Sunday, October 11, 2009

Breeding my Bettas (Siamese fighting fish, Betta Splendens, Bettah, Trey Krem, Pla Khad)

Bettas are found in the wild throughout Thailand and Cambodia. I have been keeping Bettas as a hobby since I was a kid. The local fighting fish that I used to catch from the paddy fields and narrow waterways in Prai are very much smaller in size than the Bettas. There are over 50 species of bettas and they normally grow to the length of 5 to 6 cm. I like bettas because they are very colourful and hardy fish. They keep my fish pond free from mosquito’s larvae, which happens to be one of their favourite foods. Male betta’s fish are very aggressive and they can fight to death if kept together. I keep bettas as an ornamental fish, not for fights. The male fish have bright colours compared to dull coloured female fish. A pregnant female fish would have a bulge in the stomach and vertical bands when they are ripe for mating. The male would start making a bubble nest on the water surface to be used to keep the fertilised eggs. The mating ritual can be rather ferocious which sometimes ended with the female being badly bitten. The male fish would coil around the female fish body in nuptial embrace and the female fish would release her eggs which would be fertilised immediately. The male fish would then collect all the fertilised eggs from the bottom of the deposit them into the bubbles. After they finish mating the male fish will chase the female betta from the bubble nest. The male fish will take care of the eggs until they hatch which is about 2 days after fertilisation. It would be advisable to remove the female fish or else she would eat up all the eggs.
A colourful male betta.............................................and a dull coloured pregnant female betta
1) Betta eggs in the bubble under the water plants' leaves. 2) 10 days old bettas offsprings

11 comments:

CheaHSan said...

Aha catching fighting fish! Those days would discretely 'steal' my mom's rattan basket after school. Like you said where there are bubbles they will be fighting fish, easy catch. Once done would return the basket before my mom starts to cook dinner. No fear of snakes, leeches whatsoever but got stung by a bee the same kind of hornet that took three teenager's lives recently and my left palm was swollen double the size of my right palm. Ouch! ouch! ouch!!!

Pete said...

Bro Cheah : Ha ha ha, I used to do that also. I met a few snakes but they just slitered away. Once I caught lots of eels and took them home, kena scolding from my mom!
Then, I gave them away!
My cousin were not so lucky, he was bitten by a pit viper snake, head as big as a grown up fist. Hospitalised, nearly KO, until now his hand still painful because the snake venom attacked his muscles.

cleffairy said...

Hmm... you won't believe this, but when I was a little girl, i was a bit of a tomboy. LOL...the good old longkang days... ahahaha... anyway, i caught some of this stupid fish too... and you know... they are really stupid that if you put a mirror in front of em, they will bang their head-thinking they are fighting their reflection. Ahahahaha... haiyorrr... bring back the good old memories la, Pete...

Dunno why, this entry makes me think back bout my longkang days catching tadpoles and fighting fish and swimming in Pantai Bersih in my school uniform after digging for remis... LOL...

~Elaine Tam~ said...

Eh, can I ask something..how to make sure they breeded succesfully? =_="

And you can simply go and buy a new one from the store ma...ehehheh!

Pete said...

Cleff : Ha ha, good old day...one of these days I must see your old 'tomboy' photos....he he he!

Elaine : Bettas bred easily. The exciting part is when you cross bred....you will never know what type of colour mix and fin pattern offsprings you will get.

Reanaclaire said...

hey Pete..from food to fish now! fu yohhh.. me shame shame, i know nuts about fish, i town girl, never rear fish before.. longkang in town also no fish too.. got tahi busuk only.. hahhaa...

Pete said...

Hi Claire, wooo, 'uptown girl'. Agree, most longkang nowadays no more fish, lots of 'polutions'.

Ayie said...

ooohhh i miss our fishies back home!

Pete said...

Ayie : This is one nice tropical fish!

Anonymous said...

Hello. And Bye.

Anonymous said...

It is useful to try everything in practice anyway and I like that here it's always possible to find something new. :)