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Melbourne Betta Club


Bettarazzi

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I realise that a lot of blood, sweat and tears has gone into trying to get a national club going as evidenced by this topic. Since that thread is now 10 months old I thought I'd start another one. Leaving the national club issue aside for a moment. I was wondering how many people in Melbourne would be interested in getting together to form a betta club? I'm thinking something fairly informal, ie meet at each others houses, have the occasional LFS crawl. But primarily to have a face-to-face place where we can help each other breed bettas and show the ones that we have bred. Yeah... and I want a ribbon that says, "Best Multi-Coloured Mongrel". Apologies to those that lived through the pain of the past. Now's when you hit the 'Back' button.

Oh, and if anyone wants to resurrect the national club idea, I'm happy to help.

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do you need a club to achieve that? Just a thought. the less bureaucracy the better IME.

Anyway, it's great that there are enough Melbourne hobbyists to make the idea of a state-based club feasible. We never really had that before! Good luck.

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It's a very good point, Lilli. I was thinking of something really informal. But why do we need to call it a club at all? *thinks* So far it's just Stefan and I. Jeremy will probably succumb with the slightest amount of arm twisting. It's hardly a crowd. But it's still early on a Sunday morning. :)

So how about this: if I host a gathering at my house say on Saturday 4th August, how many people are interested in coming? How many will be bringing fish to show, sell, swap?

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I don't have much to offer the group in the way of knowledge or fish

Newbies are always welcome. The whole point of getting together is to share knowledge with others in the hope of growing the hobby. The more of us there are the better it is for all of us so there's a vested interest for us to help each other.

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So how about this: if I host a gathering at my house say on Saturday 4th August, how many people are interested in coming? How many will be bringing fish to show, sell, swap?

Just wondering if Saturday was going to go ahead, did anything come of this discussion?

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I'm still up for it. Even if it's just the four of us. Everyone interested in coming, please confirm here by Thursday and also state your preference for what you want to do.

Suggestion 1 LFS crawl. This could be fairly flexible in terms of people coming and going. I can draw up a list of shops to visit and approximately what time we'll be there. People who can't or don't want to spend the whole day can ring me on my mobile to find out where we are.

Suggestion 2 Gather at my place in Chadstone, say 2-4pm. We can discuss what we want from the betta hobby. Talk further about a club. I've got some Metallic Blue PK x Green CT juveniles I'd be happy to give away.

Feel free to make your own suggestions. Based on responses I'll confirm on Thursday night if it's a go or not. And I'll PM everyone with the details.

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Let's see how we go with responses. I've already had two apologies so not looking good at the moment for Saturday. Maybe we should have a discussion in the forum first about what we want from a 'club'. Is it regular meetings we want? For me, I'm most interested in breeding and then showing off my work. I'm not sure how to achieve that without a club that organises and foots the bill for the shows. I was talking to Jodi tonight about Betta Australis and raised possibility of the Melbourne club being a chapter of that. There's plenty of stuff we can discuss on the forum first. However, if in the next few days if there are a few more people interested in a face-to-face meeting, the offer is still there. And it doesn't have to be this Saturday. Maybe it would be better to hold it in a few weeks. Open to suggestions. I know there are a few Melbourne folk on this forum. Come on guys. I'd rather you piped up and said it was a lousy idea than just remain silent. Don't make me PM every one of you. You know I'll do it. :D

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When I first start breeding again few months back... I found that it was pretty hard to get high quality bettas in melbourne or even Australia until I know someone does transhipping, I think alot of people very instrested in keeping and breeding HMs CTs etc... But they just can't find the fish they looking for. I did not know where to buy HM bettas until I found this forum, so maybe we have to somehow let more people know about this forum first? Then the betta hobbyist population will grow somehow in melbourne .. I dunno xD we just need more people in order to have a club.. :rolleyes:

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The My Goals/Interests for a MBC of sorts

I'm not really after a super formal group with minutes etc. I want to see people show off their fish. I would like to see people's setups and ask them questions in person (old fashioned I know). Also knowing what fish are around Melbourne, and therefore getting fish from MBC people/breeders over LFS especially as genetics would hopefully be better known. Knowing who and how often people get fish from someone/Aquabid to save on shipping and possible deals with International Breeders, the economy of scale factor is important for me (a poor student).

I'm still getting setup for breeding, and so have lots of questions, and I'm still not sure what type to breed (I'm sort of falling for red dragons), so to ask peoples opinions would be great, and to do so while looking at setups and the fish of others would help me a lot.

I know this is all a bit egocentric, My this and My that, but in time I hope I'll be able to offer more than I can now (just a voice).

