Sorbet's Kryptonite

Everyone knows the one and only weakness of Superman is the Kryptonite..
well, I have nothing to say about Superman but what I observed today seems quite similar.
I finally found a clue to Sorbet's unknown problem of being soft and quit flaring.
As I tried to open up the sheet between his tank and Maverick's, he starts to shrink his fins. So, afraid of a bad thing would happen, I put back the sheet. Then, I was anxious if the same thing would happen if I opened the other sheet which separates his tank with Hot Rod's. So, I tried and finally, Sorbet flared again! After a few days not flaring, he flared. But the strange thing is that he would shrink his fins whenever he sees Maverick but flares when he sees others. I tried this experiment of mine for several times and resulted the same thing. I guess, from now on, I'll put his tank beside other betta excluding Maverick's.

The death of a beauty

I got a bad news everyone..
my Amarillo died this morning...
Poor thing..
Eventually, her gill infections took her life..
waaaaaaaaaa...(T_T")
Well, I did saw this coming due to her lost of appetite during these few weeks..
Perhaps, she did gave me a sign.. Thanks Amarillo..
You did your best to survive..
May you rest in pieces..

Amarillo

(5th September - 25th September 2008)

#21. Maverick

Type: Male Blue-White Mustard Gas Half Moon Betta
Date of Purchased: 22th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Suzairi a.k.a Ai's Crib
Status: Alive and active
Story: His great enormous fins, his bold flare, his perfect color combo, his tough body. The perfect thing needed for a great betta. How can I describe him? Extraordinary. Tremendous. Marvelous. Any great words could describe him. I first booked him in Betta Society Malaysia's forum from a guy named Garuda Funky. Yup, his real name is Suzairi or you can just call him Ai. This Garuda guy lives in Setapak with his wife and 2 cute kids yet still can manage and take care of his million 'Non-human kids'. This fella I bought from him was one of my best buy. The name Maverick was given due to his bold flare and his blazing glare when you look right at him. Not like other bettas, I find him friendly because he would show-off his fins and gills. He's just one of SplendensSplash best fighter.

#20. Sorbet

Type: Male Blue-Orange Bi-Color Halfmoon Betta
Date of Purchased: 22th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Suzairi a.k.a Ai's Crib
Status: Alive but has Betta Stress (maybe homesick).
Story: One of the greatest creature of all. This blue-orange fella caught my eyes during my fish-surfing in Ai's Crib. He got his name from me and my younger sister's discussion. We decided to name him after an ice-cream. First I found the word 'sherbet' which finally being changed to Sorbet. His unique blue-orange color gives him a soft touch to the eyes of the beholder. :D.. However, this fella is still young and is about 2.5cm long(body). He was active when I brought him home that night. The next day, I took this picture below and since that, he suffers with a big time stress. If you look at him, he seems OK, but when it is time to flare at his neighbors, he becomes a coward, soft guy. I'm still investigating his behavior and still giving him proper treatment. What I could think of right now is to do a frequent water change to make him stabil. And I wont forget those magical Ketapang leaves (Indian Almond Leaves).

#19. Daiquiri Ice

Type: Male Blue Butterfly Delta Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 22th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Suzairi a.k.a Ai's Crib
Status: Alive and yet inactive
Story: After purchasing two of his gorgeous bettas, Mr. Garuda Funk gave this fella as a free gift. However, his condition wasn't that tip top. He's not sick, but just maybe stressed out for some reason not yet identified. I did admire his color before and he's just the perfect candidate to join our crew. Yeah!!!\(^o^)/. He's now in proper treatment and if he fully recover, I might get an award of Betta Psychologist. LOL! He got his name from an ice cream. I forgot what brand it is but it is called Daiquiri Ice. Similar to Sorbet, me and my Afah(my younger sister) came up with his name after a half an hour search. Ice is still in his child age and hopefully he has great potential to be a fabulous Blue Butterfly Super Delta. Just pray along with us ok?:)

