I have started keeping bettas when I’m still in primary school (about 9-10 yrs old), I  used them as a fighting machine then. I fight them till one of them loses out and normally they will be badly injured after the fight. I have also tried to breed them but fail because I don’t know that male and female will also fight.

        I’ve got a way to treat injured betta . Which is quite tradition, that is:- add in one tea spoonful of salt in the jar and soak the fish for about 10-15 minutes, then change the water and add in a bit of salt. It helps to heal the wounds fast. After this batch of fishes have gone to heaven, I’ve stopped keeping them due to the fact that mum is always complaining and also run out of space to keep the jars. Believe it or not, I keep them under my bed!!  :>

        A few years back, just after my army daze, I’ve started to keep these fighters again, sad to say, this time I still used them for fighting. Have one that fight until the mouth is chipped off.

        Just last year, I’ve come across this website call the Aquatic Realm, saw pictures of Half Moon bettas and really love them, their tail spread is so nice …and especially those from Leng Lim (The red Moon Betta). From the websites I’ve also learnt that the way to breed bettas and I’ve made up my mind to breed them this time and not use them as fighting machines. I’ve come across a local hobbyist too, his name is Jyh Jian and after visiting his website, I am interested in his Cambodian bettas.

        End of last year, on a trip to LFS searching for bettas to breed, I’ve got my first male betta, he is a dark blue or maybe dark purple in colour. I like him because he looks like black and we can hardly find black bettas here in Singapore. I’ve got my first female on the same day too.

        I am so excited that I start to breed them almost straight after I reached home. This is quite an unsuccessful try because the fishes are not well condition, after asking questions from the mailing list I tried the second time. This time round I am quite successful but not on the quantity but can see frys. This batch doesn’t goes through because I did not feed them well.

        I tried the same pair again and again but all fails because the male starts to love eggs and everytime he finishes all the eggs.

        I got my second male and I bred him with the same female. This time, I’ve started to hatch Brine Shrimps and this batch of fries is quite successful.

        Then the story carries on until now I have with me dozens of fighting fish frys.

        Sad to say that the first male (purple) had joined the other females in fish heaven already…. (4/6/99)

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