Betta Imbellis

[iron maiden fan]

how much space do betta imbellis require?

 

[OohFeeshy]

How many imbellis?

 

[iron maiden fan]

how much space would one require?
are they like splendens in the way thet they can live in only 1gal or do they need more

 

[ral]

For only one, they should be able to live in the same tanks you would normally keep a splenden's. If wild caught, I was told the water should be kept acidic, but that they could be weaned out of that slowly.

 

[iron maiden fan]

what if I wanted to keep say about 3-4

 

[Lady]

I have a pair of imbellis is a 10 gallon....They seem more then happy I have silk plants and just recently have been slowly adding some live ones in there....I have been hoping to upgrade them to a 20 sometimes soon....maybe get another pair but I wonder if I could have two pairs together or not....they are really lovely I love my pair...they are a tad shy but very interesting...Are you getting a pair?

 

[iron maiden fan]

yeah maybe 2 pairs

 

[lljdma06]

I have a pair of imbellis is a 10 gallon....They seem more then happy I have silk plants and just recently have been slowly adding some live ones in there....I have been hoping to upgrade them to a 20 sometimes soon....maybe get another pair but I wonder if I could have two pairs together or not....they are really lovely I love my pair...they are a tad shy but very interesting...Are you getting a pair?

I've been doing a lot of reading about some of the less common betta species, some one may correct me if I'm wrong. I don't see any reason why you can't keep two pairs of b. imbellis in a well-planted 20g long. You could even have a small school of dither fish, like a peaceful rasbora. You would then have a very lovely, Indonesian biotope, very pretty.

I'll let the cat out of the bag, I actually have two recently acquired b. imbellis. They were at my favorite LFS, and I couldn't resist. They are in quaranteen right now, and doing pretty well. A little shy, but they ate the brine shrimp I offered them last night. The plan is to remove Hunding to his own home and put the imbellis there, a densly planted 15g already populated with some of the dither fish I spoke of. I think it will look very nice, if they do well in quaranteen. That'll be for about a week to 2 weeks.

 

[ral]

Lady,

When you say a pair... one male and one female? Also is the tank filtered. Interested in getting a pair of Mahachai myself, but am still trying to gather data on what the appropriate set-up shoud be.

 

[Lady]

lljdma06~ Thanks for the info...I think I shall try it...I another pair ordered that should arrive sometime in november...I think by then I will be able to get a 20 long up and running...as for plants? I have only a few live plants that randomly came with my trumpets I ordered...I actually dont even know what they are so I have been trying to research it haha...but what would you guys suggest...I dont have wonderful lighting....in my 10 gallon but the plants (2 of them so far) seem to be doing fine....so when I get my 20gallon...what lighting would be good for plants?

Ral~ Yes I have a male and a female they are real young still too...they are just so cute....and yes my tank is filtered...its a whisper filter...that came with the tank...to stop the current I bought a plant with a suction cup and placed it under the water out flow and now the water merely trickles in it works real well... I was thinking of doing something like that for my spawning tanks...and just attaching a spounge at the intake part at the bottom....because it sounds a lot like rain...hehe bettas like rain

 

[Elisabeth83]

lljdma06 - I was told you can keep quite a few male and female wilds together. The guy that I got my betta persephone from today keeps his persephone and rutilas like that. He had 3 male rutilans and 2 females in together in a 10 gallon tank by themselves. I think as long as there is A LOT of plants and wood for hiding places and territories it can work.

I'm not sure if it would work for all betta species though.


iron maiden fan - A 10 gallon should be just ok for a pair. I believe the Imbellis are known to be one of the most peaceful of the wilds. I know a guy that in his shop he only has 2 male Imbellis left in one of his tanks and they live together just fine. They are definitely on my fish list to get in the near future

edit: Ohhh and everyone who keeps Imbellis please take some pictures..I'd love to see them

 

[lljdma06]

lljdma06~ Thanks for the info...I think I shall try it...I another pair ordered that should arrive sometime in november...I think by then I will be able to get a 20 long up and running...as for plants? I have only a few live plants that randomly came with my trumpets I ordered...I actually dont even know what they are so I have been trying to research it haha...but what would you guys suggest...I dont have wonderful lighting....in my 10 gallon but the plants (2 of them so far) seem to be doing fine....so when I get my 20gallon...what lighting would be good for plants?

Well, in my 15g high, which is pretty hard to light, I have a Coral life compact double fixture, in addition to a standard florescent strip. That gives me 2.86 Watts per gallon. But if you stay below 2.00 WPG, and stay conservative with plants (anacharis, wisteria, hygro, crypts, etc), you can have a well-planted tank without the CO2. My light works great, but it's pricey $49.99. You might be able to get away with two standard florescent fixtures for a 20long over a glass cover. A 20 long is 30 inches long, so two 30 inch strips with 20W bulbs will give you the 2.00WPG you need and won't kill you financially. Also, you'll be able to control the lights better than getting a double fixture. I can turn lights on one at a time, so I have a sunrise/sunset effect that doesn't jar the fish so much. A standard 30'' fixture at Petsmart's like $27, but places could sell it cheaper, perhaps online. I move one strip to open the tank for feeding and maitenance, but that's not hard.