#18. Crystal Lite

Type: Male Green Delta Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 20th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Carefour Johor Bahru
Status: Passed away due to anonymous disease on 13th November 2008.
Story: During my visit to Johor, my gurl, Yaya, who was infected with my betta freak disease, wanted to buy another betta to our collection. So, we went Betta-hunting and found a green fella who was sitting there alone (actually he was swimming..:p) waiting for someone to adopt him. We adopted him after having some inspections. So, Yaya and her nephew named him Crystal Lite for such reason. Actually they already named him before purchasing him. Hehe. Well, after 2 months with my Yaya, Crystal Lite died of anonymous disease which she found him dead the next morning when she woke up. I don't know the exact cause of death because I didn't manage to check him up because Yaya was way back at Johor and I was at Kajang. So, this was her second lost which is much better than I am. Hehe..

From a tough guy to a soft guy..

I think it is already too late to post this since my tough guy has already recover from this symptom. Two days back, my new HMPK which I said was tough and buff, turned into a soft guy. When I removed the paper sheet that prevents them from flaring 24/7, this fella didn't flare at his neighbor. Plus, his face turned pale and horizontal stripes started to appear on his face. Is this a transformation? No. Based on professionals that I asked, they said that maybe he's stressed out and horizontal lines are signs of terror. But luckily, after I did a water change just now, he started flaring again. And of course, I felt relieved. :)

But before starting to feel comfortable with my fishes, my brand new halfmoon MG blue-pink gave me the same sign of his. The looks of terror in his eyes. The color wash in his body. The non-flaring fins of his. It makes you annoyed, yet scared if anything happens. But hopefully, he'll survive like my other fella, Marine. In the other hand, the signs are yet dangerous because when a fish gets stressed out, their slime coat a.k.a 'Disease armor' gets washed out. Hence, they easily get sick and more exposed to infections and parasites. yikes!!! m(O_o)m..

Big pic: You can see that he's not flaring even though he sees another male betta.
Small pic: horizontal lines appear on his body.

Disease Identification!!!:(

Patient name:
Hot Rod

Symptoms:
No clamped fins but stays at the bottom part of the tank. Body looks likecovered with dust on his head, body and tail. He's suspected of having White Spot Disease but still in investigation and identification.

Treatments:
Isolated in his own tank which he was never not-isolated before. Tried to treat him with Ocean free blue liquid and also the Japanese Yellow Powder (not at the same time) but still got no positive result. Made a full water change for 2 days now.

Reference:
These pictures were taken when he was in his blue liquid medication. but now he's in yellow powder medication. His head and body is covered with a 'dust like' thing. Click on the image to enlarge and a better detailed view.

#17. Oasis

Type: Male Solid Blue Half Moon Betta
Date of Purchased: 15th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Uncle Wong’s Kopitiam
Status: Alive and active
Story: So, still at Uncle Wong's Kopitiam, I bought two male bettas actually. Marine and Oasis. Oasis is a solid blue Halfmoon which caught my attention there. Personally, I'm not into solid red bettas. And I'm also not a big fan of solid colored betta anyway. I don't really know why solid red bettas are expensive, which cost RM50 each. Maybe of the fact that red color is a luck to Chinese tradition I guess. :). So, finally I owned myself a halfmoon and yes I feel great! I just love the way they flare at each other. \(^o^)/

#16. Marine

Type: Male bi-color Turquoise Blue Halfmoon Plakat Betta
Date of Purchased: 15th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Uncle Wong’s Kopitiam
Status: Alive and active
Story: Halfmoons, Crown Tails, Delta Tails, Double Tails. What about Plakats? Yes, nice question. I am personally less interested in Plakats. Maybe because of their short tail and buff body. Anyway, that day when we went to Uncle Wong's Kopitiam(a well-known place for betta breeders), I actually was attracted to this fella. He's a halfmoon plakat. Or maybe should be called as Fan-tailed betta. His color was a combination of blue + turquoise and had a dark color head. According to Uncle Wong's nephew, he told me that Marine was a result of a Plakat and a Halfmoon. Some of his siblings are Halfmoon Plakats and some of them are pure Halfmoons. Yeah, that's the story of genetic thing which I am totally confused at. :p. Anyway, his strong body and fins when he flares makes me think that he really could win a betta fight or we might say he's a qualified candidate for WWB a.k.a World Wrestling Betta. hahaha. :D

