Japanese fighting fish

[Bangersanmash 2,834]

Yesterday had the day off work and took my grandfather an grandmother to one of the local garden centres. Past few weeks has been hard for my grandfather. Because one evening after tea he had a little turn like a fit. Hospital couldn't find anything wrong with his heart blood pressure was fine at the hospital. But they've told him untill he has the MRI scan on his brain they've advised him not to drive so I've been taking them out places. But a Tell you what no wonder my grandfathers  knacked my grandmother treats him Like a cart Horse wants taking out most days no rest for him at age 89. Driving takes it out of most never mind at 89. 

The paramedic that came in the Ambulance to take my grandfather said " He's been out to alot like this "  That have something to eat the blood pressure goes up which then causes like some kind of little fit or seizure , but then after that every thing is fine. Very scary for my grandmother though as you can imagine , seeing my grandfathers head go back then him start shaking to which then he drops his glass of water out of his hand onto the floor in the livingroom. Can't imagine what was going through her head at the time after 67 years of marriage. 

Anyway back to the Japanese fighter. At the time I've turned my phone screen round to the tank and had the fish displaying at the camera , to which i ended up getting some beautiful shots of it. I'm wanting to know are these fish easy to keep & breed ? Anybody keep them on here. 

[BEARINATOR 2,867]

They are ok to keep and breed but loads of people put them in little tanks that are not even good enough for shrimp. Nice low air flow is enough for them and the female in view whilst feeding live foods will get the male to make his bubble nest 

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

22 minutes ago, BEARINATOR said:

They are ok to keep and breed but loads of people put them in little tanks that are not even good enough for shrimp. Nice low air flow is enough for them and the female in view whilst feeding live foods will get the male to make his bubble nest 

The colours have come on since I kept a tank .Was only purple and blue back then I reckon .

[neil82 1,075]

if your going to try breeding them then you`ll need a few females to one male, used to  breed them in a separate tank from all the other fish as the males get super agressive to others, fairly easy to do. be a little bit careful provoking them to display, this is not just a warning gesture to other males, they will kill themselves attacking their own reflection, they are one of the few animals that will fight to the death.

[BEARINATOR 2,867]

59 minutes ago, neil82 said:

if your going to try breeding them then you`ll need a few females to one male, used to  breed them in a separate tank from all the other fish as the males get super agressive to others, fairly easy to do. be a little bit careful provoking them to display, this is not just a warning gesture to other males, they will kill themselves attacking their own reflection, they are one of the few animals that will fight to the death.

Seen it happen with a mirror mate, another thing is don’t get them beta waterfall tanks as they are useless. Top tank gets a disease and the others will get it which is why I advise against them plus not enough room in them 

[comanche 2,957]

They were always known as Siamese Fighting Fish.

Nowadays they are usually  sold under  their Latin name betta splendens to distance them from connotations of Oriental gambling and animal fighting. 

The males were traditionally kept side by side in small jars to encourage them to engage in aggressive displays which aided the development of their fins .

Yet they are rarely aggressive to fish of other species. In fact when my Dad and then l kept tropicals l can't  recall any problems  at all. We had them pair up and nest  several times in the corner of a community tank.

But a separate tank with water a bit warmer than recommended for most tropicals was better along with  a good diet of animal food (those blocks of frozen bloodworm that are available these days might do quite well ).

 It wasn't getting them to breed that  was the problem ; it was rearing the babies for the first few days. They ideally needed very small live food like infusoria  . We had to make/ breed our own . Substitutes like the recommended  powdered egg were pretty poor substitutes. 

That was a long time ago though.  Maybe these days there  are proprietary substitutes available.

Because they can breath directly from the air as well as through their gills they can survive in waters with the low oxygen content associated with high temperatures. 

When a thermostat failed on a friend's tank while they were on holiday he returned to  find his Siamese Fighter cheerfully swimming in water so warm the other occupants of the tank had all died !

 

 

[Bangersanmash 2,834]

On 11/03/2023 at 20:58, comanche said:

They were always known as Siamese Fighting Fish.

Nowadays they are usually  sold under  their Latin name betta splendens to distance them from connotations of Oriental gambling and animal fighting. 

The males were traditionally kept side by side in small jars to encourage them to engage in aggressive displays which aided the development of their fins .

Yet they are rarely aggressive to fish of other species. In fact when my Dad and then l kept tropicals l can't  recall any problems  at all. We had them pair up and nest  several times in the corner of a community tank.

But a separate tank with water a bit warmer than recommended for most tropicals was better along with  a good diet of animal food (those blocks of frozen bloodworm that are available these days might do quite well ).

 It wasn't getting them to breed that  was the problem ; it was rearing the babies for the first few days. They ideally needed very small live food like infusoria  . We had to make/ breed our own . Substitutes like the recommended  powdered egg were pretty poor substitutes. 

That was a long time ago though.  Maybe these days there  are proprietary substitutes available.

Because they can breath directly from the air as well as through their gills they can survive in waters with the low oxygen content associated with high temperatures. 

When a thermostat failed on a friend's tank while they were on holiday he returned to  find his Siamese Fighter cheerfully swimming in water so warm the other occupants of the tank had all died !

 

 

Thanks for the knowledge much appreciated 

[comanche 2,957]

On 22/03/2023 at 07:54, Bangersanmash said:

Thanks for the knowledge much appreciated 

You are welcome but l have to admit that few of the Fighters we bred were anything close to the quality of the shop- bought fish . 

In other words we were bumbling amateurs

[BEARINATOR 2,867]

14 hours ago, comanche said:

You are welcome but l have to admit that few of the Fighters we bred were anything close to the quality of the shop- bought fish . 

In other words we were bumbling amateurs

All of us breeders were mate as they still ship them from abroad to here, the Americans are good breeders of them now for the fancy tail types 

[Bangersanmash 2,834]

3 hours ago, BEARINATOR said:

All of us breeders were mate as they still ship them from abroad to here, the Americans are good breeders of them now for the fancy tail types 

Don't think you can beat the reds an purples though specially when they start to display the males 

[Bangersanmash 2,834]

Few images of some top looking males stunning with the black back ground 

[gnipper 6,435]

Easy to keep but trickier to breed. I used to keep a few and even imported some proper plakat ones from Thailand.

 The showy type ones aren't my cup of tea but some of the koi and dragon plakats are nice.

[Bangersanmash 2,834]

On 02/04/2023 at 22:29, gnipper said:

Easy to keep but trickier to breed. I used to keep a few and even imported some proper plakat ones from Thailand.

 The showy type ones aren't my cup of tea but some of the koi and dragon plakats are nice.

This one has some nice marks specially the blue in the tail