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that's all cool garrett. Again, that all sounds to me that it could be done socially for the most part, rather than via the admin hassle and expense of a club. We have a similar sort of network in Sydney and several of us achieve pretty much all that via aaq - just cos it's easy as we are already members.

I hope you guys really get this happening! It will be great!

PS - my tip is don't saturate the market with red dragons. Nick bred then a couple of years ago and everyone went crazy for them and then everyone had them so there was nobody interested in anyone else's fry! :lol: Since you and Kitz are both in Melbourne you may want to pool resources to line breed them, though. Just a few ideas!

PPS - I love red dragons too :lol:

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Lisa, can you give us more details about your network in Sydney. I don't want the admin hassles of a formal club either. But without a little bit of structure, how do you organise shows? Who pays for it? If there are costs to be borne, is that just split amongst the organisers?

I think there's an extent to which the old monthly meetings type club just doesn't work any more. Our lifestyles have changed. We expect to do everything online. Yet as Cam say, there's a lot to be said for face-to-face contact. Having a face-to-face conversation with someone is just not the same as MSN. Seeing someone else setup in the flesh is just not the same as pictures. So I think there needs to be a balance between online and actual contact. But as Lisa says, you don't need a club for that. AAQ already serves as the 'club', and as people meet each other on the forum, that can then extend to informal face-to-face contact.

My stumbling block I guess is the regular shows and the costs associated with it. Is it possible to do it just through AAQ? What if people want to get IBC judging certification?

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sorry, I wasn't clear :lol:. I was really just responding to garrett's post.

We haven't had any shows - but we do have fishroom visits, LFS crawls and just basically hang out (and eat, truth be told). We have toyed with the idea of informal garage shows, but nobody has had time to make it happen as of yet, and I doubt there are presently very many fish in Sydney you'd want to bother entering. maybe once more people start to get serious about breeding here (or some of our breeders who have been put off return to the hobby) there will be the motivation to kick something like that off.

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if it was a LOST spoiler, I don't want to know. I'm waiting to catch up on episodes from May.

Slightly different slant: we need breeders to motivate us to organise shows. No point going to a lot of trouble and expense if people either don't show up or have nothing competitive to show.

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Harry Potter spoiler.

It seems to me that a few years ago there was a blossoming of the betta hobby in Australia (very spewing I missed it), until a couple of evil individuals destroyed it all. How did the blossoming occur? Can we not recreate the good aspects from that time and protect ourselves from the bad?

I know it's a big ask for those that were hurt by that experience to try and do it all again. But for someone else to have a go now, I at least want to learn from the good and bad of the past. An understanding of the good things could help fast track the mission. And an understanding of the bad can help protect from another disaster.

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Cam, if you're interested in just coming over for a fishroom visit, send me a PM. I don't think anyone else is coming on Saturday. I'm still free Saturday afternoon but we can arrange another suitable time if we need to. If I can help you get started with breeding bettas, that's at least one other breeder in Melbourne. I haven't got any red dragons though. :lol:

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Can we not recreate the good aspects from that time and protect ourselves from the bad?

Problem is, a lot of people burnt by that won't return to the hobby - and there just aren't that many Australians into fish, firstly, and bettas specifically, to be able to replace them.

Secondly, at that time, you just couldn't get HMs and CTs. Then suddenly you could - so all these people who had been salivating over the photos from the US (mainly) went bananas buying up on what had been their dream for so long but out of reach. Now you can get HM and CT bettas via numerous channels and we'll never be able to recreate that initial surge of interest because ... well, what people want most is what they can't have, and there's not a lot of novelty in having something everyone else has had for years.

One thing that could help create interest that I have been keen to try for a few years is a Betta Awareness Stall at a weekend market. You set up display tanks with your red dragons, your coppers, your MG, your Melanos, basically everything people rarely see in a LFS, in proper display tanks where the fish can flare and be seen at their best, and provide Care Guides and Fact Sheets and details of on-line resources (eg Aussie Bettas, AAQ). There are care guides and fact sheets here on AAQ that nobody seems to use *sniff* which were designed for exactly that purpose. We are also finalising an illustrated tail-types guide and will have that available for download soon as well. Here is a link to the care guides and fact sheets provided by aaq:

Betta Splendens Fact Sheet and Care Guide

Guide to Sexing Bettas

Basic Guide to Betta Splendens Breeding

The market stall idea is to get the attention of people who may not have ready internet access, or just may not be into using the net, and give them inspiration and information. Imagine if you'd never seen a copper HM in the flesh, how seeing him for the first time in sunlight would feel! I still remember the first time I saw a copper HM - it literally took my breath away but sadly was already spoken for so I couldn't buy him. I fantasised over that fish until I got my own first copper HM and I still remember how seeing him in a good sized tank and able to flare and swim and look like magic changed my view of the world! You could use it as an outlet for selling some extra fry to get people started, and some VE, MW and IAl, but the idea is mainly to raise awareness, not sell bettas.