#15. The Violets

Type: Female child Bi-color White Purple Plakat Betta
Date of Purchased: 8th September 2008
Place Purchased: Oldtown Petaling Jaya
Status: Passed away caused by female territory fight on 14th September 2008
Story: The two twins I bought at Oldtown Petaling Jaya. It was hard to find a bright color + CHEAP female bettas. Then one day, Fath came to me and said he bought female bettas at the fish store near his house. So, we went there and I bought these cheap brightful female child bettas to add in my female betta sorority tank. :). Actually one of them belongs to my other friend but he asked me to take care of it. But, after awhile, eventhough they say that you can put the female bettas together, these two twins died of territory fight between Carotina. Actually I really liked the color which was white and purple. The ordinary RM1 female bettas sold at local fish shops are the dark multicolor type e.g. Carotina.

#14. U.V a.k.a Ultra-violet

Type: Male Purple Crown Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 6th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Pet Island Johor Bahru
Status: Passed away due to new betta syndrome on 7th September 2008
Story: Besides Hydra, it was also rare to find a purple betta. But here at Pet Island, I eventually met one. To make it more interesting, he is a crown tail betta. He didn't actually had the solid purple color on his body but it was a bit fade on his body and fins. Unfortunately, same as Hydra, he didn't last long. After this loss, I really learned that choosing a new betta is imprtant to prevent the new betta syndrome,

(Photo not available due to no stock photos of U.V.)

#13. Hydra

Type: Male Brown Double Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 6th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Pet Island Johor Bahru
Status: Passed away due to new betta syndrome on 7th September 2008
Story: The First Double Tail betta I found. A part from that, his brownish color caught my attention. Actually, it wasn't really my intention to buy a new betta at Johor but I couldn't resist his attraction to be added in my collection. But the bad part was that he was already sick from the beginning. He didn't last long and left us the day after I bought him. I did try to save him but the effort was useless.

(Photo not available due to no stock photos of Hydra)

#12. Moonlite

Type: Female Multicolor Plakat Betta
Date of Purchased: 6th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Giant Pletong, Johor
Status: Alive and active
Story: After buying Lavender from Pet Island, we had to search for the female betta to get a pair that day. So, finally we manage to find a cheap female at Giant Supermarket. Her color actually resembles Carotina but has some difference here and there. So, we named her Moonlite. My girlfriend tried to keep them in the same tank but Lavender was too active when Moonlite was placed inside the tank. So, my girlfriend decided to separate them because being afraid that Lavender might probably kill her Moonlite.

#11. Lavender

Type: Male Lavender Tri-band (White, Purple and Red) Crown Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 6th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Pet Island Johor Bahru
Status: Alive and active
Story: Finally I manage to influence my girlfriend to become one of my Splendens Splash Squad and made her also an addict to bettas. I first bought her a pet betta with full set of equipment to be taken care of. As she was attracted to Poison, she wanted a Crown Tail which we fortunately got at Pet Island. As a beginner, she's quite good in taking care of our pet betta. We named her betta after his lavender-ish color. So, easy to call him, we named him Lavender. A kinky name for my girl's pet. :D

#10. Amarillo

Type: Female Yellow Halfmoon Betta
Date of Purchased: 5th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Cheong's house at Salak Selatan
Status: Passed away due to gill infections on 25th September 2008
Story: Another female purchased from Cheong's house. She was rare to me since her rare yellow color was hard to find. She was just practically unique. But the sad part is that she has a gill infection which I really don't know what type of disease she carries. I didn't really realize her swollen gill until I arrived home. Her right gill seems to be swollen badly even though I tried to give her treatments such as Upstream Gill, Fungus, Parasites Special Red Solution (I don't really know the exact chemical name so I typed the brand instead of the chemical name) and also tried treating her with the White Spot Solution (Methylene Blue if not mistaken) and 'Japanese Yellow Powder'. Amarillo actually got her name from a Spanish word of yellow which suited her feminine personality of a betta. Amarillo was inevitably dead after a few weeks suffering from her gill infection.

