Sharing my Wild Bettas

Hi, I just joined the forum and wanted to share a little about the wild bettas I currently keep. I just have 2 wild species at the moment but I’m hoping to branch out, the species I have are Betta edithae & I believe Betta unimaculata, or a species within the unimaculata complex. I’ve had the Edith’s for about 4 months now & the Unimacs just came home 2 weeks ago.

Both species are quite interesting, my female and young Edith’s happily zip around the front and beg for food, the males are a little more reserved and tend to be brooding. Here’s a photo of the female:

Mom and one of the youngsters:

And here is one of the males displaying, sorry the photo isn’t great!:


And now for the Unimaculatas! These fish are absolutely huge and I love them for that. They show very strong sexual dimorphism, the male is darker, the female is lighter and more striped.

And some more photos because I love these fish:


Thanks for reading, I hope you find these fish to be interesting! I love both these species so I’m happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability.

mouthbrooding-betta said:

Hi, I just joined the forum and wanted to share a little about the wild bettas I currently keep. I just have 2 wild species at the moment but I’m hoping to branch out, the species I have are Betta edithae & I believe Betta unimaculata, or a species within the unimaculata complex. I’ve had the Edith’s for about 4 months now & the Unimacs just came home 2 weeks ago.

Both species are quite interesting, my female and young Edith’s happily zip around the front and beg for food, the males are a little more reserved and tend to be brooding. Here’s a photo of the female:
View attachment 155191
Mom and one of the youngsters:
View attachment 155197
And here is one of the males displaying, sorry the photo isn’t great!:
View attachment 155192

And now for the Unimaculatas! These fish are absolutely huge and I love them for that. They show very strong sexual dimorphism, the male is darker, the female is lighter and more striped.
View attachment 155193
And some more photos because I love these fish:
View attachment 155194View attachment 155195

Thanks for reading, I hope you find these fish to be interesting! I love both these species so I’m happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability.

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Wow! Where did you get these guys and how much were they? They are beautiful!!!

Thank you! I was able to get the Edith’s from a LFS for $10 each I believe & the Unimacs were from a local breeder and they were $65 for the pair… honestly it feels like a steal! They’re such cool fish, I’m hoping they’ll spawn in my tank.

Welcome to the forum!
Amazing fish!

Welcome to TFF, thanks for sharing

Super cool fish! I almost like them more than the super colorful ones!

Very nice species! Looks like you're not the only one keeping mouthbrooding species

Any species that you would like to keep in the future?

Crispii said:

Any species that you would like to keep in the future?

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I think what species I wouldn’t want to keep would be a better question! I’m really loving the mouthbrooders so I’d love to try a few more species (especially Macrostoma) but I might actually acquire some B. mahachaiensis from someone local before too long. I used to have a female hendra and I’d love to have a pair of them, she was a great fish and it lots of fun to watch her color up and down. I’d also love to try out species from the albimarginata complex… it’s a good thing I can only have so many tanks for now!

Really good choices there. I like them a lot and I'm sure you're going to enjoy working with that group.

mouthbrooding-betta said:

I’d also love to try out species from the albimarginata complex…

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Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides.

Oh, have I ever mentioned this to you, but get channoides.

Wow! They remind me of Licorice Gourmi species.

Great looking fish! I’d like to keep mouth brooders in the near future. I currently have Betta uberis- bubble nesters in the coccina complex. They’re fascinating to watch. I just wish that they weren’t so skittish….What’s the typical brood size for your species and do you make an effort to maximize survival rates? I’ve had my pair for a bit over a year and I typically see one juvenile at a time- but no more than that. I probably have 7 total now but it’s hard to say because they are such good hiders.

Crispii said:

Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides.

Oh, have I ever mentioned this to you, but get channoides.

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Hehe, I actually think the LFS has a pair at the moment. Unless I decide against the B. mahachaiensis then… hm… don’t tempt me!

Kolykaf said:

Great looking fish! I’d like to keep mouth brooders in the near future. I currently have Betta uberis- bubble nesters in the coccina complex. They’re fascinating to watch. I just wish that they weren’t so skittish….What’s the typical brood size for your species and do you make an effort to maximize survival rates? I’ve had my pair for a bit over a year and I typically see one juvenile at a time- but no more than that. I probably have 7 total now but it’s hard to say because they are such good hiders.

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Very nice! A friend on another forum has a group of uberis and the guy I bought the unimacs from breeds them too. Honestly, I haven’t kept the best track of the Edith’s reproduction- they breed in the tank and I just let them do their own thing. Unfortunately, I’ve had a good number of fry succumb to a stubborn fungal infection in the main tank (I’ve read that doing more frequent, smaller QCs may help though and that your typical weekly WC may to blame. I haven’t experimented to see if that is the case for me quite yet though) and the adults and larger fry are rather ravenous so I only have about 6 good sized fry so far. Actually, some of them will be heading to a new home soon, which is bittersweet. They have so much personality & I’ll miss them!

Raising Edith’s is definitely a case where if one wanted to, you could have many, many more fry but for now, I’m content just seeing who makes it to a good size on their own. The male Unimac is holding right now so hopefully I’ll have some news about how that goes before too long.

mouthbrooding-betta said:

Hehe, I actually think the LFS has a pair at the moment. Unless I decide against the B. mahachaiensis then… hm… don’t tempt me!

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Best Betta that I have ever kept. Easy to breed, easy to keep. Out of all the Bettas that I have, I have the most success with that species. At one point, I have at least 20 something fry in one batch. Dad is such a great holder to the point of him still holding after I yank out of the water. All the other species are quite finicky whenever it comes to breeding, but not channoides!