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Re: OT. bettas



John Pendergrass wrote:
> 
> Hey I know this is a off topic question but.....
> 
> Can anyone tell me what is up with Bettas I was just on www.aquabid.com and
> saw a male (not a pair mind you but a single fish selling for 305.00 it was
> only 3 months old.
snip...
> 
> So what am I missing are these 'Show bettas' that impressive and if so why?


Unlike most of us, who are breeding essentially wild-type killifish that we
would like to keep that way, Bettas have been cultivated for over 400 years,
by some estimates. They are breeding domestic animals that are more like a
Holstein cow is to a Bison.

Just as a top winner at the Westminster Dog Show can demand huge stud and/or
puppy fees, winners in the International Betta Congress convention often
bring their owners some serious bucks, for a few fish. They aren't getting
rich, for the cost of getting there is high, and the total number sold
usually is fairly small. One German friend described the process as
"breeding better pigs."

That market operates on the "Greater Fool" principle. "No matter what I pay,
there is a greater fool to buy my..." 

A while back a few sickly wild *Betta macrostoma* went for $600 to $800 a
pair. Most had one or more of the pair die in a week or two. It is a fish
somewhat uglier than the average RIV (but with some great press when Axelrod
dubbed it the "Brunei Beauty," and publish some non-typical pictures).

The Sultan of Brunei got taken with the idea and knew they were rare. He put
out an edict that anyone caught collecting them would be beheaded. That
(probably inaccurate) story was used to jack the price out of sight. The
total number of fools was, fortunately, small, so that fad died fairly
early.

I was breeding Bettas the year that Bonnie McKinley was declared co-Grand
Champion, much for her development of the beautiful blue, black and steel
half-moons. I was giving away to friends and folks I was mentoring, pairs of
fish with identical genetics to hers that she was able to charge $100/pr
for. I rarely asked more than $10 a fish, and felt guilty then. I knew they
were both very easy and common.

Why the difference? Folks would pay to get them from the source, even though
mine were from excellent (not cull) fish she had given me. I had not gone
through the horrible expenses of entering every damned Betta show from
Hawaii to Maine, tho, so I had little cost to cover. It was my hobby and I
got my rewards from the fish, who I could help, and what I could learn.
Bonnie was a working gal, and *had* to recoup some of those costs just to
stay in the hobby.

That's the best I can explain it. High prices are perfectly justifiable if
you have found that "Greater Fool." Most killy keepers are far too canny to
go there, tho. <G>

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley -- 650 843-1240 -- 866 Clara Dr. Palo Alto CA 94303 
                    http://www.sfbaka.net.

Nobody every recommended a dictatorship aiming at ends other than
those he himself approved. He who advocates dictatorship always 
advocates the unrestricted rule of his own will.  Ludwig von Mises

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