Wild Species Bettas

[Setsuna]

Originally Posted by Hallyx

You mean like this?

Nice smaragdina i just got me a pair and now im trying to get another male

[babystarz]

Originally Posted by dragon tamer

you could call them dragons ! LOL

I had a pair of pugnax years ago that I know folks are not very into but...
I think this is mostly due to the fact that they need to be in breeding condition to show their true beauty. If I had a digital photo of them I would post it but it was before all that at least in my life so All I have are film photos. When in breeding condition both the male and the female colored up with the softest sky blue to mint green metallics over tan to russet colored base with dark accents of charcoal around the face and fins. They were gorgeous not only in color but the shape and pattern on the fins as well. add to that they were really hardy, stable in personality once they settled in and I never had an issue with them jumping( that was the pi , Lost everyone of them, they were horribly nervous and either jumped or wedged themselves into a jam so they couldn't breath and died. Not very attractive either.) To make things worse they were fantastic spawners to the point that they had to be separated to keep the female from killing the male with starvation. I wish I had had this resource and that I could have obtained more males. I am setting up a tank this week for a trio as i have found a source for them and will be ordering them as soon as i return home from NY next week. I'll get pics up as soon as I have them in color so you can see what I mean about the colors and patterns. I really love the splendens complex and macrostoma are intriguing to me but pugnax and the related rajan are the most captivating to me .

That's awesome, I can't wait to see pictures of your pugnax! I don't know much about them so I would love to hear more about your firsthand experience. I saw a pair on AquaBid a while ago and I was curious to learn more. It makes sense that they're dull out of breeding mode, I guess that's true of many species. I know my albimarginata never look so good as they do when they're territorial and horny XD Macrostoma are very interesting, but from what I've heard they're a total pain to get to breed and hold eggs.

Originally Posted by Hallyx

You mean like this?

Your boy is gorgeous! Mine looks a little more emerald like yours in blackwater. He's not quite as bright as yours in normal water, and his body seems closer to a royal blue (although the gill covers still look kinda turquoise). This could change, all of my wilds are just now coming into their full coloration since they arrived as juveniles :) I'm seeing lots more spots lately.

Originally Posted by Setsuna

Nice smaragdina i just got me a pair and now im trying to get another male

Cool! From your cousin or domestically? They're pretty easy to find in the states but I'm sure you have access to more color variation from your cousin.


My ocellatas will be here on Tuesday! Had a bit of a shipping hitch thanks to Paypal or they would have been here earlier, but I'm fine with the delay. It gives me more time to figure out tank options. I know there will be at least 4, I don't know the final gender breakdown. There are for sure 2 males and 1 female.

[Setsuna]

Originally Posted by babystarz

That's awesome, I can't wait to see pictures of your pugnax! I don't know much about them so I would love to hear more about your firsthand experience. I saw a pair on AquaBid a while ago and I was curious to learn more. It makes sense that they're dull out of breeding mode, I guess that's true of many species. I know my albimarginata never look so good as they do when they're territorial and horny XD Macrostoma are very interesting, but from what I've heard they're a total pain to get to breed and hold eggs.



Your boy is gorgeous! Mine looks a little more emerald like yours in blackwater. He's not quite as bright as yours in normal water, and his body seems closer to a royal blue (although the gill covers still look kinda turquoise). This could change, all of my wilds are just now coming into their full coloration since they arrived as juveniles :) I'm seeing lots more spots lately.



Cool! From your cousin or domestically? They're pretty easy to find in the states but I'm sure you have access to more color variation from your cousin.


My ocellatas will be here on Tuesday! Had a bit of a shipping hitch thanks to Paypal or they would have been here earlier, but I'm fine with the delay. It gives me more time to figure out tank options. I know there will be at least 4, I don't know the final gender breakdown. There are for sure 2 males and 1 female.

i got that pair from my cousin there is no way i can find 1 in the states

[babystarz]

Originally Posted by Setsuna

i got that pair from my cousin there is no way i can find 1 in the states

I know that Anthony at the Wet Spot often carries them :) That's where I got mine. His email address is sales@wetspottropicalfish.com

[Setsuna]

Originally Posted by babystarz

I know that Anthony at the Wet Spot often carries them :) That's where I got mine. His email address is sales@wetspottropicalfish.com

Oohhh so you my friend got the 6 pack imbellis? I like imbellis alot too due to thier fin color im also starting to like wild guitar smaragdinas too

[babystarz]

Originally Posted by Setsuna

Oohhh so you my friend got the 6 pack imbellis? I like imbellis alot too due to thier fin color im also starting to like wild guitar smaragdinas too

Yep I did. Two died, but it was well after I got them. They were all healthy when they arrived. They were the two small shy ones and one suddenly wouldn't eat no matter what I fed them, and I accidentally crushed the other one when I was trying to clean around a piece of driftwood and it fell off the lava rock I had it balanced on I no longer balance driftwood on anything.

The two imbellis boys are starting to look really pretty. They both have bright blue and red in their fins. One has more of a greeny blue than the other. And the girls are sort of a tan with dark brown strips on their bodies and rusty red spots on their fins.

I think wild guitar smaragdina are lovely too!

[dragon tamer]

guitar and mahachaiensis are incredibly beautiful . Imbellis are one of my all time favorites as well. I have been keeping and breeding seahorses for years and after the last tank break down lasted so long I got out of aquariums altogether. I got this plakat betta spawn from a local breeder and now I am way into it again . It is awesome to me that the fish I have been into the most over all is also relatively low maintenance. The 12 bowfront I have going now is put together from one of my seahorse setups and is running with reef lighting in a time cycling through night blue actinic (awesome color rendering!)and daylight with only a protein skimmer as filter. Of course I am siphoning food and droppings off the bottom daily and refilling so the protein skimmer does little but provide current and aeration but it does burble up some sludge periodically and I feel good about that. I suspect it will do more as the tank ages.

[babystarz]

Haha, I'm so bad! I bought a pair of wild caught patoti from a seller in Asia. I'm sending my smaragdina to Setsuna so she can breed them (I figure with her methods she'll get a lot more fry out of them than I would), and the patoti will go in the free tank.

Now tie me to a chair before I spend any more money!

[LittleBettaFish]

Haha I have $255 of fish (three pairs at $85 each) hopefully coming from Hermanus in Indonesia sometime soon. So excited and terrified that I am going to end up with a DOA or have them die while in quarantine etc.

Had to make the hard decision and euthanise all my brownorum yesterday. They just didn't recover well from the velvet and were not eating and looking absolutely terrible. My other fish all recovered well so I don't know why those guys got knocked around so badly.

My fish room feels a bit empty now. I only have 13 or so tanks running now. Hoping that my forthcoming pairs arrive safely and spawn for me. Would love to get some more wild fry species in my grow-outs. So far I only have unimaculata, rutilans, persephone, my tussyae sub-adult and my lonely brownorum fry.

[Setsuna]

Originally Posted by babystarz

Haha, I'm so bad! I bought a pair of wild caught patoti from a seller in Asia. I'm sending my smaragdina to Setsuna so she can breed them (I figure with her methods she'll get a lot more fry out of them than I would), and the patoti will go in the free tank.

Now tie me to a chair before I spend any more money!

Hahahaha LMAO setsunas a guy sorry if my name throw you off