The president interwiew!

[Alexander MacNaughton]

Appena ho letto Italy non ho resistito, ho visto ed era proprio lui!
Rox



Per chi non è iscritto bettas4all e vuole leggerselo!
Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:45 pm
     
November10 - Meet the Members: Roxx - Italy

Roxx has been a Bettas4all member since 23rd April 2006



1. What is your real name:
Roberto Silverii

2. Which city + country are you from?
I'm from Chieti, Abruzzo region, Italy

3. When were you born?
I was born on 10th May 1984

4. Do you have a personal website?
Planning to make one since 2 years, but never had the time, now I prefer to spend my time for our association's website: http://www.aibetta.it





5. Did you keep/breed other animals then Betta splendens (or did in the past)?
I really love animals and in the past I kept a pony, cats, rabbits, birds (canaries, also made some exhibitions) and a dog, Dream, who has been with me for 15 years, till may 2007.
I also bred guppies, platies, killies (Aphyosemion australe) and shrimps (red cherry). Now I've dedicated all my space to Bettas, I really hope to have more space in the future, to keep a lot of animals..that's really my dream.



6. Are you member of clubs, breedergroups or other kind of betta/aquarium related associations?
Sure! I'm member of IBC, EHBBC, and founder of the Associazione Italiana Betta. I'm also a proud member of the "Associazione Acquariofili Abruzzese", which is an aquarium related association from my region: it is the oldest association still active in Italy.

7. How did you find the Bettas4all forum?
I found this wonderful forum in 2006, searching on Google

8. Who is your favorite breeder or Betta-guru?
Joepmaster for sure!! He really is my guru! I love his fishes and I really appreciate his work here on the forum. In the past I bored him a lot trying to purchase some of his plakats, but I succeed in it last month a the Holland Betta Show 2010, were I finally met him.

9. What colors/tailtypes do you keep/breed?
I have two lines: one of halfmoon plakats: royal and steel blue, turquoise and marble; the other is my red (also butterfly and marble) halfmoon line



10. When did you start keeping/breeding Betta splendens?
I've started in 2004 with some pet shop veiltails.

11. What do you want to achieve with your lines?
From my plakat line, I'd like to take out some good symmetrical plakats or good asymmetrical. Now my main purpose is to increase the dorsal and reduce a bit the anal fin.
Speaking about my red hm line, my main goal now is to reduce the branching of the caudal fin.

12. Where did you get your original stock from?
In 2005 I purchased my first halfmoon trio from Yia Ly. In may 2006 I also visit my first betta show (Swiss Betta Show 2006) where I purchased other show bettas. Among those fishes I purchased the foremother of my red hm line.



13. How do you usually purchase your fish (local fish store, local breeders, import, shows, etc.)?
In Italy is impossible to find good quality bettas in fish store, and I've been one of the first Italian to begin with show bettas, so I had to import from Thai breeders (two times in the past) or European breeder (like Ya Ly from France). During the last year I also exchanged some bettas with other Italian breeders and purchased some really nice fishes at the Holland Betta Show 2010.

14. How many adult fish do you usually have?
I usually keep between 20 and 40 adults Bettas

15. How do you choose your breeders (what characteristics do you look for)?
I always look for fishes which has the charatheristics I like: I especially look at the shape, then at the colour. I like fishes which has short anal and ventrals fins, as broad as possible dorsal fin and caudal fin with sharp corners. My breeders also have to be very active and always flaring when I let them seeing each other or put a mirror on the tank. Females has to be full of eggs, showing egg spot and vertical stripes.





16. How often do you perform a spawn?
It mostly depend on the space I have available, but I perform average 10-15 spawn per year.

17. What types of crossing do you use to achieve your goal (inbreeding, linebreeding, outcrossing, etc)?
I use especially inbreeding (siblings), but every 2-3 offspring if I find a good quality fish from another breeder I also outcross to improve the offspring and reduce the defaults that inbreeding carries with the time.

18. At what age do you jar your breeders?
Usually I jar my breeders (the ones who grow faster) at 3 months, the other also at 4 or 5 months







19. How often do you change water?
If possible I use small filter in my tanks, so I have to reduce a bit the time between two water changes. But I change water once a week. In big spawns I change water every 2-3 days from the 15th day of life.



