Pygme Bettas?

[Durbkat]

I just got done reading my fish magazine (Aquarium Fish) and it talked about pygme bettas and I was wondering if they were hard to get? Also if you have one would you mind posting a pic of it in your tank?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Can you type in or scan in the bit that mentions it? Never heard of them, I think they've been mentioned on here to be stunted juvies

 

[Durbkat]

Well its actually a whole article. It says their from Borneo, where ever that is?
It just talks about how they live in water that is so dirty its black and the live in the amazon forest floor in little puddles from the rain.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Does it give a scientific name?

 

[Durbkat]

B.coccina does that help?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hmm, never heard them called Pygmy bettas. They're not particulary pygmy either... do a google on them, but I don't think they're overly common.

 

[lljdma06]

Well its actually a whole article. It says their from Borneo, where ever that is?
It just talks about how they live in water that is so dirty its black and the live in the amazon forest floor in little puddles from the rain.

There is no Amazon forest in Asia. Borneo is an island nation in S.E Asia. With it's neighboring islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya, they form the geographical unit known as Indonesia. Many of our Cyprinids and Labyrinth fish hail from that region of the world. The Amazon rainforest is a tropical rainforest that surrounds the Amazon river and it's tributaries in S. America, mostly in the country of Brazil, but several tributaries leak into other countries. Many of our Characins and New World cichlids are from this part of the world. This explanation is overly simplified, but you get the idea.

I find it hard to believe that B. coccina lives in the Amazon. It can be found in blackwater habitats in Sumatra and Borneo. Perhaps that is what you read.

 

[Durbkat]

Sorry meant to say in conditions like in the amazon rain forest. ) So this is just a miniture version of B.coccina?

 

[lljdma06]

Sorry meant to say in conditions like in the amazon rain forest. ) So this is just a miniture version of B.coccina?

I wouldn't know unless I had the article in hand.

 

[Durbkat]

Here is a picture similar to one on the magazine.
http/www.fishbreeding.dk/grafik/coc_b_coccina2.jpg

 

[lljdma06]

I have the Horst Linke book, Durbkat, so I know what the b. coccina looks like. It grows to 6cm long, that's like 2.4 inches or so, so it's not a big fish. I wouldn't know if there are smaller version of it out there, how much smaller do they want this fish to get? My book is from 1991, so a smaller species could have been discovered, but without reading the said article, again I wouldn't know. Why don't you try rereading the article or check the end of the article for a bibliography of some type. If this is a scholarly article, it should have a list of recommended sources or something like that, but don't go by what I say. I read a lot of scholarly journals and that is their standard practice, I don't know how your magazine operates.

If your so interested in bettas and anabantoids in general, I would recommend the above-mentioned book. It is a handy reference and has a great deal of information about numerous bettas species. It was selling for a very reasonable price at amazon when I bought mine.

 

[Durbkat]

Do you have any bettas of this kind, if so can males and females live together?

 

[lljdma06]

Do you have any bettas of this kind, if so can males and females live together?

No, Durbkat I do not keep these fish. I have only b. splendens. I just read about the other species. I would like to keep more anabantoids when I move back to FL, though.

IBC Species Maintenance Program

Try looking at this website, it gives information on many of the newly discovered species.

 

[Annastasia]

Do you have any bettas of this kind, if so can males and females live together?

I have B. Coccina. Yep, you can keep males and females together. They won't bug each other much. Of course, make sure you give them a big enough tank though. I've just found you have to make sure the female/s get food, because my male tends to snatch it right up. Sometimes there is a little chasing between males and females, but it's never very aggressive, and they never hurt each other.

The IBC website lljdma06 posted is great for info about them. I've found it very helpful.

 

[Durbkat]

How big of a tank do they need?