Casper

Hi everyone! I came back not so long ago and thought I'd replied to you all but apparently not! Unfortunately a few weeks after I came back my poor little Betta died unexpectedly.

Feeling a little lost without a fish I went to the local MA and spotted a lovely white Betta - aptly named Casper. He's settling in well into the tank and much more active than my old Betta (poor thing, he was always pretty lazy!). I've only had him a week so far but he's eating well and seems happy so far.

He's either very young and his tail still has some growing to do, or he's a half moon plakat (HMPK) which is my favourite tail type.

Are his fins reddish? It's hard to see in the photo. If they are, he has Cambodian colouring.


Whatever he is, he's a lovely fish 

Casper is stunning - and glad he's settling in well.

Hope all going well with your very busy life.

 

marquismirage - I actually thought the same at first and wondered whether he was a she, but the lady in MA assured he he was indeed a male betta - not that it really mattered as I wasn't planning on him having any tankmates

Thank you everyone - he is indeed lovely I've definitely found him a little distracting when sitting at the kitchen table to do some work! Fcmf - life still very busy! I have exams coming up soon and just had the results of a big assignment back but I 'just keep swimming' and it seems to be going OK so far! Can't wait for April though where I have a bit of a break from it all (though of course should really be working on my dissertation rather than relaxing!).

Ooh do you have a picture of your Plakat Littlefish? I do love Bettas! Casper is very active and also pretty greedy, I gave him some peas yesterday which most fish I've had before have taken a while to get used to - not him, he'd gobbled it all up straight away including quite a large piece I hadn't mushed quite so well! I then had a flashback to when one of my fish (I think an endler) had got a bit of pea wedged in his mouth and had a bit of a panic but he seemed to have swallowed it no problem, no wonder they have a bad reputation with shrimp!

Sue - he is very small so potentially is quite young, but I think you're right that he's a Plakat and potentially half moon - I thought of you as soon as I saw him actually as I remembered you liked Plakats  They always seem to have some lovely Bettas in this particular MA - when I called up to check they had some for sale before I went in (as last time I rode all the way there only to find they had lots in but they'd only just arrived so weren't for sale) they said they had a yellow betta but he must have been purchased before I arrived as I didn't see him! They had two white bettas, but the other wasn't a Plakat. I wouldn't have thought of having a white fish before but actually as soon as I saw him I knew I wanted him, the colours stand out so well in the tank. He has red colouring so must be 'Cambodian' colouring as you say Sue - and in certain lights has a blue and purple tint to his white 

It would be nice to have something else in the tank with him but since it's only a small tank I don't think there's much that can go with him, and after seeing him with that bit of pea I don't think any shrimp would be a good idea! 

The giveaway with Casper and Littlefish's betta is the length of the modified pectoral pelvic fins, those long dangly things under the head. They are too long for females. And to confirm the gender you just have to get the fish to flare and look at the gills. With a female they just stick out at the sides of the head while with males they stick out under the head as well, looking like a beard.

Bettas are well known to be greedy fish. Once they've eaten everything in the tank they'll beg for more. You have to be strong and not give in 

Bettas are so beautiful.  I wish my local MA stocked such nice ones.  Sadly every time I visit them they have dead fish in their tanks which puts me off buying fish from them.  There is a LFS within driving distance in Gosforth Pets and Aquatics but I haven't seen them stock betta yet.  Have you guys ever ordered fish through a LFS?

@Sue  Thanks for the info on sexing plakats.  Another lesson learnt. 

Yes definitely need to be very careful and strong at feeding time! 

There's three MAs around me (in Berkshire) all within about the same driving distance (20 - 30 minutes), and there's another close to work that I've been to. Three I've been to have been great - the one I got Casper from has always had lovely fish and seems to have the most varied supply of Bettas, the other two stores are great stores but tend to have the more standard Bettas (pure red, pure blue etc). One of the MAs though I drove to accidentally instead of the one I meant to visit (chose the wrong one on the sat nav) and I'd never go back there - it was very small and all the fish looked unwell / a lot of dead fish. I have seen dead fish in stores before that I would still buy fish from as it is expected from time to time, particularly with new batches of fish coming in.

I tried to order fish through a store before - actually the MA I got Casper from. They said they'd let me know when they were in stock but I never had a call and in the end decided to get a different fish! Apparently though ordering fish online is fairly common and problem free - I've never tried it personally though!

Good lookin' fish.