This entire thing began in the fall of 1998, although I didn't know it at the time, with a firebelly newt. A friend had brought it over in a little 2.5 gallon tank, saying my son would probably like him. Seemed harmless enough...little did I know!!!

After a couple of weeks, I decided the tank DEFINITELY needed a betta. After all, NO tank is complete without one of those gorgeous males swimming around! It's my cardinal (betta?) rule. So, off to the lfs I go. This is where Sid (vicious) came into the picture.

The addiction had begun. I don't know exactly when (or how) this happened. They were getting along great...water changes twice a week, fed twice a day...for months. Then one day I decided (the betta worked his magic, hypnotised, did a jedi mind trick on me) that they needed more room...a 10 gallon tank was a FABULOUS idea!

Of course it needed a stand, and I wanted some CAE's and cory cats. Then I needed a tank for the lower stand area, because it was SOOO empty. This (I think) became a community tank. I began pestering the lfs about DT bettas. They said they were rare and he didn't see them very often at all. He also couldn't find females, and the ones he did find were very drab.

Well, I decided to go online and check out the requirements of a fish I'd never seen...and it happened!!! I then decided to see if anyone out there was as hooked on bettas as me, maybe find someone with DT's, some nice looking females...and found out I was not alone. I no longer had to keep my addiction in the closet. It actually became full blown quite quickly...in a half moon to be exact!!!!

There were some of the most fabulous bettas online like I'd never seen or imagined in my wildest dreams! The colors, the tails, WOW!!!! I spent day and night on the computer, finding out where these new bettas came from, finding all the new colors, clubs, and organisations...all for addicts like me!!!

I then found a sale for 29 gallons and promptly got one and a stand (bare empty area on the bottom again...must fix that!) for my community tank which now had angels who needed more room. Then I found the AcmePet board at Petsmart.com and discovered fishless cycling. It was all coming together. Then I noticed a 55 gallon in the neighbor's back yard that had been sitting there all winter. They gave it to me (gladly, saying they had no luck with fish)...and said they had a 10 gallon and 7 50 watt heaters. Now I'm on a roll!!!

I then remembered my mom had a bunch of tanks because she used to breed angels. I was shortly renting a U-haul to bring home all the tanks and supplies she had left (she's in Toledo). Then I bought my first "show" bettas. What wonderful fish!!! I bought 2 female steels from Dynarb (Betta Bunnies), a black male and a white pair from Faith (Betta Talk).

The first 2 spawns went very well....but the fry were ventralless? Strange. I bred the pairs again and all fry had ventrals, and the fry from the ventralless fish also had ventrals. The mystery of those 2 spawns has never been solved. They had DAILY water changes of 25% from 1 week of age, which was what was needed to remove the debris from the bottom. Fed 4 times a day, microworms, bbs, etc. Since I began NOT starting water changes until they were a month old I haven't had a problem. What I do now is on the "fry" page of my site.

I, in the mean-time, built this site on Netscape. It took me 8 hours a day (more on w.ends) online, searching for everything I wanted to know about these wonderful fish. I still didn't have a name for it, but I figured it'd come to me...and it did. I spent so much time looking at and reading about bettas I began to dream about them nightly. BETTA DREAMS!!!! 3 months later the page was up and looking good. But, slow to load. So I then went to Geocities. Betta, well until they began not allowing me to post pics of my fish to other sites. I then decided to buy the namesake and make a home for my site online.

It went on for a couple years, revamping things, figuring out where I was going, buying a LOT of fish, doing a LOT of breeding, meeting a LOT of people, speaking to people and getting advice as much as possible. It came down to a matter of room and time. I wanted a fish room.

As I said, it's an addiction and not one to be taken lightly! I had 26 tanks running, and began to build a fish room in my basement. I got the walls up, and was beginning the floor.

That all came to an abrupt end in Feb 2003, when I left my husband and moved back to Toledo to live with my mother. The difference in water caused me to lose quite a few bettas (my white line was wiped out), and no one would breed until July 2003. But, I continue to plan. I have 17 tanks going now, adding more as needed. I'm concentrating on my black/steel line for a while...working on a good solid black DT line.

One year later...it has now begun again. I have worked on my mother's basement lately, insulating the walls with styrofoam. Moved all the tanks to the basement. Bought all the stuff for a gutter system. Once that gutter system is up, I'll be able to list many more fish on the stock shop page than I had previously, and I'll be able to prevent all these darned males from tearing each other up. It will also give me a bit of experience with the mechanics of building systems. Once that is up and running, the next step is a system to filter all my breeding/fry tanks...

4/30/04: Gutter system is up and fully functional. I have every color of irridescence (except white) now, and have to work my way back to only steels. My uncle bought some MG's, so I'll be breeding them for a while. I'll be looking for some good starting stock to begin my white line again this summer.

1/03/05: Still have all irridescent colors, now including white (many thanks to my uncle, Doghouse!!!)! :-D
I'm now trying to progress into all DT. I'm keeping some STs going in case something goes wrong. Trying to only spawn royals and steels, then only steels again. It isn't working out very well, because the steels aren't showing the finnage the other colors are. Patience. Patience needs to be my NY's resolution this year.

I'll be only using UV filtration on my gutter system. This gives the fish 2-4 months of coming in contact with various things to build a strong immune system. I like strong fish!!! It also eases my mind to know that my fish will be healthy, and able to handle any little nasties they come into contact with.

The moral of the story? Begin the fish room as soon as you get hooked on bettas. Don't delay what you know, in the back of your mind, you'll need. Don't bother with jars, although they're nice to have around for warm months (to treat sick fish the least expensive way). Just get tanks. They always come in handy and YOU'LL NEED THEM! Don't try to fool yourself into thinking you won't get that big. If you like bettas, you will. LOL

BACK ONLINE JUNE 17, 2008

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