Betta Smaragdina

[BoningKnife]

I have come across a species of betta I was pretty much unaware even existed. Betta Smaragdina. Does anyone have any information regarding the care of a pair? Google has turned out to not have a great amount of information and what I have found seems to vary drastically.
Has anyone on here kept this species or have more information?

 

[Colin_T]

Virtually all Betta species are peaceful except for Betta splendens (Siamese fighting fish).

Betta smaragdina can be kept in pairs in small tanks (18 inches long) or in small groups in bigger tanks. Males are slightly bigger, more colourful and have longer fins. If you can't sex them, buy a group of 8-10 fish and let them grow up together.

Most are wild caught and they do best in soft acid water with lots of plants. This species is a bubblenest builder and will breed in captivity.

A nice fish if you can get them, and if you do get them, try to breed them because many Betta species are struggling to survive in the wild.

 

[BoningKnife]

Thanks Colin, very helpful. Anybody have experience of importing fish into the UK via ebay?

 

[Irksome]

It is formidably expensive importing one or two fish via eBay and success rate doesn’t seem good enough for me to try. About £170 for 2 fish when I last checked. There are some very beautiful betta smaragdina hybrids bred in the U.K. by a seller with an extremely high eBay rating. They are 3/4 smaragdina.

 

[Sylvan]

Might be worth dropping a message to a few LFS and seeing if they can get them from their wholesalers. The local Maidenhead to me gets various wild Bettas in from time to time.

 

[BoningKnife]

I'm gonna look into it. Definitely won't be paying that sorta money for importation.
Quick one, this doesn't seem worth making a seperate thread about.
I use JBL bio 160 as a pretty basic co2 source. It's was attached to the side of the tank, as per the instructions. It fell off earlier so I've put it in the cabinet. My concern is that it says to put it at the side of the tank for warmth as that helps to produce the co2. The tank is in the kitchen, its not a particularly warm room. I'm racking my brain trying to think of a way to warm up around the co2 but beyond wrapping it in a towel or blanket I can't really think of anything and that doesn't really seem a great option..