Generation #1: Carotina

Splendens Splash Photo Fiesta! (^_~)

Generation #1: Gamma

Splendens Splash Photo Fiesta! (^_~)

I dont wanna be Dolphin no more!

Welcome Back my friend! Congratulations for making such a success! \(^^)/

Recently, after months of suffering with Swim Bladder Disorder or widely known just as SBD, Carotina finally healed by herself. I did try to use the water from soaked Catappa leaves with a pinch of salt to add the flavor into it. However, that method surely didn't show a positive sign by that time. Eventually today, while I was snapping some pictures of all my bettas, one after another, it finally came to her turn and I realized that she was swimming freely. The once non-active Carotina who stood mostly at the bottom of her tank, laying her body on it's tail finally got to swim like her younger days. Or perhaps I could say that she probably stopped having thoughts that she's a dolphin. Of course, this is a big success to her and to me. Yup, I'm surely proud of you, my girl! Ha ha ha. So, I guess her daily feeding will be normal again- total of 7-9 palettes of Ocean Nutrition's Atison's Betta Pro Palette daily. So, let us all hope that she won't get SBD again!:)

Betta Hunt #2: The Slippery Suckers

Chapter #2: "The Underwater Drugstore"
11-10-08
Betta Society Malaysia or simply known as BSM has a monthly activity going on among themselves which they call it Betta Sunday. This event is basically a gathering among betta hobbyist every month which the date will fall on each 1st Sunday of every month. But due to festivals or annual meeting, they sometimes postpone the event. So, the venue for each Betta Sunday will be rotated between two places; SLS and Jinjang.

October 2008 Betta Sunday was officially held at Slippery Little Suckers(SLS) at Ara Damansara. So, this was the first time for me, Fath, Didi and Hanapi (umpbettaz) attending such an event yet this is our second time having a visit to SLS. We got to meet other members of the BSM forum group such as Jit, Abg Rosdi, Garuda Funky, Alex, Alfred, Dan95, Mr. Yang and others. So, some of them brought their famously known betta for their almost perfect breeding line and some of them even bought some bettas. Yet some with limited money like us only came there to experienced the so called Betta Sunday. :)

So, Slippery Little Suckers is famously known for their great fish keeping and tank decorating. They also have great quality bettas to sell to their customers. However, they don't have much stock in their store and dont be supprised if you have to rebut the bettas once the new bettas arrive. The first time I did a visit to SLS with Fath and Farid, we were the 1st group of customers to witness the arrival of new bettas. Since then, I got the idea of the new method to transport my bettas using Styrofoam box and plastic cups. :D

For amateur hobbyist like me, finding the perfect place to get the best supplies for our pets are hardly to find. A great fish without great maintenance will eventually result death. As for a solution for all our problems, from food supplies to diseases remedies, Slippery Little Suckers is one of the best place where you can instantly come, grab and pay for your supplies. They sell the best betta food- Atison's Betta Pro, food supplies for your betta fries, remedies and other supplies you need. So, for greater reviews, kindly visit their website:-

http://www.slipperylittlesuckers.com.my

So, hope the information really helps you in betta keeping. So, before we end our discussion here, I would like to share some pictures I manage to snap at the Betta Sunday last week. Enjoy! ;)
(sorry for some downgrade quality picture because I used my built-in camera from my hand phone..)

Jit and Hanapi having a glance at the show bettas.

Abg Rosdi's collection of Halfmoon Plakats.

Hanapi and Ai looking at Alex's hot chicks.

The true form of the mysterious Abg Rosdi.

Fath looking at Abg Rosdi's Halfmoon.

A capture of Ai sneezing. kekekeke.. :D

SLS: Slippery Little Suckers!

Abg Rosdi giving a brief explanation about spawning bettas to the newbies. I was busy snapping pictures.

Betta Sunday. Yet, still SLS have other fishes to be proud of. :)

I also grabbed some pictures from the BSM forum which was uploaded by alexcsy or known as Bettalexander in his blog. Cheers bro!

