SplendensSplash!

#25. Banshee

2008-11-22T18:34:00.000-08:00

Type: Male Blue Butterfly Crown-tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 22th November 2008
Place of Purchased: Vinson Aquarium, Kajang Prima, Kajang
Status: Alive and active
Story: Disappointed by the Aquafair 2008 for not purchasing any cool betta, I went to Vinson Aquarium, a Local Fish store near home, to get a new betta. Since my last Crowntail was Poison which passed away a couple month ago, I decided to get a new Crowntail. This time I saw this Blue Butterfly fella which was stunning compared to others. He really2 looked liked Poison because they share the same type of eyes- fully black, which looked like a tiny hole in their head. So, I named him Banshee for no reason. Maybe because crowntails flare are more fierce and horrific! \(^.^)/

#24. Lord Yummy

2008-11-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

Type: Male Intense Lavender Veil-tail Betta
Date of Purchased: 22th November 2008
Place of Purchased: Vinson Aquarium, Kajang Prima, Kajang
Status: Alive and active
Story: Along with our new custom made cabinet at our kitchen, my mom wanted some decorations for her brand new improved kitchen. So, we had an idea of getting a fish in a clear vase and putting some plants in it to give some sense of living in the kitchen. We tried guppies but mostly died of unknown causes. So, my sister, Afah, bought this fella to replace the dead guppies. Hence, she wanted a new betta since her last betta, Hotrod, passed away during our Eid Mubarak trip at Kelantan. Anyway, he looks kinda cool in that vase with some of those plant roots. I bought a veil because their caudal fins are not too sensitive and not easily torn like the Halfmoons and Crowntails.

Betta Hunt #3: Aquafair 2008

2008-11-22T03:42:00.000-08:00

Chapter #3: "The Aquatic Colosseum"
Aquafair has been an annual event for aquatic hobbyist and Aquaman wannabees. However, this has been my first time attending such an event regarding underwater creatures in my life. Yeah, I wasn't a fanatic of the underworld livings until a couple of months back when I was introduced to bettas.

However, from my humble opinion, this event is poorly publicised which I only knew it from the Bettas Society of Malaysia. Thus, the entrance fee is quite unreasonable which is RM10 for adult and RM5 for childrens. The exhibition in MAHA 2008 had no entrance fee but they managed to run the exhibition for a week. All I managed to do is snaps some pictures and only bought 2 betta posters which cost RM8 each. I though of buying some bettas for my sister and myself but none of them caught my eyes. Plus, at MAHA 2008, I bought one of my betta only for RM10 including a small tank and I really had a tough time of choosing the right betta because of the varieties. Yet at Aquafair 2008, the bettas was quite expensive and most of them were sold in small, tied up plastic bags. I was attracted to one of the bettas but I was afraid that it would be dead soon when I arrive home so I cancelled my plan. Besides that, I was also dissapointed because there were no guppies sold there. Perhaps, I went too early to Aquafair since I went there on the first day of the exhibition open to public (Friday, 3p.m).

Yup, I was a bit dissapointed for not bringing back a betta home but I admit that the fishes there were so beautiful and almost all of them mesmerized my eyes. The betta from the betta competition was marvellous. All those Halfmoon Plakat, Halfmoons and Crowntails really made me crazy. I was also shocked when I saw the Giant bettas there since this was my first time seeing them. I never had a clue that they were so big. Maybe that is why they call them the Giants. Heheh. The Discus fishes beside the Betta competition rack really looked like they were hypnotized. The big fat goldfishes was so huge which until now I couldn't believe the size of it. And the so famous Arowanas was also entertaining. I did snaps a lot of pictures there and spent about 2 hours there.

So, guys and girls, enjoy some of the pictures i caught yesterday:-

Read between the tanks. DO NOT TAP!

Don't you think this sign is quite 'SMALL'? :p

The HALFMOON PLAKATS (HMPK's)

A Tri-band Butterfly. I dream of getting one soon. :)

An Intense Yellow. Wow! When will this betta be mine? Hehe.. In my dreams perhaps.

A Pastel White . So Holy. Like an angel!

The Super Black. I'm sure you will lose him when I switch the lights off. :p

It's a Super Red! A common desirable betta of mostly all betta lovers.

Shall I consider this as a Yellow Cambodian? I think so, yes. Plus, it's a dragon! (*O*)

A Blue Marble. I think he's not a Pie-bald because of his White face and the front part of his body.

A Black-yellow Marble. I think there was a name of this pattern I once saw in a poster but I already forgot what it is called. Anyway, he's fascinating! (^_~)

A Black Marble. My late Maharani was a black marble too.

The HALFMOONS (HM's)
An Orange Halfmoon. Pretty Nice! ;p

I'm not really sure of this color but I think it's a White-Brown Halfmoon.