#9. Magherita

Type: Female Red Halfmoon Betta
Date of Purchased: 5th September2008
Place of Purchased: Cheong's house at Salak Selatan
Status: Passed away due to breeding violence on 13th September 2008
Story: After the MAHA 2008 fest, me and my friends made a move to find the betta seller, Cheong. He lives in Salak Selatan in a flat where he breeds and raise bettas. So, my friends got a couple of bettas there and I didn't miss the chance to add 2 female bettas to my collection. When I arrived home, I wanted to pair her with Samurai due to their same color. Sadly, the death of Samurai canceled off my plan immediately. So, she shared the female sorority home with others. A week later, I tried to breed her with HotRod but resulted a horrific death of her. She was a victim of betta breeding violence. Anyway, she got her name from a pizza type which was the first pizza to be served to Queen Elizabeth- plain cheese pizza. I'm not really sure of that fact cause I read it in the Vivo menu. But who cares. It suites her anyway. :p

#8. HotRod

Type: Male Solid Color Red Veil Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 1st September 2008
Place of Purchased: Vinson Aquarium, Kajang Prima, Kajang
Status: Passed away due to a mysterious death on 3rd October 2008
Story: After massive collection for a starter, my younger sister wished to buy herself a betta but under my care. So, we chose one typical RM2 veil-tailed betta. However, his solid red body, fins and his gorgeous tail caught our attention. He's a good betta. In addition, he's the most active in my collection. I tried to mate him with Magherita, also a red betta, but ended with a fatal injury to her. He has had a couple of disease which was Swim bladder disorder(SBD) and also velvet yet he survived it all in a short period which makes him a strong veil tail. But eventually he died because of a mysterious death when I found him dead and already rotten (which means he was already dead for a couple of days) when I arrived home from Kelantan and leaving him and other bettas behind for a whole week. Even with a once a day feeding from my neighbour, he died of an unknown reason.

#7. Poison (originally pronounce as Poisson)

Type: Male Tri-band Opaque, Red and Cyan Crown Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 1st September 2008
Place of Purchased: Vinson Aquarium, Kajang Prima, Kajang
Status: Passed away on 12th September 2008
Story: he's the 2nd Crown Tail I got. Since the first one, DoomSky, was weak, I bought another Crown Tail. This Tri-band color was one of my favorite. I really loved his flare the most because of his unique tail type compared to other typed bettas. Originally named after a french word, Poisson, which means fish because of his triband color- white, red and Cyan(first I thought it was blue). But making it easier to call him, I named him Poison adding a strong fierce sound to it. Sadly, he passed away after 2 weeks under my care caused by an unknown disease which infected his gills and instantly killed him in 24 hours.

#6. DoomSky

Type: Male Cyan Crown Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 31st August 2008
Place of Purchased: Vinson Aquarium, Kajang Prima, Kajang
Status: Passed away on 7th September 2008 (total 1 week under my care)
Story: He was initially weak when I bought him. This was my first experience handling a betta with a 'new betta syndrome' which happens to a betta when being introduced to a new environment(new tank or new home). The betta might probably be stressed or failed to adapt with the new changes of pH or temperature. This happened to DoomSky. I didn't get to know much about him because his week condition. He showed the symptoms of having a disease- clamped fins, refuseing to eat, staying staticly at the bottom or top of the tank. I never had the chance of taking a picture of him flaring. In fact, he never did flare at anything. Actually, I didn't think he would last that long for a sick betta but fortunately he did survive for a week. So, he passed away a week after being aside us. However, it's better for him at least he wouldn't have to die in a cramped small glass at his fish store.

