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Re: OT. bettas
There are some breeders who withhold females, but by and large betta
breeders (at least legit ones) do NOT do this. MOST bettas are sold as
pairs... even if on Aquabid they are listed as a "such and such male" the
description will almost always say that a female is included. Bettas do not
have sex chromosomes so their sex is determined by environment... therefore
if a breeder does not have any females available from a particular spawn
then it is probably because their sex ratio was off. To be perfectly honest
the only breeders I have seen withholding females were Asian crowntail
breeders at the beginning of the crowntail craze.
Also, it is not so much that betta breeders don't trade fish among
themselves but the chapters of the IBC differ quite a bit from the clubs
affiliated with the AKA. Most of the IBC chapters only get together when
they are holding a show; very few of them hold actual regular meetings. The
reason for this is simple -- most of us live too far away from where our
club is located to attend monthly meetings. I live in Urbana, IL but I
belong to a club in Des Moines, IA and a club in Columbus, OH. I can drive
the 5 or 6 hours to attend and help out at a show in these locales but
there's no way I could attend meetings every month or every other month. We
do most of our club business and social meetings online in chat rooms or
over the telephone. I have betta friends that I trade fish with and no
money exchanges hands but I just can't afford to stay in the hobby if I give
all of my fish away. Anyone who comes to my apartment though will leave
with some fish from the 6th ranked breeder in the IBC for free... of course
they are not my absolute best fish (I'm not stupid LOL) but they also are
not culls. I bring betta pairs to our local club's auction and get $3 for a
pair I could have sold for $40 to a breeder. I don't really know exactly
why bettas are so expensive but once you make connections you don't really
have to ever purchase fish again. I think that is true regardless of what
species of fish you breed.
Denise
Shangri-La Bettas
Denise R. Archambeault
Animal Sciences
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
----------
>From: "Tranquility Base" <TranquilityBase at NetZero_Net>
>To: <killietalk at aka_org>
>Subject: RE: OT. bettas
>Date: Sat, Feb 2, 2002, 5:29 AM
>
>
>
>You know folks that I really can't resist getting into a good useless off
>topic conversation. Try as I might, when it comes to fish it is hard for me
>not to form and express an opinion. So here goes.
>
>First of all the question should not be why are bettas so expensive? It's
>why are killies so cheap? The difference is that as killie breeders we are
>trying to distribute our fish. We want a particular species to spread. If we
>were to sell only males and cull our females we could accomplish the same
>thing betta breeders do. One could argue that if the price were too high
>someone could just go out and collect more. But this is not always so. In
>many cases there are no more wild populations. In any case if we have a
>particular fish we could just rename them when they are collected so that it
>would be harder for more to be found.
>
>Lets think about it for a minute. When someone has a very rare killie what
>does he do with it. He breeds it and usually gives it to all of his friends.
>Those which get sold usually start out expensive but then the price goes
>down rapidly as the fish is proliferated. I have seen killies go for over
>$100.00 per pair but those prices usually last only a short while until
>everyone has them then it goes for pocket change at auction. If someone
>figures out how to breed a difficult fish they share the information freely.
>If killie breeders withheld females and kept their secrets I think that
>killies pairs would sell for much more than bettas. I am not sure about
>betta breeders. Maybe they do the same amongst themselves. I do not know.
>But the fact that so few bettas are sold as pairs gives me the idea that
>there is some method behind the madness.
>
>As to breeding special strains of killies goes, why not? How many people on
>this list have not kept albino something or red/orange or chocolate AUS.
>They are nice little fish There is plenty of room in our hobby for wild
>fish and hybrids alike (as long as they are correctly labeled).
>
>As killie folk we are lucky we are in such a wonderful hobby with such a
>great bunch of people! Most of my rarest fish were actually given to me or
>sold to me at less than the cost it took to raise them. I don't mind
>bringing fish to auction, even when I know that they will go for very
>little. Hopefully someone else will be successful with them and they will
>proliferate. If I were looking to get top dollar for my fish I would work
>hard for other good breeders not to get them. The last place I would sell
>my fish is at a club auction where others who could breed them could get a
>hold of them. I do agree that It is nice when our fish bring big bucks but
>certainly not necessary.
>
>If we really wanted to raise our fish incomes all we need do is withhold
>them, or at least withhold the females. In the end it take a lot less work
>and cost less money to raise fewer fish and we would all make a much larger
>profit. It is our willingness to share our fish so inexpensively which has
>prevented any large scale killie enterprise from ever succeeding.
>
>Finally the question is do we really want to be like betta breeders? You can
>get the males for $2.99 but if you want a correct pair it will cost you
>$300.00. I'm not sure that we are wired that way.
>
>Peace,
>
>~RJ~
>
>
>
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