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Re: OT. bettas
David Sanchez wrote:
>
> "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"
>
> Wright there are allot off fools out there then have
> you seen the popularity of bettas boom the last few
> years!
snip...
Quite!
I was part of it for a while. I helped found the local club (California
Betta Society), bred a whole lot of Bettas, including "perfecting" a line of
the elusive "Tutweiler Butterfly." I even became qualified as a judge. I was
Chairperson of the local club when we hosted the IBC Convention in
Sacramento, a few years ago. BTDTBTTS!
The "Greater Fool" theory is an old argument from the economics textbooks
that partly explains explosive market booms, whether in real estate, Dutch
Tulips, or so-called "deregulated" energy. I didn't invent the expression.
Like "getting rich by taking in each others' laundry," it just explains a
natural market phenomonon pretty well by explaining natural human actions.
I made a conscious choice to withdraw from that fray, and to concentrate on
wild species of Bettas and Gouramis as a very small part of my hobby of
raising wild "puddle" fish. [Show Bettas are an extremely labor-intensive
task, if done properly.]
Bettas in SE Asia, and Rainbows/Blue-Eyes in Australia and New Guinea,
occupy the same environmental niche as killies do in much of the rest of the
world. As a result, they, like the ricefish of Taiwan and Japan (Medakas),
are natural companions to our Fp. and Aphyos. If you would understand the
fish of small waters, you should not ignore them.
The Bettas (and guppies) were a better place for me to learn basic genetics
than killies, because of the variety of types maintained and the better
previous studies of their genes. I also perfected at least one strain of
fancy guppy and have kept those, once in a while, too. [My guppies took 1st
and 2nd at last year's Livebearer show held in conjunction with WCW. Pure
luck, as I did *not* perfect those particular strains. They descended from
fish that came in from Germany with a BAKA-DKG box exchenge, as I recall.]
Our local killy experts saved at least one new collection of wild Betta that
had defeated the european experts. They got it through the first critical
couple of generations and redistributed it to the hobby via the Intl.
Anabantoid group. I feel the husbandry skills of our better killy breeders,
both here and abroad, tend to be head and shoulders above those of the pure
show specialists. [There are obvious exceptions, of course.] Water-change
labor and husbandry savvy are two very different things, IMHO.
At least two fishroom total wipeouts from introduction of chloramine were
former IBC Grand Champions, as I recall. This only happened in mild form to
a couple of our local killy folk. Need for different water for different
fish made them much quicker to spot and fix the problem. [Not doing 100%
water changes didn't hurt.]
I'm also amused at the accuracy of David's observation about "fat, nerdy,
middle aged men" doing killies. Most of our local Betta breeders have been
women. It is almost like the separation of cats and dogs along sex lines
(women are more often cat people, no?). :-) BAKA has had real trouble
attracting or keeping young or female members, even though they serve the
same geographic area as CBS.
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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