Betta Hybrid?

[CBBP]

Any female gouramis a male betta will breed with?

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

Any female gouramis a male betta will breed with?

No, they're not nearly closely related enough. Not even all betta species can hybridise--generally only bettas in the same complex can. For example, the fish in the 'splendens' complex, b. splendens, imbellis, smaragdina, sp. mahachai once it's classified. can hybridise fairly easily. None of these species could hybridise with a mouthbrooding betta such as channoides or macrastoma, yet these are still both fish in the genus betta. Gouramis are in a totally different genus than bettas, so no, it's impossible.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I'd imagine a few more bettas than those in the same complex can hybridise, but not much research has been done and it's a bit difficult since the species classification isn't all as it could be...

 

[CBBP]

not evenw ith sparkaling gouramis?

 

[sylvia]

Not a chance - bettas won't hybridise with any non-betta gouramies and, as was said, won't even hybridise within the genus.

There are complexes (as was mentioned) within which bettas hybridise but they will not hybridise far outside them (Its been suggested, and largely accepted, that Betta splendens itself is a hybrid and it's well known that, in Thailand where they are used for fighting, bettas have been hybridised to improve their performance as fighters. Furthermore, the now common metallic colors in Betta splendens are the result of hybridisation. Consideration has also gone into re-classifying some Betta species so that they are no longer considered seperate or are demoted to 'sub-species' level.)

Actualy, gouramies won't generaly hybridise across genera. I suppose that means they've been classified pretty accurately You will find, however, that, once behavioural barriers are overcome, many of the species within a genus can, and will, produce offspring (eg: three-spot X pearl works in theory - but behaviouraly it's difficult. Simialrly, many of the licorice gouramies are very closely related - with them the problem is keeping them alive, persuading them to spawn and actualy feeling justified in wasting your time hybridising these rare-ish fish when you could be producing pure ones - not to mention the fact that it's very rare to find a source with more than one licorice species in stock ).

 

[fishcollector]

Rarely will you aquire a hybrid from 2 genera that sometimes proves that some genera are 1 but still slightly different. Since bettas are aggressive they would fight the non betta not hybridize. you are not talking about livebearers. '8)

 

[afireinside]

I'm not taking the time to read this, but I'm going to sum up why really fast why it can't happen.

Gouramis = Colisa, Bettas = Betta

They're not in the same genus.

Not even all bettas can breed with each other. You can pretty much divide the bettas up into two categories. Mouthbrooders and bubblenesters. Mouthbrooders can only breed with other mouthbrooders, and only bubblenesters with bubblenesters.

 

[sylvia]

Actualy, while you're right, you're also kind of incorrect

For one, genera are simply assigned. Many fish are moved from one to the other and their position doesn't determine their relationships - sometimes they are classified correctly, sometimes not. Take for example Colisa fasciata - previously Trichogaster fasciata (and a couple more names before that!)

Secondly, bettas are gouramies.

Finaly, not all gouramies are Colisa species. Like I said, Betta species are also gouramies. So are Trichogaster, Trichopsis, Sphaericthys, Osphronemus, Macropodus species etc - anything in the family Osphronemidae is a gourami.

So, while bettas (meaning Betta splendens) cannot hybridise with most gouramies, they can hybridise with a small number of Betta species to which they are very closely related.