Breeders Near Me

[TammyLiz]

I'm looking for betta breeders in my area. Anywhere near my area! I live in Virginia. Does anyone on this forum breed or know of someone who breeds bettas in or near Virginia? And failing that, does anyone have a suggestion on a good breeder that I could look into purchasing from remotely? I'd rather not have to have them shipped, but if there's noone around here then I'll have no choice. I'll be going to Philadelphia, PA in June, if theres anyone there I could hook up with that would be OK, too. Of course, I'm not meaning just ANY breeders, they have those within a few hours drive. I mean good breeders. I checked for a local club and the only one anywhere near here has apparantly been dissolved. I found a website that hadn't been updated in forever, and tried to send an e-mail, but it got returned to me. TIA.

Tammy

 

[ILM]

Go to www.ibcbettas.org and look in their chapters section. If there's an IBC chapter in your area, it'll be listed there. IBC (International Betta Congress) is the organization that has set up and defined most betta configurations including what is judged to be a perfect (or as close to thereof) betta and betta breeders will often form local groups and get IBC sanctions to call themselves chapters--so a chapter in your area would be made up of a lot of betta breeders (and the rest would be simply betta lovers). Most chapters will hold [ir]regular meetings and sometimes have annual conferences, some sell fish or have fish exchanges. My local chapter will give a new member a pair of quality bettas just for joining, and of course it mentors any newbies. Part of their activity is to preserve the native species of bettas too. It's international, which does NOT mean everyone everywhere adheres to IBC standards. It's kind of like the American Kennel Association for bettas.