20. What temperature do you keep your fish?
I keep the adults at 25-26°C, and the fries at 27-29°C

21. How often and what do you feed your adult fish?
I feed my adults once a day with pellet (I have 2-3 types and also atison betta pro) or frozen artemia, chironomus or live daphnia and chironomus. Occasionally I fast them for one day or feed with boiled green pea. When I prepare my breeders for spawning I feed them twice a day, mostly with frozen or live food.





22. How often and what do you feed your youngsters (per stage)?
0-7 days: microworms
7 – 40 days: live bbs
40 – 45 days: I switch from live bbs to microgranulate with decapsulated artemia eggs
Then I give them microgranulate until they can eat pellet. Until pellet they eat twice a day, after once a day.



23. Can you tell us a bit more about the set-up you use (dripsystem, individual tanks, compartmentalized tanks, etc.)?
I have 6 spawning tanks which are 15 lt. I usually grow fries here if spawn is not too big, otherwise I move them in bigger tanks.
10 tanks (10-30lt) are used for juveniles or best females or for conditioning pairs.
I have 3 compartmentalized tanks, where I can hold 40 bettas and one 120lt tanks with females.
Since I study in Bologna, which is 370km far away from my house, I have some tanks in Bologna and some in Chieti. I have to thank my father who takes care of my fishes when I'm not at home.
I really hope I can have in future a real fishroom!





24. Do you ever show your fish? If so, how do you prepare them for a show?
I showed my fishes for the first time this year at Holland Betta Show 2010! I took them in very clean water with almond leaves (small water changes every 1-2 days), I feed them with good quality pellet or frozen/live food and let them flare for 5 minutes twice a day.

25. With the knowledge you know have about these beautifull fish, what would you advise your fellow forum-members when they want to start this beautifull hobby?
The first thing I can say is: read a lot! Also before taking fishes is better to take as many information as you can and internet is very suitable for this: you can easily (and for free) find all the information you need.
My second advice is focus on one, maximum 2 lines: in the past I made the mistake of taking too much different fishes (for colour and finnage), this is only a waste of space and time ad you will never achieve your goals.
Never discourage if your fishes don't want to spawn or if you fail in something, just ask or read, you will find the answers.
My last advice is: BE PATIENT!

[Roberto Silverii]

E' roba vecchia :blush: :blush:

[verdeblu]

gallina vecchia...

[alby]

[quote="Roberto Silverii" post=34873]E' roba vecchia :blush: :blush:[/quote]  quando ho letto questa frase mi è venuto in mente un vecchio impotente!!:P  su con la vita!!!:laugh:

[gamgam]

[quote="Roberto Silverii" post=34873]E' roba vecchia :blush: :blush:[/quote]

Roba da Museo...
:laugh:

[Roberto Silverii]

Tra l'altro da qualche mese sono responsabile io su Bettas4all di scegliere chi intervistare ogni mese..dato che sono l'unico Italiano in quella lista, è ora che ne arrivi qualcun altro

[alby]

ma il tuo compito è solo di scegliere o anche di intervistare?

[Roberto Silverii]

E' la stessa cosa Le domande sono quelle, scegliamo chi intervistare e gliele mandiamo

[Alexander MacNaughton]

[quote="Roberto Silverii" post=34975]Tra l'altro da qualche mese sono responsabile io su Bettas4all di scegliere chi intervistare ogni mese..dato che sono l'unico Italiano in quella lista, è ora che ne arrivi qualcun altro [/quote]

Eecco intervista Alby ed Eugenio va che è meglio! :laugh:

[Roberto Silverii]

Ci avevo pensato, però scrivono troppo poco

[alby]

dove sul loro forum?? io mi sono presentato e basta!!:P :whistle:
cmq dai ci conoscono...

[Roberto Silverii]

ti piace vincere facile?

[alby]

bom sci bom sci bom bom bom!!!:P
e cosa scrivo che sono una capra con l'inglese!!:P

[topo]

dai alby... in preda allla necessità ti avevo visto scrivere qualcosa di meglio di "ies ai spich inglish non molto ben"  :evil: