[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

I have had these fish for almost 2 months now & I have a M&F pair in a planted 40 gallon with lots of floating plants and leaf litter. While I have not observed spawning behavior myself, there are fry in the tank! I always thought that the male ended up swallowing the clutches but I appear to be wrong. Hopefully I can update this thread with more as the babies grow up. Thanks!

 

[keithgrieves]

I have had these fish for almost 2 months now & I have a M&F pair in a planted 40 gallon with lots of floating plants and leaf litter. While I have not observed spawning behavior myself, there are fry in the tank! I always thought that the male ended up swallowing the clutches but I appear to be wrong. Hopefully I can update this thread with more as the babies grow up. Thanks!
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that is so exciting, and what a gorgeous tank as well, quite a bit like the 'style' I'm aiming for with my tank! I'm excited to read any further updates about them. Is that species aggressive like the splendens species? if not I may want some as well haha. Good job

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

Thank you! The Unimaculata complex is very different from the domestic betta and the splendens complex. These fish get to be about 6 inches long so they are much bigger and due to their large size, they do best in species only tanks as to avoid them consuming tankmates. Males can be kept together without doing serious harm to each other; I just have the pair so I don’t have experience with that but the breeder I got them from kept a male tank and a female tank when he wasn’t breeding them.

I hope that helps, make sure to do a ton of research if you’re interested in a wild species. I’m also happy to answer other questions, I love talking about my wilds!

 

[keithgrieves]

Thank you! The Unimaculata complex is very different from the domestic betta and the splendens complex. These fish get to be about 6 inches long so they are much bigger and due to their large size, they do best in species only tanks as to avoid them consuming tankmates. Males can be kept together without doing serious harm to each other; I just have the pair so I don’t have experience with that but the breeder I got them from kept a male tank and a female tank when he wasn’t breeding them.

I hope that helps, make sure to do a ton of research if you’re interested in a wild species. I’m also happy to answer other questions, I love talking about my wilds!

That is extremely interesting, I always wanted to keep bettas together in the same tank but that's obviously a terrible idea with splendens! But with some of these other, lesser known species you apparently can, which sounds so cool to me. And I get the species-only thing, they seem massive so I understand how they'll eat anything haha.

That does help, thank you, and I will now especially since I'm really tempted to get some wild bettas myself really soon, they seem simply neat

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

It is definitely interesting to watch the different behaviors they exhibit together; I love watching my Betta edithae. The males will display at each other and chase each other a little, the female is always begging for food at the front with the fry, they’re a lot of fun. I wish wild bettas were more well known but I’m also thankful that because they are niche, I’ve seen less neglectful care due to people having to work harder to find them & such. I am going to be getting a pair or trio of Betta mahachaiensis soon from a local breeder so I’ll have experience with another species, let me know if you ever want to discuss a species you’re interested in!

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

Aaaaand I found them working on making even more baby bettas today, lol. The existing babies I could see were eating well today and seem healthy. One is bigger than than the others; I’m not sure if it is older or if it is a stronger one. Exciting stuff! ☺
Photo of one of the fry below, it is so little but it looks like it is glaring at me.

 

[keithgrieves]

It is definitely interesting to watch the different behaviors they exhibit together; I love watching my Betta edithae. The males will display at each other and chase each other a little, the female is always begging for food at the front with the fry, they’re a lot of fun. I wish wild bettas were more well known but I’m also thankful that because they are niche, I’ve seen less neglectful care due to people having to work harder to find them & such. I am going to be getting a pair or trio of Betta mahachaiensis soon from a local breeder so I’ll have experience with another species, let me know if you ever want to discuss a species you’re interested in!

oh I can imagine, I bet they are! Oh exactly, I'm glad only people more experienced in the hobby really know about them, I kind of wish that was the same with all bettas frankly. And that's exciting, and I'm pretty sure I will! were those wild bettas particularly hard to find? I can't seem to find any breeders near me, hm. Anyways thank you for responding!

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

Honestly they weren’t too hard to find but I lucked out in that someone a few hours away had a pair available. Maybe go to a local aquarium club and see if there are any wild betta species breeders? You could always see what they have, go home and research, and see if that would be a good species for you.

I also have a little update, the babies are growing and looking good! There’s at least 10 and the parents are busy making even more. Here are some silly photos of the fry from today, their eyes are so big!

Hopefully they will continue to grow and do well.

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

Every day I look, I see more and more babies. And the male released more today. Here’s to hoping some people locally are interested, or that I finally try shipping fish! They’re still small but very hungry and growing 😅

And, of course, photos of mom and dad.

And as always, thanks for reading! ☺

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

The babies are growing up! The bigger ones are getting stripey like the mom and there’s at least 25 babies that I’ve seen. I’m going to need to learn how to ship fish 😅

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

It’s an awful photo but one of the babies seems to have a split tail. At first I thought it was a nipped tail but I haven’t observed any nipping & it has been like this for weeks now. This one is swimming around fine and growing normally, I’ll definitely keep a close eye on it though.

 

[betta4ever!]

You have the first double tail unimaculata 😅 Keep us updated, I'm really curious how this fry is going to end up like!

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

The babies have been growing very well! I have also observed them spawning in the front of the tank; it seems like he’ll hold for a while, release, eat for 3 days or so, and then he’s right back at it. Thankfully, there are 2 people who are local and interested. I think I’m going to look into shipping fish so I have more options of future homes for them.

Edit: I have 7 people who are local and interested now. Oh boy!

 

[FishandBirdLover]

The babies have been growing very well! I have also observed them spawning in the front of the tank; it seems like he’ll hold for a while, release, eat for 3 days or so, and then he’s right back at it. Thankfully, there are 2 people who are local and interested. I think I’m going to look into shipping fish so I have more options of future homes for them.

Edit: I have 7 people who are local and interested now. Oh boy!

I just LOVE your wild bettas! It has been super fun just looking at your pics, your spawn logs, and I love hearing about updates! If it wasn't for my mom (lol), I'd be having 20 tanks, and getting wilds from you. Maybe some day......

 

[betta4ever!]

How's the double tail unimaculata doing?

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

I just LOVE your wild bettas! It has been super fun just looking at your pics, your spawn logs, and I love hearing about updates! If it wasn't for my mom (lol), I'd be having 20 tanks, and getting wilds from you. Maybe some day......

Thank you! I’m glad that people are enjoying the updates, sometimes I wonder if I talk about my wild bettas too much 😅 And I feel you on wanting allllll the tanks. Thankfully I’m limited right now but I’m sure I’ll have a whole fish room in the future.

How's the double tail unimaculata doing?

It is still doing well! It seems a tiny bit smaller than it’s siblings of what I assume are of a similar age but has a good appetite and does not seem to have any issues swimming. That one seems a little bit more skittish than the other fry, I’m curious to see if it gets more confident when it is bigger. I don’t have a recent photo of that particular fry but I’ll see if I can get a good photo of it in a little bit, I just got off of work.

 

[FishandBirdLover]

Can you wait maybe 10 years so I can get wilds from you?

Maybe more like 6.

 

[betta4ever!]

Update pleeeease!!

 

[NoodleTheMysteryBetta]

Their tank is a bit gross at the moment as I was recovering from surgery and their tank was hard to do water changes on during my recovery BUT it’s looking better now. The bettas are doing great; I’m going to start rehoming the largest babies soon. I can’t believe how big they’re getting! Thankfully a lot of people locally are interested.

 

[betta4ever!]

Are you keeping any babies?