Picture by alex. Anyway, I look cute in this picture. :D.

Picture by alex. The crowd was magnificent!

Picture by alex. Danish already bought some fishes when we just started to take a look at them.

Picture by alex. The 4 UPM stooges.

Picture by alex. Almost every tyco brought their greatest collection. Survival of the finest.

Picture by alex. The 'Hot Chicks' clearly hypnotized everyone. :)

Picture by alex. A little discussion with Mr. Garuda Funky.

Picture by alex. The Garuda Funky 2nd round Quality Check.

Picture by alex. A nice turqoise Halfmoon. :)

Picture by alex. Look! It's a bird! No, it's a plane! Wrong! It's a white dragon Halfmoon Plakat!

Betta Hunt #1: Cik Le's Underground Crib

Chapter #1: "Learning The Traditional way of Betta Keeping"
30-09-08
Yes, it is under ground if you consider his house as level G. It's no black market selling bettas illegally but Pak Cik Lan or known as Cik Le, in a 'Kelantanese' dialect, is one of the breeders in Kelantan. To be more specific, in Kota Bharu, his house or betta crib is located at Jalan Tok Semian near to my grandmother's house. Actually he lives next door. Hence, it's easier for me to come and visit him the whole week during the festival season last 2 weeks.

His house is actually near to the 'Masjid Negeri' of Kelantan and a 5 minutes walk from the town of Kota Bharu. He keeps and breeds his bettas under his wooden village house and also being kept with other animals such as his cats and some 'ayam serama'. He uses ketapang water but the ketapang water has a light sense which does not look dark and browny. In his crib, he keeps and breeds most butterflies betta and less solid color betta. Furthermore, it gives the betta hobbyist like me more choice instead of having a headache to choose from the same colour or type. His price is quite reasonable or maybe I got a reasonable price due to the 'orang kampuung' purposes since I first came with my uncle.

He's in his 50's yet he is still healthy and regularly make water change for his fishes. He said that there were some other hobbyists from Kuala Lumpur that recently visited his crib to buy bettas. He actually buy his new bettas all the way from Penang and breeds them back in Kelantan. He sells quality betta for a nice price. As quoted by Ai(Garuda Funky):-

"Cheap= No good and Good= No cheap!"
"But FREE is the best!"

So, good bettas never come in good price OK? So, I bought a total of 5 bettas to be brought back home in Kajang which only two of them belongs to myself. A pair of Red's was bought by my friend Fath a.k.a DonPhatz and a blue butterfly was bought by Shukri a.k.a Shukdx. I actually stored the bettas at his house for a week before bringing them back home with a total of 12hours journey from Kelantan to Kajang which resulted stress to these magnificent creature. Well, sorry for that my friends. Next time, we'll find a much safer way for you guys to be transported. :p

So, he also feeds and care his fishes with a traditional way. It is not dangerous to let those blood sucking mosquitoes lay their eggs on an uncovered stored water since his bettas will enjoy eating the larvaes daily. He even breeds in a basin which he puts water lilies or locally known as 'bunga kiambang' at the surface of the 'breeding tank' and finally breeds his bettas with some wood plates which will shade the basin to give a dark sensation of the breeding process.

So, these pictures below shows you a couple of shots taken by me using my digital Olympus FE-320 camera and also using my dad's Sony Alpha DSLR. As the saying goes, pictures will tell you a thousand of tales. So, enjoy it!\(^v^)/

The outer view of his crib. Wonder where is his bettas? :-?

A rack of 'Low but not so low" quality bettas. Sold as low as RM10.

The place of expensive show-off bettas. Name your price.

Care to learn the traditional way of multiplying your bettas?

FLARE! FLARE! FLARE! KILL! KILL! KILL! DIE! DIE! DIE!

CAUTION: This is not Cik Le's betta. A guest came and brought his betta to be shown off.

DonPhatz solid red devil betta! It's a male of course. :p

I also couldn't believe my eyes! Yup, it's a pineapple tri-band. But sadly, it has already been SOLD OUT! Sorry for the picture because he was jarred in a plastic cup.

