solsed said:
Wow! They're beautiful, Wildbetta! Are the wild strains less agressive than the splendens?
Meeresstille said:
They have such quiet beauty, these wild bettas,
I've never seen one in the stores! I too am curious, how does their temperament compare to the betta splendens?
As far as temperament goes, most wild bettas are nowhere near as aggressive as the domestic betta splendens. The wild betta species that are really similar to the domestic bettas (the splendens complex which contains the wild betta splendens) tend to be more aggressive. Most of the other wild bettas can do good in group tanks and will at times do ok in community setups. One does have to take care as to what other fish they add with the bettas though as some do not like fast moving fish, some are big enough to easily eat small fish, and others can get aggressive with some other fish species. It is best to keep them as species tanks just because most of them do tend to be more easily picked on by other fish and stress a lot more easily.
Now I have not been keeping this thread updated like I planned to.
So here is a long overdue update.
Since the last time I posted I gained a proven pair of betta ocellata that actually were siblings of the female I had before. They came from a wild betta breeder friend of mine and the male was actually holding fry when I received him. He proceeded to release the biggest amount of fry I have seen from one of these species when I was removing him from the shipping bag. Ended up with around 120-150 fry (stopped counting at around 100 LOL). I lost my male though to a jumping accident that he did not recover from. I also got a pair of betta picta from the same friend and that male was also holding eggs when I received him. This male did swallow but has still be a great breeder for me since. I had gotten my first set of wild bettas from overseas. A pair of betta pallifina and then within 2 days the female somehow ended up outside the tank.
So I have had my single male for a while and he is getting much more relaxed. I picked up a group of wild caught betta edithae juvies off of aquabid as well. These guys are another small mouthbrooder that work nicely with my betta picta. I also got a single betta simorum from an auction on aquabid. It was sold as male but turned out to be female. The seller traded some more juvies for some of my juvie betta picta once they were big enough. At this point, I believe I might have 3 males and 2 female juvies along with the adult female. They are one of the biggest of the bubblenesting species and the only bubblenesting species of wild betta I own. Can't wait until the male juvies are big enough to spawn so that I can see how I like these guys as far as spawning goes. I no longer have the betta midas or the betta simplex. I gave them each to different friends that also work with wild bettas and the unimaculata juvies went to a new home since at the time I did not have a tank big enough to house them. I do still have my breeding pairs of betta albimarginata and will be adding betta channoides to my collection sometime this year. I think that updates my stocking for everyone. I did not realize so much had changed since I last posted. Photos will be in posts following. Enjoy!
Adult female betta ocellata
Juvi male ocellata
Juvi female ocellatas
Juvi male ocellata with mom
Juvie male ocellatas showing off
Juvie male ocellatas showing off
Adult female simorum
Juvie male simorum
Female betta albimarginta
Betta albimarginata (adult female, adult male, and juvie male)
Male betta albimarginatas sparring
male betta albimarginatas sparring
betta picta pair
betta picta pair - male holding
Juvie betta picta
Juvie betta picta
Male betta pallifina
Male betta pallifina (no flash)
Male betta pallifina