Mail-Order Betta, Arriving tomorrow

After my last poor betta died of constipation, I disappeared in shame. He was in a community tank and apparently he ate too much of the other fishes' flake food. But tomorrow I will be back in the betta owner's club Hopefully, if all goes well that is. I ordered him off of eBay. I seems like a terrible thing to do to him, send him in a express package halfway across the country. He is described as a blue/red blacklace halfmoon. I don't know what that means, if it means anything at all, but from the picture he is a handsome guy. He will have his own little 5 gallon tank to himself and no nasty flakes. I had another mystery fish in that tank but I threw him in with the platys, all he did was hide in there anyway. If anyone has had any experience with mail order fish I would be interested in hearing your experiences, good or bad. I want to make the transition for him as easy as possible.

 

Do you have a pic of the mystery fish?

Good luck with your new Betta. We like Ocean Nutrition Betta Pro pellets and HikarI frozen bloodworms for our Bettas.

 

Good luck with him!! (+ be sure to post pics!)

I ordered some fish over the internet (not ebay), and they all arrived fine. Make sure that whoever you're buying from is quite experienced / has good feedback etc. They should ideally send fish in a polystyrene box with heat packs if needed. It sure puts postage costs up, though...

 

Welcome back to the Betta Club!

I ordered my girl Betta through Aquabid from a breeder based in NYC named Zeph. I was able to find out her parentage, temperament and how she was raised just by asking. Impossible to get that kind of info from chain pet stores, and very unlikely to get it from a locally owned fish store.

All Bettas were shipped unless you're in the unlikely circumstance of having a local breeder who supplies a local fish store, and who knows the shipping circumstances?

Zeph carefully packed her and shipped her at 4 p.m. by USPS Express Mail and she arrived before noon next day.

I don't think I'd order a Betta from Thailand on Aquabid. I intentionally selected a U.S. seller, and one with a very high rating.

I know my opinion will be somewhat controversial, but I think it's better to support responsible breeders rather than stores that keep bunches of sad Bettas in cups. Some will say I'm wrong, that I should have rescued one instead. I'll just throw out my opinion here and I've been keeping it to myself, but I think rescuing only perpetuates the cruelty. I know how hard it is to pass up a "take me home" betta face, though. I just don't go there any more.

Don't get me wrong. I highly admire and respect all who have rescued Bettas from little WalMart-type cups. Those people are stronger than me and the more successful or lucky ones are more knowledgeable.

It costs much more to buy an individual Betta and have it shipped rather than going to PetsMart and spending $4 for a new fish. Many have had great success doing this, while others have not fared so well because of the horrid conditions their new babies have suffered. What's a happy and healthy Betta worth to you plus many more Betta babies from that same responsible breeder for other caring Betta parents? Priceless!

Congrats on your new boy and may he arrive in happiness and health!

 

I just got my CT boy yesterday. I got him off of aquabid straight from Thailand.
Congrats..post pixs

 

He arrived this morning, and after a couple hours of acclimation he is swimming around happily. I gave him some freeze dried bloodworms and at first he didn't seem to recognize that they were food, but once he tasted one he eagerly hunted the rest down. I will take some pictures later and post them on here.

 

Congratulations on your new baby boy. I'm glad he arrived to you safely and is eating for you already. That's great. We eagerly await for pictures. Natalie

 

I'd recommend the HikarI frozen bloodworms, thawed or soaking the dried bloodworms in vitachem, garlic guard or even treated tap water. The dried ones often can cause constipation in a Betta due to the lack of moisture.

Congrats on getting him safely and happily in his tank.

 

Pictures of Flash!

Here are pictures of him, I named him Flash. I am told he is 2 1/2 months old. How old is this to a fish? Does he have more growing to do? He was also described as a blue/red black lace halfmoon. I understand the blue/red, but not sure where the black comes from, he has no black that I see. Also I'm not sure if he is a true halfmoon. Anyone want to clarify any of these points I would be interested. He adapted quickly to his new environment and glad my eBay experience turned out so well for both of us.

 

If he's only 2.5 months, he'll grow and his fins will develop more. He really looks more like 4 months to me, but it's a guessing game with pics and his breeder should know best so he should grow a good bit more.

I see the black along the edges of his fins. It made me think 'finrot', but I'm guessing that outline is the "black lace". He's a handsome Betta and may turn out to be a big boy, like our Teddy Bear. ;D

 

He looks like my Jasper who is veil tail butt he same coloring minus the black lace.
Love his big tail.

 

I think if I understand the Black Lace category, every other scale is black and the other is another color (in your betta's case blue) so it makes it look like he is a blue betta covered with black lace. He is lovely and yes, if he is 2.5 months old his finnage will become much bigger. He is considered to be a baby betta until he is 6 months old although he is technically going to be of breeding age soon. Not a good idea unless you are a professional. He needs to get 3 very small meals a day instead of the standard 3 larger ones that an adult would get. It is going to be much easier to get him constipated at this age and if you do he will forever be prone to be constipated again so right now his diet is very important.