A 'tembaga' Halfmoon. Nice fins and rays.

He's White! He's nice! Yet he's not my Dandruff. Maybe he's one of Dandruff's platinum white siblings.

What type is he? Perhaps a dragon white-red butterfly Halfmoon.

Phantom in his squared-plastic tank. Swim free my friend!

Stop that wriggle mr giggle! (Still not sure of the real motive of this caption)

Fly away my little butterfly! Fly as high as you want! Flying without wings~..weekkkk!!!>:p

A close up view of phantom.

Looking bubbly anyone? hehe..

Cik Le's tri-band champion. cute and aggressive. Is he a Thai flag? :-?

"I'm a Cambodian!", said this little fella when I was hardly trying to snap his picture.

The 'other side' of this so called Thai flag champion.

Oh My God! He got Fin Rot!

On the 10th October 2008, Phantom was spotted of having serious degree of fin rot. I realized his anal fins was rotten little by little. But after a couple of hours, his fins became worse and worse. I tried to do a 70% water change and two drops of Melafix. But still, his fin rot continued quite fast. I was petrified and did a 2nd water change that day. However, this time I changed the water 100%. and not to forget to drop the Melafix solution. And supprisingly, in 4 days, Phantom recovered from his serious fin rot and started to grow back his anal fins. Thanx to Melafix and God for this miracle! Witness this marvellous recover of Phantom! \(^O^)/

Before: Phantom lost 90% of his anal fins. He had a look of suffer. How would you feel to lose your anal,huh?:p

After: The after effect of this true remedy of Melafix. Fin Rot? NO MORE! ;D

#23. Dandruff

Type: Male White Platinum Super Delta Betta
Date of Purchased: 28th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Pak Cik Lan's Crib, Kota Bharu Kelantan
Status: Alive and active
Story: After purchasing Phantom, a blue butterfly HM for Shukdx and a pair of red HM for Fath, I really wanted another betta from Cik Le(pronounced in Kelantan dialect) crib. After that massive purchase from him, he gave me cheaper price than before. There were two cambodians, two green butterflies, this white platinum fella and a tri-band halfmoon that he gave a cheap yet reasonable price. These bettas, which the locals call it 'ikan karing' and of course with it's Kelantan dialect, made me blind and I asked for my older sister, Fifer to pick one for me. She was also blinded by these pretty bettas and eventually, we decided to take Dandruff. He looks holy with his white skin yet he has some black or green wash at his tail. He's still a Super Delta yet he might have the chance to be a Halfmoon. He is one of my best buy for a great betta like him. Plus, he didn't look too stressed out from the 12 hours journey from Kelantan to Kajang. Maybe his white scales hid his horizontal stress lines or maybe not. So, do you still want to know how he got his name? I think it's obvious. :)

#22. Phantom

Type: Male Black Butterfly Half Moon Betta
Date of Purchased: 28th September 2008
Place of Purchased: Pak Cik Lan's Crib, Kota Bharu Kelantan
Status: Alive and active
Story: After a long period of time not coming back to my hometown, I joined my family to Kelantan during the Eid Mubarak celebration. The day I arrived at Kota Bharu, I shared my interest of bettas with my uncle and asked him if there were any local fish store nearby my grandmothers house. Amazingly, he said that our neighbour who lives beside my grandma's house breeds bettas. And as expected, I went there immediately to check out his fishes. I met this fella at the 'ultimate show-bettas' section which cost slightly expensive compared to his other bettas. I asked for some 'orang kampung' price and got it for RM40. But after days visiting him, I decided to bargain it's price for a cheaper value. In fact, Fath ordered a pair of halfmoon and Shukdx also ordered a male halfmoon. So, I got Phantom cheaper after purchasing other bettas. Phantom got his name due to his dark black body which was quite invisible when viewed in dark 'ketapang' water. His body has a little bit of dark green color and his fins were visibly white which makes him a perfect butterfly betta. He swims actively and flares fiercely when he sees other male bettas or even your finger!\(^o^)/