#5. Seasaw Maharani

Type: Female Marble White Black Plakat Betta
Date of Purchased: 20th August 2008
Place of Purchased: MAHA 2008 (Cheong’s Booth)
Status: Passed away on 7th September 2008 (approx. 3 weeks under my care)
Story: Not satisfied enough buying Samurai, I went back to Cheong's booth and purchased myself a female betta ready to be spawned. But my strategies was wrong which resulted no spawn between Maharani and Samurai. Anyway, she wasn't too active maybe because of her eggs inside made her heavy and difficult to move around and limited her movements. She followed her partner's step and passed away a day after him. The C.O.D. was due to the water quality crisis.

#4. The Samurai

Type: Male Intense Lavender Delta Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 13th August 2008
Place of Purchased: MAHA 2008 (Cheong’s Booth)
Status: Passed away on 6th September 2008 (approx. 1 month under my care)
Story: Feeling crazy when entering the Betta Fest at MAHA 2008, I was really amazed and mesmerized by the beauty of this betta. Some might say I’ve gone crazy talking and taking pictures of the bettas. Hehe. His perfect combination of color and his mesmerizing long delta tail made me not to think twice to get a hand of him. The betta seller, Cheong, was also nice to introduce me to the ‘ketapang’ leaves and gave me a couple of tips in taking care of my bettas. He was one of my favorite of all, but he passed away after almost a month under my care. Honestly, whis was my first serious loss and made me lose my appetite about a week. He died of water quality problem around 3 a.m.

#3. Gamma

Type: Male Bi-color Silver-Cyan Veil Tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 29th July 2008
Place of Purchased: Sri Serdang Fish Store
Status: Still alive and active. Only less movement maybe affect of aging and has torn fins.
Story: I first got serious in this betta arena when I met this fella. I got attracted to his rare color and he was quite active when I bought him. Unfortunately, due to my enthusiasm of having a well-decorated tank, his caudal and anal fins got caught between the decorations and cause him to lose his tail. I tried isolating him in his own tank and put some remedy (general aid), yet his tail has no sign of rapid grow. Perhaps these cheap medications don’t really work on bettas. Anyway, I still find him cute for a RM3 betta even though his face looks kind of creepy from certain views.

#2. Mrs. Smith (renamed as Carotina after Mr. Smith's death)

Type: Female Multi-color Plakat Betta
Date of Purchased: 21st July 2008
Place of Purchased: Sri Serdang Fish Store
Status: Alive yet have Swim bladder disorder
Story: Similar to humans, we wouldn’t like being left alone with no partner. Making it worse, unlike humans, bettas live in their own small tank. Just to accompany Mr. Smith, I bought along Mrs. Smith. This pair was known as The Smithereens. Soon, after the death of Mr. Smith, she was paired with Gamma and was renamed as Carotina (given by my girlfriend). Later, she was separated from Gamma since the death of the pair Samurai & Maharani occurred due to the water quality crisis. Now she lives alone because after being separated and joined her in an all-female betta tank, she chased almost every female betta inside the tank and caused two fatal injury of two child female betta. Recently, she has a swim bladder disorder where she has been overfed and cannot swim properly. I lowered her tank water level so that she does not have to swim further for air. I will also give her a 2 day of starvation to overcome this illness.

From Start to End..