He needs to learn to eat his peas and if possible Freeze-dried Daphnia several times a week but not in the place of a meal. It needs to be a treat but he is still growing so he needs his protein meals on schedule to grow on. This means Frozen or Freeze-dried Bloodworms and Atison's Betta Pro pellets. At this age I would not recommend any other pellets as he is too young for their size. He may not even be large enough to eat bloodworms yet. If you get him on pellets be careful if you use the larger ones as he can choke very easily at this size.

Rose

 

The new betta splendens that Stacy got this weekend has a similiar black edge to his fins.

 

What a handsome fish!
Congratulations.

 

DAVE! You and Stacy have a new BABY!! that is so nice. When do we get to meet him or her?? Sounds like a cutie..

Rose

 

Hope to be posting pics today, just have been non-stop busy since the auction so getting caught up on posts, then I'll put up posts on our new fish.

Maybe pictures of your new babies, Flash & Casper helped influence us.. but Linda helped by getting over a dozen show bettas donated from her friend in thailand. Talk about temptation! :helpsmilie:

 

Thank you for your advice, I still haven't gotten daphnia yet, but he is getting freeze dried bloodworms (his favorite) and HikarI Bio-Gold betta pellets that he was reluctant to eat at first so I've been crushing them first into fragments which he will eat. He love's the peas too. My LFS has frozen daphnia so I might try that next time I go. Thank you also for the information about the blacklace. I coincides with some information that I got elsewhere.

 

Real nice.

 

I think CandI might be a black lace, although a sloppy one. Look at the way she puts on her clothes! The first picture is of her as an adolescent naughtie girl. The next two of her are as a young adult.

 

She sure looks like it. Lots of black lace bettas all of the sudden here.

 

Candi: So here I am, Momma! Am I a black lace?

Me: Wipe that lipstick off your mouth and get into bed! Of course you are a black lace, if not the most pretty one.

 

Ive done some research on the Black Lace, what I have found is that the black lace is a dark colored fish that rarely approaches the depth and intensity of the Melano Black. Black lace is almost a translucent type of black. Black lace is a lack of pigment on the bottom layer. So you get that look like you can almost see through the black in the fins. Some are breed to have just the black lace on the bottom fringe of the fins, others the whole fin is a black lace. Others have been bred from genes of the red betta or even the blue, but somewhere a black malano is introduced to bring out the black in the fins.
The true black lace Betta are bettas that are mixed with many different colors to create a black looking Betta.The fins usually have green/blue/red color flecks on them. Surprisingly the black lace is not considered to be worthy, and is sort of a throwback when trying to create the true Black. Melano females are sterile and so they have been trying ways to create a black Betta that can be easily bred and hence, the black lace shows up.
Guess they are getting popular with Betta keepers that really do not care to 'show' their bettas.. and love them for what they are!

 

Candi: So here I am, Momma! Am I a black lace?

Me: Wipe that lipstick off your mouth and get into bed! Of course you are a black lace, if not the most pretty one.

From the descriptions and photos and information I have been reading, IMO your CandI looks like a black lace. ;D

 

From the descriptions and photos and information I have been reading, IMO your CandI looks like a black lace. ;D

Yeah, well that would figure. Goes along well with her red lipstick and too-much tacky mascara. Not to mention that it suits her harlot/beggar personality well! Does the black lace refer only to the fins, or to the scales on the body? CandI has alternating dark and light scales mostly on her back third, may be hard to see in the pics.

 

I think CandI might be a black lace, although a sloppy one. Look at the way she puts on her clothes! The first picture is of her as an adolescent naughtie girl. The next two of her are as a young adult.

She is pretty.

 

I like the look of the black edging, but I'm not likely to invest in a fancy betta.

Kappa isn't a black lace, but she's got the lipstick and the "harlot/beggar" personality you're talking about with Candi. She does a dance for me at the front of the tank when she knows I'm looking - her "Feed Me Dance". She knows she's cute, I tell her all the time, so she shows off thinking more food will fall from the heavens, or at least the hatch in the tank hood.
I'm SOOOO glad I have that daphnia for my moments of weakness!

 

Yeah, well that would figure. Goes along well with her red lipstick and too-much tacky mascara. Not to mention that it suits her harlot/beggar personality well! Does the black lace refer only to the fins, or to the scales on the body? CandI has alternating dark and light scales mostly on her back third, may be hard to see in the pics.

Most of all the articles I read mentioned the fins. However, a black lace colored body was mentioned as being a washed out color,and can very well have some scales dark and some light. Since the black lace is a lack of pigment and can be almost translucent, it would appear that some scales would be darker than others.But none of the articles mentioned that the scales were actually alternating dark and light.