The Mustard Gas Halfmoon. Yup, he's a mustard gas! And I am a MG fan! :)

The DOUBLE TAIL (DT)
The one and only Double tail here. :)

The GIANTS
He's big as hell! Yikes!

Can you see how big it is? For normal bettas, they don't grow this big! For real!

The CROWNTAILS (CT's)
Black-Red Crowntail. Fierce!

At last, this is what I call ORANGE Crowntail. And I really mean ORANGE!

Hey Lavender! How did you came here? Hehe.. He's not our lavender. But he really looks like him. Each and every angle! :). Anyway, this is a Lavender Tri-band Crowntail.

The Black-Gold Crowntail. He almost looks like a Crowntail Plakat because his caudal is quite small right?:)

The OTHERS
Who's your daddy??!! Hey flat fish, I'm not your dad! :p

Help! A zebra is drowning!

The Neon Tetras. We glow. We shine. We light your day! ;)

I think he would see clearer with those goggles. Haha!

This is no magic. He is up side down! (O~O)

"Hey there lady, may I kiss you? Ooops! I think i just kissed the mirror!", said the Discus.

"Err.. A little bit of mascara would do the trick i guess", said this discus with a feminine tiny voice of hers.

The Golden Arowana. Sound like the golden compass except that he wouldn't show you the right way. Hehe. Anyway, how much would you think if I want to mortgage him?

The winner of the lionhead goldfish competition. Cute fella. I bet he's smart with that big brain of his. :p

He looks small in the picture. He's actually huge!!!

The 1st Runner Up of the competition. Big Black Bad Fish! I bet he memorize longer than normal goldfish. Wanna bet? :p

Red Shrimps. I think they're called the Fire Shrimp.

Stripe fish #1. I dont know his name. :p

The discus cult. They're hypnotized and static. Freaky!

The Red Arowana. Red Blue and Green. So RGB. :p

The stripe shrimps. Nasty! So, what's for dinner tonight honey? ;)

The Not-So-Sure-Color Arowana. If I'm not mistaken, he got number 1.

Err, what fish is this again? Confused. Too many fishes to remember. :p

Stingray!!! He's a reversed dalmation.

Okay, these are the small ones before they become so big! :p

Stripe fish #2. I still dont know any of this stripe fishes. :p

This is not a striped fish but he's a marine fish.

Hey, cheer up pops! You grumpy old fish!

Ouuhhh~! That yellow fish is just F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!

The Albino of the Da Vinci Code.

Nice cheeks! Freaky cheeks! Where are you from?

Time to play hide and seek eh? OK, I'll count to 10!

Hey there lady! May I get your number? Hoho.

He's a Clownfish. If Nemo looks different, then what shall we call him? Emo? Haha.

"When I served in Nam those days, they left me with this scar across my eye"

Stripe fish #3. Yet I still have no knowledge of them. :p

"I think I am a horse. But how come I can't gallop?"

The death of a Crystal

2008-11-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

Say your prayers to our late Crystal Lite who died caused by an anonymous disease on the 13th of November 2008. The light that shined on him suddenly faded and blacked out. He was a great kid who accompanied my girlfriend, Yaya for approximately 2 month in total. I didn't manage to check him up to see the cause of death because of the distance that parted us. Well, may you rest in piece my dear fella. You were great now and ever!
|| <")))}< ||--------O-(^_~)v

Crystalite
(20th September - 13th November 2008)

Generation #1: Carotina

2008-10-31T03:07:00.000-07:00

Splendens Splash Photo Fiesta! (^_~)

Generation #1: Gamma

2008-10-31T01:22:00.000-07:00

Splendens Splash Photo Fiesta! (^_~)

I dont wanna be Dolphin no more!

2008-10-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-14T22:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-14T03:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-06T23:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-06T02:32:00.000-07:00

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^)/

Death of a Red Ranger.

2008-10-06T02:25:00.000-07:00

After a week of Eid Mubarak at my hometown, Kelantan, I came back with a shock and depression after my solid red veil-tail was found dead in his container. I left him for a week and I also had my neighbor to feed them once a day. His death was a mystery since I haven't had the chance to ask her about it. Maybe because of lack of attention or maybe because of disease. My other fishes were safe and sound which made me curious of what had happen. I found him dead and he was already rotten which I couldn't find his head and body due to the rotten process of a dead creature. May you rest in peace my great fighter!

Hot Rod

(1 September- 2 October 2008)

Sorbet's Kryptonite

2008-09-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T00:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-23T09:30:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-09-22T23:55:00.000-07:00

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!!!:(

2008-09-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T01:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-09-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-09-15T09:30:00.001-07:00

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..

2008-09-15T05:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

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.. :)