Exciting news!! The September/October issue of AMAZONAS is going to be a special on bettas!! I cannot wait to get my hands on this issue :) Here is the AMAZONAS preview.

Here also is a video special on Betta macrostoma. I WILL have this species one day!!!

One of my students was irritated with another student for borrowing micropipettes (a tool we use in the lab constantly to transfer very small volumes of liquid) and then not returning them. This situation resulted in the micropipettes being held hostage and a set of requirements to get them back. One of them is to get the fin of one of my show fish! Razor blade provided!

Needless to say, my fishroom is on high security alert! Hahaha!

Transferred some little guys into the growout, and of course they immediately started fighting. I was forced to jar several of them! As you can see, there is a pretty wide variety of forms in this spawn, which means that it is still a new line that will require more inbreeding to achieve purity of form and color. Their spawn log is Spawn CTPK form 020815.

About time I set up some spawns! I'm super pumped from convention and ready to start the next generation. Their spawn log is at Spawn RY Trad 072115.

If you've noticed, I am running two parallel lines of CTPKs now. One is focused on form - these guys have great primary branching (which in my opinion gives a much cleaner appearance than CTs with greater branching), decent webbing reduction, and carry DT which contributes to broader dorsals.  However, this line has uneven color and some have marbling and red wash. The other line is focused on color - these have beautifully clean metallic coverage, and come in metallic copper, royal blue, and turquoise (my favorite!). Both lines originate from two half brothers from Jamie, but the form line came from a brother/sister cross, and the color line came from an outcross to a female from Gastone Tomei. You can read about the beginning of the CTPK project here.  

This Spawn is at Spawn CTPK color 072115. Crossing my fingers!

Check out the convention show report in the show reports section! We also have the hashtag #IBCConvention on both Facebook and Twitter!

Check out the new Betta rubra page in the Wild Side section. These guys are a blast to own - colorful, friendly, and spawn almost too easily. Love this species!

Fish nerds have drinking games too!! The goal is to double bag as fast as possible. My record is at a shiny 27 seconds (although I probably wouldn't have sent any fish in the result...my 32 second bags were much sturdier). Here I go against the legendary Jeff Hiller!