“This is going to blow your socks off!!! We have not hundreds, but thousands of Marine Bettas coming soon to a store near you!” That was the announcement today by Sustainable Aquatics VP of Sales & Marketing Chris Turnier. Sustainable Aquatics has been quietly increasing production of this classic marine fish. While the Comet or Marine Betta was first spawned and reared years ago, they have yet to enter the ranks of commercially available captive bred marine fish. Difficulty in getting pairs to consistently spawn combines with aggression in juveniles, and these are probably the main reasons you haven’t seen more captive-bred Calloplesiops altivelis before now. Details, and a video, after the break.
Turnier tells us that Tennessee-based Sustainable Aquatics has “batches coming up all the time.” That hopefully translates to routine commercial availability for the species as captive-bred. Expect the first SA Marine Bettas to be released around 1.5 inches in size. Depending on retail markups, the initial releases will likely be moderately more expensive than a small “wild-caught” marine betta, but here’s the catch – you almost never see the ultra-cute juvenile Marine Betta as a wild-caught fish, so seeing prices offered on fish this size can be misleading. Turnier further elaborates that their pricing is directly related to extended time spent in growout; captive-bred Marine Bettas may be comparable to Mandarin Dargonets (Synchiropus sp.) in terms of very slow growth rates.
As if the image above wasn’t enough, the video released today of Sustainable’s baby Marine Bettas should be more than enough to sell you on the virtues of ultra-cute, slow growing, captive-bred, peaceful marine fish like this new offering from Sustainable Aquatics.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqgcNcmj9PY[/youtube]
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