or more will have to drain very the water very slowly to avoid the problem.

FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS I am looking into the possibility of having a large filtering system with a UV light to be able to reuse the water instead of dumping it

in the sewer.

If the filtering does not work I want to connect a pipe to my front yard and use the waste water to water my front lawn.

GOTCHAS Most people that breed bettas keep them from seeing each other by sticking a piece of cardboard in between them. Keeping this in mind, measure your

pieces of pipe so that the soda bottles end up as close to each other as possible. The separators need to fit snuggly in between soda bottles. For this reason it is

important that you figure out the exact diameter of your bottles and do the math to cut you pipe pieces so that the bottles end up close to each other. In my first attempt the bottles were too separated to each other thus wasting wall space.

Do not make your pipe runs too long, I kept mine at 12 bottle runs, this is because the bottles closer to the water exit will empty faster than those far-

ther away. A 12 bottle run does show very little difference but I imagine that in a 36 bottle run the bottle closest to the water exit will be empty way before the

bottler farthest.

PVC cement will melt soda bottles just the same as PVC pipe so be careful not to get the PVC cement on an unwanted part of the bottle as it will melt it.

A half inch pipe fits snuggly in the hole or mouth of a two liter soda bottle but some manufacturers build their two litter bottles with different dimensions. Ex-

periment with a two-bottle mini barrack to make sure your materials will work together appropriately.

Use the bottom of the soda bottle that you are going to cut off as a strainer, after you cut off the bottom of the bottle make holes in the bottoms and use

them as drain strainers; this will prevent the betta fish from traveling into the pipe and getting trapped in the pipe. In my first trial I did not do this and had to

patiently wait until the fish decided to travel back into the bottle.

Back to basic principle of fish living. 3 factors for succeed in betta living are 1) Clean water People may

think betta is survivor, no need much water change. It's true that they can survive in not good water condition. However, clean fresh water help betta active and greedy. Not just only syphon water, tank rubbing is recommended also. Why???...Many of you may doubt. Because fishes have mucilage annd it

will be pasted on tank. This mucilage will make fishes inactive and become sick. Refer to Photos, the clearly water is rubbed tank. Unlike rubbed tank, water in just only syphoned tank is little bid dull. For

us, we rub monthly. 2) Good food Instant noodle, Frozen food and Sizzling steak... Which one you pre-fer? For us, Instant noodle is just only junk food. Easy to cook and eat which same as pallet fish food. Easy to feed, low nutrition and easy to find. Frozen food is the next step. More nutrition than Instant

noodle but it's still unlike fresh food. Fresh food is top of fish food. Imagine that no frozen blood worm nor palllet food in the nature. Fish's food is fresh live food only. Unfortunately, live fresh food in hard to

find in some case. Pallet food feeding is fine also. 3) Enough space Larger space = Large moveable area Betta can do excercise rather than eat and sleep in small bottle. You guys need larger house for living.

It's same as fishes.

The Saga Of Plakat Trok Chan

Continues