Jean-Michel has been breeding Betta Splendens since 1989. He has recieved many prizes in shows in several european countries as well as in USA.

After a few years as a GHBB (Global Halfmoon Betta Breeders) judge, he is now a certified IBC (International Betta Congress ) judge since june 2004.

Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1956, he lived almost all his life in this city wich is the highest in Europe (3000 feet).
Jean-Michel works in a deluxe watch-making business. His sense of observation and precision are talents he uses on his job as well as in breeding Bettas.
He started breeding Bettas almost 20 years ago and shows them since 1993. He was never really interested in any other species, because he rapidly understood the interesting possibilities of forms and colors of his favorit fish.

Jean-Michel is an animal lover and especially appreciates cats. He also loves music and motorsports.

I have been breeding Bettas since 1998 and have recieved several prizes in shows in different european countries.

Since june 2005 I am a certified IBC (International Betta Congress ) judge.

I was born 49 years ago in Bay Shore, Long Island, USA, and completed elementary school before coming to Switzerland.
I work as a registered nurse, doing night shifts, in an intensive care unit.
Ever since I was a child, I've had a passion for all kinds of animals; I have had aquariums for over 25 years, and I'm also a professional dog-groomer.
After two successfull spawns with pet-shop Bettas, I started selective breeding of Bettas and showing in 1999.

I have always had dogs, and now I have two of them. Like Jean-Michel, I could not live without music.

Thanks to Betta Splendens, we met and now live happily in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura region in Switzerland, with one cat, two dogs, and a huge bunch of Betta Splendens !

The Betta hobby is not just about fish; it's also a great way to meet friends new and old !

Each of us being an independant breeder, each of us has a separate installment. We are lucky enough to have a special room in our appartement for our Bettas.
The fishroom is heated to about 26-27 degrees Celsius. We have no automatic water-changing system or barracks, so we must siphon out the water, and replace it in each individual half-gallon or gallon container with a pump, all "by hand".
Each of us has a separate barrel to prepare water , about one half being osmosed water. Our Bettas are fed granulated food, frozen food and some live foods.

To visit our fishroom, click on:

:: OUR FISHROOM

Jean-Michel keeps about 100 adult Betta Splendens in individual 2 liter (half-gallon) or 4 liter (gallon) jars and tanks.
He has 16 spawning and grow-out tanks. He does water changes every 3 days, and spends 2 to 3 hours a day with his fish.
Jean-Michel works with Halfmoons, Plakats and Double-Tails, in Blue, Steel, Turquoise, Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Chocolate, Copper, Multicolor, Marble and Butterfly.

I have about 50 adult Betta Splendens in 2 or 5 liter individual containers. I have 8 spawning and grow-out tanks.
Water changes are done every 3 days, and I spend about 1 hours a day in the fishroom.
I'm working with Double-Tails, Plakats and Halfmoons, in Yellow, Chocolate, Blue marbles and Butterfly.

To see our Bettas, click on:

:: JEAN-MICHEL'S BETTAS

:: CLAIRE'S BETTAS

July 13th 2007: Added two slideshows, Bettas and IBC convention in Indianapolis, on the photo page.

January 6th 2007: I've created a BLOG.
As an addition to JuraBetta website, it is supposed to be a kind of diary for my dogs and Bettas.

December 29th 2006: A new page added, "Bettamusement", with Betta themed crossword puzzles and photo puzzles. Well if you don't know french, just do the photo puzzles !

December 26th 2006: I've decided to add some non-Betta pictures to the "Photos" page.

December 23rd 2006: The "Photo gallery" page has been redesigned, and renamed simply "Photos".
Several pages have been tweaked so they load faster.

December 18th 2006: The part of the site about my dogs and our activities together is finished. Have fun looking at the photos and video-clips !

November 28th 2006: Added a new Guestbook and a counter :-)

November 23rd 2006: New (lovely) banner, by Alexandre (Dare Design). Thanks Alex ♥ !

November 15th 2006: JuraBetta has it's very own domaine name now ! I'm in the process of transferring the pages to my new host, Easygiga. Check out the new URL address !

April 28th 2006: Makeover completed; photos updated; show results updated.

February 4 2006: Starting complete makeover of site - version #3.

February 2 2006: Got rid of Guestbook because of spam; also got rid of counter - I don't care, lol !

May 21 2005: New Guestbook, the old one was no longer working; all messages lost !

March 29 2005: A FORUM is created.

September 01, 2004: General update of site.

March 28, 2004: Update, show results and some new pics !

January 25, 2004: guestbook added.

December 24, 2003: Site completely reconstructed (version #2).

August 01, 2003: Version #1 of site online.