Ok now, dear readers, I'll tell you the story of my Bettas. From 1st, to the recent betta I own now. It's not a tale I'm telling you, but this thread is just a remembrance for my late bettas and also to those that are still alive. A few month back, I started with a pair of Betta. Yes, I was enthusiastic with bettas because I enjoyed seeing them when they flare. I find that they are one of the most beautiful creatures. I started to have dreams to breed them. But walk the talk is not as easy as talk the walk. the first month was comfortable to me, but after that, I was at war with water quality problems and diseases. I lost few numbers of Bettas and in this post I'll tell you their names, status, type, and place purchased. May all my bettas who lost their lives rest in peace and hopefully no more betta will die in my hands. Cheers! :)

#1. Mr. Smith
Type: Male Blue + Redwash Veil-Tail Betta.
Date of Purchased: 21st July 2008
Place of Purchased: Sri Serdang Fish Store
Status: Passed away on 5th August 2008
Story: My introduction to Betta Splendens society which only cost as cheap as RM3. His colour was the typical color for a common on-the-go betta. By that time I bought him, I wasn’t really serious into betas yet. But time passes by and my interest grew larger and larger. The first betta I owned. So, what do I expect? With the knowledge of zero, I wasn’t really prepared. So, he died because of the lack of attention given to him. And that did teach me something. To love and care for your pet.

(Photo not included due to no stock photos regarding Mr. Smith)

Welcome to Splendens Splash!

Hey Betta Fans!

So, after a while, I decided to open a new blog just for Bettas.
My objectives for this blog is just to ensure that all of us, Betta Lovers, do the right thing at the right time for our marvelous pets. I'll try my best to give good informations to you all so that we don't get wrong informations right?

So, how did I get involved in this hobby?
Well, a friend of mine introduced it to me. Actually, I really had an intention to buy a betta, but I never had support and a friend to share this hobby. Then one day, he told me he bought a Betta at home and after a while, I went to the nearest Fish Store I could find and purchased myself a pair of Betta. Yes, I had a lack of knowledge by that time and the male died after several weeks. But in the other hand, the female is still alive right now but has a swim bladder problem. I'll tell you their names in later posts.

Then, I purchased a new veil-tailed betta. He only cost RM3 but had pretty colors. Yeah, he had that creepy look on his face but he's an active dude I'll say. And thank god right now he's still alive yet his fins got caught in one of my decorations past 3 weeks and got torn apart.

After this fella, I got serious into Bettas. I bought two at MAHA 2008 festival by a guy named Cheong, a member of Betta Society Malaysia, who was a really nice guy to me. Then I went searching for Bettas around my hometown here at Kajang and I purchased 3 more. I also went to Johor Bharu and got accompanied from my girlfriend there and bought 2 other Bettas but they didn't last long. Their conditions weren't well by the time I bought them from that store.

Me and a couple of my friends also went to Salak Selatan where the nice guy Cheong lived. I bought 2 females from him but one died yesterday and the other one has a gill problem. One side of her gill is swollen. I don't know the exact cause yet but I'm trying to find a cure for her. Poor thing. So, the last Betta I bought was at oldtown Petaling Jaya. A child female betta. I guess she was only a month old. So, that's quite a big start for a month old hobbyist right?:)

So, my learning process to become a true betta lover was quite tough. The first month getting involved in this hobby was comfortable to me, then I lost more than half of my bettas. I know that this is part of the learning process, but it hurts. My first lost was my favorite of them all, Samurai. he died after 3 weeks being beside me. He was a lavender-reddish DT (short form for Delta Tail). He had a sudden death(not the sudden death match in sports) when I came home from Johor. After Samurai, 4 of my bettas followed his step. Maharani, Hydra, UV and DoomSky.

So, I found the C.O.D. of my 5 in a row deaths. 3 died of the 'new betta syndrome' which normally happens to new bettas when they arrive to your home. But they were already sick by the time I bought them. The other 2 betta died of water problem.

After solving the water problem, another favorite betta of mine died because of betta disease. but his lost is still in investigation. I really don't know what type of disease he got. So, one female also died in attempt of breeding by me. Maybe the male was too rough to her or maybe not. Who knows..

So, my advice to all of you is to be prepared for everything when owning a betta. Not just prepared in buying the supplies, but to be prepared with better betta knowledge. You must know the correct water condition, pH level, the right amount of anti-chlorine to be put into your tap water, the right food, controlling the stress level of bettas and etc. As like human, they need proper care and love. So, my last words, Care for your betta and they'll care for you.. :)