Wild Betta Questions!

[Jenste]

has anyone ever kept a wild betta? my LFS has one - they called it a "monster wild betta" - it is about 3 inches in body with short fins and gorgeous -


any tankmates it is compatible with?

 

[-Rob-]

possibly there on about the giant bettas? if so there like a normal betta, but larger, not really read alot about them tho, alot of people have them on bettas4all

not really a wild type either i dont think.

 

[Jenste]

thats what I thought...I am debating buying him - - he is gorgeous but I am trying to figure out how to arrange my tanks if I do bring him home

 

[Jenste]

Well....I have decided that if he is still there tomorrow morning I am going to bring him home and set him up in my ten gallon with a few ADF and albino cories - my little sister asked to have my betta as her "first fish" so we set her up with a 5 gallon filtered with mature media from my tanks....she and he seem quite happy! (plus by this point I knew he was healthy...something you can't guarantee with pet store bettas )

but I miss having a betta so I think I need to remedy that!!!

 

[theshadowinc]

Well....I have decided that if he is still there tomorrow morning I am going to bring him home and set him up in my ten gallon with a few ADF and albino cories - my little sister asked to have my betta as her "first fish" so we set her up with a 5 gallon filtered with mature media from my tanks....she and he seem quite happy! (plus by this point I knew he was healthy...something you can't guarantee with pet store bettas

)

but I miss having a betta so I think I need to remedy that!!!

To your queston if anyone has ever kept a wild betta ya I have 4 of them, all in IAL water not because I want them to be but because they have to be! I highly doubt they are wild! And if this betta is wild you might want to go against what everyone says here about how to keep a betta, the rules are not the same especially if its WILD meaning came from a rice paddie! Its blunt but I am telling you how it IS!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Er... Not really. Care very much depends on species- luckilly at 3" that's narrowed down quite a bit. Take a look at the IBC SMP species index and see if any look similar. It can be a bit of a bummer to ID the species, but at least with bettas you know you aren't going to end up with a foot long monster. That being said, my pugnax is about 3" and I would consider a 10g to be too small. Big, chunky, more active than a normal betta.

 

[-Rob-]

Giant bettas can get to about4-5" body lengh not including fin lench etc. imho 10gal would be way to small for such a fish.

all the wilds i have or have seen orhad a read on are not that big, from what i can gather these giant bettas are from selective breeding only.

 

[OohFeeshy]

The point is, nobody knows as yet whether it's a giant splendens or one of the larger wild species. It sounds more to me like the latter- i.e, it came in with a bunch of other fish from the same area and nobody can be bothered to ID it properly. There are plenty of wild species that can get that big- and bigger- but they don't seem to be as commonly mentioned as the smaller species.

 

[-Rob-]

The point is, nobody knows as yet whether it's a giant splendens or one of the larger wild species. It sounds more to me like the latter- i.e, it came in with a bunch of other fish from the same area and nobody can be bothered to ID it properly. There are plenty of wild species that can get that big- and bigger- but they don't seem to be as commonly mentioned as the smaller species.

well who knows, gaint bettas where bred after one large better was found then several breeding lines from them both short tail and long. wether this original betta was just large by chance, or a differant species is anyones guess, most of the wild bettas i keep are small but i do know some are abit bigger then most bettas.

 

[Jenste]

well here are some pictures....I over estimated his size....his body is about 2.5" long, with another half inch or so for his fins...his body is a grayish/turquoise, his dorsal is turquoise with a hint of orange, and his other fins are mostly orange near the body outlined with turquoise at the tips
(sorry about photo quality for some photos...when he is close to the glass I can take fair photos of him, but my camera is not the best at dealing with water depth and clarity!)
his tanks mates are some albino corydoras

 

[christineluhe]

I'm just curious, how often do you change your water for your betta fish?

 

[Dominus_XVIII]

Hey, I just joined the site but I think I may have some info ont he wild bettas since Im currently keeping 2 my self. From what I understand wild bettas are short finned(Plakat) like the one you have there and they are more aggressive than the regular long fin bettas. I seen cases where they can be kept with decent sized cherry and algea shrimp but not with Cory cats before. I think due to a wild betta`s aggression, it might nip the fins of any fish once they have established their territory. This is more evident with male wild bettas. Heres pics of my two as a comparison to your, notice the general stocky body with short fins.

 

[CowFishlova]

Hey, I just joined the site but I think I may have some info ont he wild bettas since Im currently keeping 2 my self. From what I understand wild bettas are short finned(Plakat) like the one you have there and they are more aggressive than the regular long fin bettas. I seen cases where they can be kept with decent sized cherry and algea shrimp but not with Cory cats before. I think due to a wild betta`s aggression, it might nip the fins of any fish once they have established their territory. This is more evident with male wild bettas. Heres pics of my two as a comparison to your, notice the general stocky body with short fins.

Your betta is so beautiful!! Haha sorry but I just had to tell you that.

 

[three-fingers]

None of these are remotely wild fish, however, they just have shorter fins, being plakat-type as you mentioned .