[GeorgeIzmael]

This is my first wild bettas. At the moment I have a male and female betta smaragdina in a tank together.
I am experienced with the domesticated betta but not so much with the wild ones.
While my other bettas are most of the time at the upper part of the tank and hide in the plants the two smaragdina are more often near the ground and like to hide a lot.
Is this normal behavior or is it due to stress.
Also the seem to start the mating ritual but the male has not build a bubble nest yet.

 

[LittleBettaFish]

Wild bettas can be pretty skittish if the tank is brightly lit and too open. There's many tanks that while suitable for the ornamental form of Betta splendens, would create a very unhappy wild betta.

For example, I know many wild betta breeders keep their fish in bare bottom, sparsely decorated tanks for ease of maintenance etc. But they don't really seem to care about the appearance or behaviour of their fish, just that they breed for them. So if their fish is washed out or skittish, it doesn't matter as much.

The courtship/mating ritual doesn't always begin with a bubblenest. The courtship process can be quite prolonged with increasing aggression between the two, until both fish are ready to mate. Then the aggression lessens and the male will start trying to lure the female to his nest rather than chase her off.

Be aware that sometimes splendens complex species can be too aggressive to keep in pairs long-term. Not all are, as I had a pair of B. stiktos that lived happily together in a 5 gallon tank and spawned many times. But some can be. So it's something to be mindful of.

Also, on an unrelated topic, is your tank fully covered? As in, not even the smallest gaps around filter, heating, or lighting cords?

With wild bettas it's basically not a matter of if but when they will jump. They can and will jump through any gap they can find. If you go on one of the wild betta FB groups, you'll see how many hobbyists lose their fish to jumping. I personally cover all my wild betta tanks in cling wrap.

This is just a warning I give all new wild betta owners as most drastically underestimate the jumping abilities of these fish. And it's a terrible thing to find your fish dead and dried up on the floor.

 

[GeorgeIzmael]

Thank you very much for your feedback.

I will tone down the light even more. Otherwise it is densely planted.
The tank is closed and secure I read about this in before and don't want to risk it. Also I have a Dog who is sometimes a bit too curious so I have to keep them closed 😄

Nonetheless I will keep an eye on those too and separate them if they get too aggressive.

 

[Phish Head]

How long have you had them?

I have a "wild type" hybrid in a planted tank who took a couple of months to come out of hiding, but he's not shy at all anymore.

Are you prepared for a bunch of fry?!

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[LittleBettaFish]

If you raise your fry in a rather 'hands-off' method as I did with my wilds, such as minimal supplemental feeding, and not removing juveniles and sub-adults from the tank, you naturally end up with a smaller number of fry.

Out of my spawns, probably less than 10% made it to adulthood. This was mostly the result of predation by older siblings, as they would eat eggs and fry out of the nest when the male was elsewhere, and hunt down surviving fry once they become free-swimming.

 

[GeorgeIzmael]

I have them for about 1 month now and since a few days they are starting to show more often.
My betta breeder is willing to help me out if I get any the fry. I have a tiny tank where I can put them and from there he will take over.
Usually I would never put male and female in the same tank but these guys were a rescue. I found them in a pet shop they were in a tank with bigger cichlids and completely colorless and constantly stressed out, they told me they didn't want them, they were delivered instead of regular betta by accident and I can have them since nobody is buying them anyway.

 

[Phish Head]

Wow that was a really nice thing you did! #respect

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