A guide to keeping Siamese fighting fish, describing the physical characteristics and different varieties that exist, breeding strategies, care and feeding, aquarium maintenance, and more.

Mostly for breeders and advanced fanciers, yet has lovely photos of unusual bettas anyone can enjoy (5.0)

This book has actually very scant information about casual betta pet ownership, focusing rather on discussions valuable for the breeder/hobbyist. In spite of this caveat, this is a great little betta book - if for nothing more than the fabulous and unusual betta pictures! WOW!

The book opens with a trip down betta history - the careful breeding, the fiercely wagered fighting matches, etc. This is followed with a bit of "care and feeding"...which obviously does not hold the author's attention for long, since we quickly move on to a great series of "koi" - variegated gold and black - betta photos.

The breeder will learn lots of tips from the award-winning betta breeder's insights. Following and documenting the "butterfly trait" is one such topic - brilliantly captured in dozens of full color shots.

The rare "albino trait story" is told, from the perspective of the author's re-discovery and subsequent loss of the strain. Anyone who knows about the betta albino situation will appreciate the author's first-hand account.

Advanced topics like judging and showing bettas are also nicely presented. What do the judges look for? How are points awarded? How are show fish presented? At this time, I have not found this information presented in any other betta care book.

The near-obligatory betta breeding and fry rearing hints are here, with plenty of photographs for every step along the way. Non-breeders (ie - typical pet betta parents) will enjoy seeing the mating process so clearly documented.

Don't pick this book up for disease and treatment tips - barely half a page is devoted to disease. I *do* appreciate their emphasis on prevention (ie - clean water, proper temperatures and a good diet) and observation being the best treatment for betta illness.

Rather, just get this book to excite yourself about the possibilities of great color variations from responsible and knowledgeable breeding. The author had been one of the top breeders in his field and helped make the betta collecting hobby as exciting as it is today.

Mixed feelings (2.0)

The book did not offer any information in the way of betta care, which makes it a poor resource for the general fish owner. However, it is a valuable resource for people wishing to breed Bettas as it contains extensive information on this topic. Personally, I enjoyed reading the historical background surrounding Betta breeding and evolution. This is truly a remarkable species of fish, and the author brought this out nicely. In addition, the photographs were better than any I have seen and the text was well composed.

However, like some other readers, I had a big problem with the information presented on Betta fighting. I know that the text is dated, written for a different era of betta owners (in the 1980s maybe?). Regardless, it was disturbing that such a practice would be discussed with such overt enthusiasm.

Basic information about bettas with nice pictures (3.0)

This book offers basic information to starting hobbyists about the physiology, care, maintenance and breeding of the Betta splendens species, as well as the rearing of fry. The chapter on show standards and betta competitions has very nice pictures, including the albino strain that was successfully bred in Japan by Tanaka in 1994.

Not Very Informative (1.0)

For anyone looking to find a detailed resource on the care of betta splendens, this book is not for you. A great deal of space in this book is devoted to the history of the fish, how they fight with other males (there are even explicit pictures of this process, which I was certainly not interested in seeing), and how to breed them. The sections covering their care are woefully lacking - the page on diseases merely lists the ailments and then offers a recommendation for another book in which to find more information. The tone of this book also stunned me - it is apparent that the author thinks of these fish as a source of income rather than as pets. Mention is made of fish that are not "exciting or saleable," and how sub-standard hatchlings should be culled or disposed of. I was quite offended by this - even the most dully-colored betta could find a happy home somewhere! The only reason I'm giving this book one star at all is because there are a lot of beautiful photos inside. It looks more like a picture book than anything else, actually. Very disappointing.

Pretty Good (3.0)

I thought this book was pretty good. It showed you a lot of good pictures of the betta fish and it was very helpful in the history of betta fish, but some of the stuff that i was looking for in it, wasn't there, it just had a lot of pictures, and the history of bettas, it took up like 7 pages on the history where as they only did 3 sentences on how to take care of them!! if you are just looking for cool and good pictures of betta fish then you should buy this book, but if you are looking for information on betta fish then maybe you should look for a differnt boook, it was a great book, just not what i was looking for. I love betta fish and i think they are the cooles fish ever!