About me

My experience with breeding animals goes back too my childhood. Together with my father I bred English show budgerigars and several species of Australian parrots. In period of 1989-1999 we participated at several shows with good results. When I moved out for my study in 1999 I had to make the hard decision to stop this beautiful hobby.

In 2001, I gained my first experience with the aquarium hobby when I started breeding guppies in my student room during my biology study at university. At the end of 2002 I accidently stumbled on a Dutch Betta website on the internet and I was hooked! I gathered more information by visiting the websites of several experienced Betta hobbyists and became more and more fascinated by these beautiful fish.

In March 2003, I obtained my first pair of Betta splendens (longfin, superdelta) from a Dutch breeder. The silhouette of my first Betta male (see left picture) is represented in the banner of my website. What then started with a few small aquariums in my student room by now has expanded to a custom build shed especially for my Bettas. Although I initially started to work on longfinned fish, my breeding program is fully dedicated to breeding of shortfinned halfmoons since 2005. During the years, my experience with breeding show budgerigars as well my study biology appeared to be very useful baggage.

The ultimate goal of my breeding program is to establish a quality line of (a)symmetrical halfmoon plakats. My ideal Betta is healthy, vital and possesses as a strong body with a thick peduncle and a smooth mouth-to-dorsal topline. Its finnage should have a smooth appearance and in proportion with the body.

I personally believe that there is no room for secrets in this hobby. This website therefore has been created to share the knowledge and experiences I have gained in the past years breeding these beautiful fish. Besides general information on the various color and finnage varieties and breeding these beautiful fish you can also find several articles on genetics, how to create your own line and detailed spawn-logs of all spawns performed in my “Betta Territory”.

Joep