Secret Weapons

I promise I will not be posting so often as we move forward...

Below I have stated my goals for all the world to see and allow them to snicker at me behind poorly concealed faces of contempt. I care not!

Well, maybe a little bit.

Still, I've shouted from the rooftops (or maybe just the safety of my home through the interweb) and will now begin the journey to infamy!

Let's get a few basics out of the way:

My level of fish keeping skill: 0

My years of knowledge: 0

Tanks in the house before fish-sitting for eldest daughter: 0

Fish killed to date: 3

Fish breed to date: 10 Convicts and 50+ Betta CT fry currently in spawn tank (we'll get to these in a post of their own shortly)

So, my CV is not going to fill anyone with confidence. But I have a few secret weapons ;)

Get a pen because you need to write this down if you want to succeed:

Secret Weapon Number One

I have the encouragement and support of a wonderful wife, partner, and bestest of friends. My Jodi is never one to say I cant do something. She is always willing to listen, and she doesn't automatically start yawning when I start talking about fish. But, you cant have this secret weapon. You'll have to find one of your own.

Secret Weapon Number Two

This one you can share. http://ausaqua.net/ and all the wonderful Betta gurus who reside there. If you are Australian or a Kiwi, and want to own, raise, or breed Betta, be they Splenden, or any of the other varieties out there, you need to get onto this site. They would probably not even mind people from other countries dropping in. You will fail without help from people who have been there and done it all before.

Secret Weapon Number Three

The IBC, particularly their Technical Assistance Library, and the magazine Flare! are worth the price of membership alone. But I found them through Betta Australis. Victoria, New South Wales, and soon Western Australia, will all have their own IBC-sanctioned Betta chapters. Betta Australis is kind of the Queensland IBC-sanctioned chapter, but also the catch-all for us lonely people with nowhere else to go. South Australia has the worst water for raising Betta - it's even more damaging on the delicate fins of Crown-Tail (CT) and Half-Moons (HM) - so I've not found many other breeders as of the time of writing this, but there are plenty of Betta fanciers, and these people should be members too....sorry - off track. Anyway, the secret weapon: a guru, who is a member of your 'local' IBC chapter and is willing to put up with all your annoying newbie questions. I was lucky enough to find one who hasn't yet added me to his spam filter.

If you can get the first, and join the second, you will go a long way to being successful. Not living in Adelaide would probably help, but if you can add the third to your first two, then you could live in the Sahara Dessert and I reckon you'd still have a shot at success!