I think what we could also really do with is someone to help Jodi get Betta Australis back up and running. At the moment she manages all the imports and has historically primarily managed the bettas shows, as well as the Australian IBC Chapter, as well as working full-time and looking after all the imported fish in QT and the shipping etc (and people wonder why she doesn't reply to emails ans PMs immediately!). If I can be so bold as to speak on Jodi's behalf, she really needs someone competent and helpful to get the club happening again. I really really really would love to help but I have to be realistic - I work about 70 hours a week, I have a teenage daughter I need to spend time with and I have my own fish and horses and dogs to make time for and I know that, realistically, I can't get back into a 'burning the candle at both ends' lifestyle like I did when I was heavily involved in the Australian Betta Association (hey, I said it without vomiting). Betta Australis exists - why not focus energies on that and give it some new content (in consultation woth Jodi, of course) and get it up and running again, rather than develop a whole new club, if indeed it is a club that you need?

Michael, can I just say how happy I am that you've taken an interest in this? A few of us have felt like one hand clapping for quite a while over the last couple of years, after what happened with the original clubs. It's great to have someone other than 'the usual suspects' with some motivation to make things happen! SNAPS FOR MICHAEL!!!!

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Hi, i'm from melbourne as well

I have 1 pair of HM and 1 female CT but haven't tried to spawn them yet

I'd like to spawn them maybe this weekend or sometimes next week. Can't do it now because i just got them last week and i want they are in perfect condition to spawn. someone mentioned in the forum that I should wait for 1 week after I received them. I gave them live food everyday. Luckily i have a pet shop nearby about 3 minutes driving.

And i'm waiting for my new tank setup to get a good cycle water. currently i put them in 28 L tank with net breeder as a divider. Poor guy because i think he's ready to spawn because he's looking and flaring to the female everyday and built a bubble nest. But unfortunately the new tank setup isn't ready for the other female yet. Just start cycling the tank yesterday. So should be ready tomorrow

it's nice with the idea that gathering together and share some knowledge about bettas or just to show them off. But the time is not on my side i guess

especially on weekend. I have 2 children, 4 yo boy and 6.5 months baby girl. So i don't think i can spare like 2 hours on the weekend because my husband is working on sat as well :lol:

but its good that we have this forum, i found its very useful especially i'm quite new with breeeding bettas as well. Well i did breed bettas a couple years ago but not in australia. It was VT betta because i guess at that time they haven't found the other types. But because I live in tropical country we didn't need heater or special extra requirements for them. A bit different in australia especially melbourne with the cold weather brr...

btw, keep in touch

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Problem is, a lot of people burnt by that won't return to the hobby - and there just aren't that many Australians into fish, firstly, and bettas specifically, to be able to replace them.

I suspected this was so, but still sad to see it in black and white (and turqoise). The evildoers won.

what people want most is what they can't have, and there's not a lot of novelty in having something everyone else has had for years.

Yes, I think you're absolutely right here. However on the flip side, with the way the betta hobby has been in Australia, the people and the novel fish soon disappear from the scene.

Betta Awareness Stall at a weekend market.

I like this idea. Might start a new topic to discuss it further.

I think what we could also really do with is someone to help Jodi get Betta Australis back up and running.

Great minds think alike! I had a chat with Jodi a few days ago about this. Maybe the Melbourne Club could be a chapter of Betta Australis. Still early in the discussion process. Happy to get insights and input from other people on this.

Michael, can I just say how happy I am that you've taken an interest in this?
Aww, shucks, thanks. When I started the NAKA, I always felt like I was working on the wrong club.

SNAPS FOR MICHAEL!!!!

Probably giving away my lifestyle when I say, "I loved those two movies!!". :)

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We went ahead with a little meeting yesterday. Oh let's not call it that, how about fishroom visit? Cameron (garrett) and his brother Hamish came over. We had a bit of a natter. They went home with a couple of fish. It was good.

So we decided that it's now officially a club. That was the first meeting. Apologies received from Kitz and Stefan. But we still had a quorum so we could vote on everything. So Stefan is now in charge of Strain Maintenance and the Judging Committee, congratulations Stefan. And Kitz will be hosting the next meeting in a month. Thanks Kitz. :lol: I'm kidding, I'm kidding. :)

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