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so... I've never had a betta... am I missing something???

Wild types are really rare, unless you go to species other than splendens.

They can live with other species that don't nibble their fins, or that they can't kill (some are aggressive - for centuries, splendens were linebred by gamblers to fight). But they don't like companions. They are happy alone, lounging like bored muggers waiting for a mosquito to get careless.
 
Love bettas. Here's the one I currently have! Alien betta.

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( Forum Thread: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/alien.489693/ )
 
Here's my handsome boy! Not a wild type as he's an alien betta but he's so full of character. He demands his food as soon as his light goes on, dancing until he gets it. He jumps out of the water to attack me when I'm trying to feed him too! I did want to put some snails in with him but he's picked off a few pest ones that hitchhiked in, he's very much claimed the tank for himself! I love watching him make bubble nests too. Would definitely recommend getting one, at least you can say you tried it!
 

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In my experience, the "plakat" type live longer and are much more active. Cooler looking, too. As for tank mates, I find that B splendens really just want to be alone. You can keep them with fairly sedentary bottom dwellers. Amano shrimp don't seem to bother them. Hara jerdoni (stone cats) would work, but they prefer cooler water. I wouldn't keep splendens with any schooling or top-dwelling fish. Even if you get a non-aggressive one, I believe that the extra activity stresses them and shortens their lives.

B. imbellus enjoy the company of conspecifics, until they don't. If I ever keep them again, I plan to put a male-female pair, or possibly a small group, together in a nice, large tank where they can get away from each other.
 
3rd picture down on my previous post is a copper wild type... I'd really like to see several of these in person... & I did think of doing a Red, White, & Blue one in a dedicated small tank in the dining room, where any visitors could see him...
 
Some of those photos are of so-called dragonscale bettas where the scales are thicker than usual. Dragonscales have a problem - it is common for the scaling to grow over their eyes until they become blind.

This is what happened to my one and only dragonscale, I would not buy another.
dragonscale eyes.jpg
 
Thanks for the warning... if I were buying today, it would be the copper, or the red white & blue, but both would have a different environment... the copper pictured is a wild type, & I'd like to try my hand at a "community" tank built around it, the other would be solitary...

this one interests me most... & I'd even consider a pair, if they were available when I had a tank ready...
 
There's a huge difference between short finned and wild type. The short finned, pla kat types are way larger than the wild fish, which I've kept. They were originally bred as the hardcore fighters. Large fins would have been shredded in the first minutes of a fight. Now that the Betta fighting and gambling world thankfully takes a back seat to the pet Betta trade, most are fairly calm. Most.

There are still strains bred for fighting, even if it illegal.

But they are brutes beside the even more slender, smaller wild Betta splendens.
 
so just futzing around, I found a male & female Copper ( wild alien ) pair, from 2 different sellers... I likely won't end up with them, just doing some looking...

buy one male, & one female... are they likely to accept each other, or are they more like Cichlids, where you are better off trying a group, or harem, & letting them choose???

so exactly what is a wild alien??? is that a cross breed of 2 wild types??? I like this male... the female is on a site that won't let me copy the picture, even though they have their name in the middle of the picture... so no free advertising for them...

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Figured out a way...

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