Tropical Fish Forums

[Jun]

Well, I got a new camera for Christmas and was sooo excited to start snapping pictures of my animals, especially the fish. I have some full tank shots and pictures of my other fish as well, but these were some of the better photos (Still experimenting! xD).


This is Bianca, my singletail female. She takes the best photos of any fish I have -- she is constantly posing. :3 I just love this picture because of all the contrast. Probably my best digital picture to date. n3n I have another female named Laurel who's about her size, but she's shy and not feeling up to pictures right now. Maybe sometime soon. :D


Here's Morpheus, from my sig and avi. n_n He's probably my prettiest male being a pronounced DR crowntail, although he does have some curling on his anal fin. =\ The picture quality isn't too great on this photo because of the lighting... Eh. It's still a nice shot. n_n


This is Titus, a "split-tail" marble betta. He is, if I may say, the best community betta I have ever had. He is so mild, never bothers anyone, and yet he's still super spunky -- here he is dancing around his favourite plant, which I think is heinous, but he loves it so I dare not take it away from him.


Titus again, posing with his beloved plant. :P


This is William, the betta I've owned for almost six years -- making him nearly seven! n_n Not such a pretty fellow, his fins haven't ever been normal, but I've had him so long it doesn't even matter anymore. I feel bad for the old guy because whenever someone comes over and sees him for the first time, the first thing they say is, "Is that fish dead?!" No, no, no... He's just old. He was a Walmart rescue, and I said the same thing everyone else did when I first saw him. He was covered in fungus and had fin rot like I've never seen. I went over to see if he was still breathing, and when he saw me, he got up and danced for me, despite how much he must have been suffering. I snatched him up right then. x3

Like I said, I'll post some more aquarium pictures later, with more species like my dwarf gouramis, especially my neon blue male, my mollies, danios (if I can get a good picture, those spazzes! :P) and maybe my remaining two female bettas (Hopefully three... I hope Luka makes it...).

Thanks for looking! :D

[Marcos Avila]

That photo of William is a rare gem! It's EXTREMELY rare to see pics of fish at old age like that (loss of skin color, arched backs, etc) simply because so ridiculously few people actually practice the hobby in a way that they get to see their pets live to old age. The saddest thing is when people lose a fish after only a year and simply dismiss the fact with an "oh well, he died of old age, off I go to get a replacement..."

Therefore, kudos to you! Seven years is really old for a betta, even the well-cared for ones don't typically get past 4-5 years. Yours would probably be the equivalent of a human 95 year old or more
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Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks...

[Indiaqualover]

Yeah. I agree with Marcos and appreciate your sincere efforts. The photos look great.

[Patricia Black]

These are really beautiful pictures of your bettas. I love seeing them especially the old guy. Five years is the longest I've ever kept a betta. Keep posting pictures.

[Jun]

Haha, thank you Marcos, Indiaqualover, and Patricia for your kind words. :) William is basking in the praise as well. xD I'll probably post more pictures of him in the future. :)

Thank you, Marcos. n__n I completely agree with you, it's so sad when people have had a betta for only a year when it dies and they write it off as old age. v_v They completely miss the chance to experience the pleasure of taking care of something for so long and actually getting to know and love it. I generally keep my bettas for at least 3 years with a few exceptions -- very hard hits by disease (Mostly the Walmart rescues), one cat accident, one jumper, and one undergravel filter accident (Which I'm still mad at myself for because I easily could have prevented it by moving a few rocks. >_<'). I know when William does pass away, I will grieve. But 'til then, he can suffer through a few more pictures, haha. :D I'll see if I can get him flaring sometime, which he does when I miss his feeding time.

By the way, has anyone ever heard what the record is for oldest living betta? I'd be really curious to find that out. :)

[Blair]

Aww, William's cute! He looks in good fettle too, has he ever had any diseases? His colour is nice as well, the pink stands out on him a lot. Bianca, your female has a really strong colour, it doesn't look like it fades anywhere. Morpheus and Titus look really nice as well. Keep up the good Betta keeping!

Blair
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[Jun]

Hi Blair, thanks for looking. n_n William's been in generally good health the last five years, it was in that first year that he had some problems -- I bought him with fin rot and some fungal infections, but once he was in some clean water and was treated, he cleared up quickly. About three months after that, I think our tap water must have had something added to it, because a lot of our bettas (Both my mom's two males and my six) got sticky fins, and I'm still not sure what it was. Most of them cleared up, but it stuck with William -- it's that disease that really stunted his fins and put some of the discolouration on his body (He used to be entirely pink). His eyes actually changed colour, too, at this point. They had been blue when I bought him and they're quite black now. :) Beyond those incidents, he has been healthy.

Thank you for all the comments! Bianca, Morpheus, Titus, William and I appreciate them. :3

I will be posting more pictures when I get a new battery! Thanks everyone. :D

[Blair]

I wonder if you have set a world record. That would be worth finding out more about, perhaps going to a dedicated Betta forum might help the matter? Makes me want to get a Betta now!

Blair
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[Slough Shark]

I am happy that you rescued the poor guy and what's more, you nursed him back to life. Ironic that a fish that was on the brink, slipping away, was nursed back and lived so long. Excellent work dude, that's a great story, even if some would regard the Betta as an insignificant fish.
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[Jan]

No world record I'm afraid but he'a a great old guy you must really love your fish. Hope mine get to live as long.

Betta Splendens have an average life span of four years. Well kept aquarium specimens have often lived well beyond six years. There are reports of captive Bettas living ten or more years in laboratory settings. (From Wikipedia)
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