Pugnax ?

[hamfist]

Saw something new (for me) today at my LFS. A couple of large Betta's. Short fins (just slightly longer than a typical female splendens), bright colours but much bigger and bulkier than a Splendens. About 2-3 times the bodyweight of a male splendens I would guess.
I asked what it was, and was told that it was a Betta Pugnax. Really nice fish, BTW !

Anyway, on getting home I did a quick google and all the pugnax pictures online had much, much duller colours than the fish I saw. These fish were really bright purple all over, gorgeous, identical colour to many male splendens one sees in the shops.

Are there really pugnax around with these colours, were they hybrids ? Were they something completely different ?

Any ideas, I'm fairly new to Bettas really.

 

[grumpysteve]

everything i've seen to do with pugnax shows they're quite dull too, but wild type betta's are getting more popular, and with that there's a lot more playing around with making them colourful and pretty. if you're interested in getting them i'd ask the shop where they got them from, and if possible contact the breeder, as there's a good chance they're localish. if the shop say they're wild caught i'd be a bit wary, unless someone else is aware of a more colourful wild type?

a lot of wild betta's vary in colour and shape etc. depending on their location too though, these could well be wild caught pugnax, just caught somewhere that no ones found them before. they could also be a different species altogether though.

i'm not an expert though.... i've been looking into wild betta's a lot recently, and everything i've typed is based on my somewhat limited knowledge!

 

[Chard56]

Saw something new (for me) today at my LFS. A couple of large Betta's. Short fins (just slightly longer than a typical female splendens), bright colours but much bigger and bulkier than a Splendens. About 2-3 times the bodyweight of a male splendens I would guess.
I asked what it was, and was told that it was a Betta Pugnax. Really nice fish, BTW !

Anyway, on getting home I did a quick google and all the pugnax pictures online had much, much duller colours than the fish I saw. These fish were really bright purple all over, gorgeous, identical colour to many male splendens one sees in the shops.

Are there really pugnax around with these colours, were they hybrids ? Were they something completely different ?

Any ideas, I'm fairly new to Bettas really.

http/img203.imageshack.us/img203/2684/dsc00848do.jpg
Here is a picture of a Giant Betta female. She is twice the size of normal Betta. Is this similar to what you saw?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi hamfist

It's unusual to find any of the wild bettas for sale at the lfs. If you are interested in them, take advantage of the opportunity and get them while you can. B. pugnax is a mouthbrooding betta from Southeast Asia. They are a natural fish, not line bred for color and finnage like the B. splendens. When they spawn the father carries their eggs in his mouth until they hatch.

For more information about the many kinds of wild bettas, listen to this interview between Coryologist and Mark Denaro, the former president of the IBA. It's a little way in, just after some information about keeping B. splendens.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/308000-coryolgists-interview-with-mark-denaro/

 

[hamfist]

Saw something new (for me) today at my LFS. A couple of large Betta's. Short fins (just slightly longer than a typical female splendens), bright colours but much bigger and bulkier than a Splendens. About 2-3 times the bodyweight of a male splendens I would guess.
I asked what it was, and was told that it was a Betta Pugnax. Really nice fish, BTW !

Anyway, on getting home I did a quick google and all the pugnax pictures online had much, much duller colours than the fish I saw. These fish were really bright purple all over, gorgeous, identical colour to many male splendens one sees in the shops.

Are there really pugnax around with these colours, were they hybrids ? Were they something completely different ?

Any ideas, I'm fairly new to Bettas really.

http/img203.imageshack.us/img203/2684/dsc00848do.jpg
Here is a picture of a Giant Betta female. She is twice the size of normal Betta. Is this similar to what you saw?

Similar body shape (as are all Bettas), but slightly longer anal, caudal and dorsal fins. Also had that deeper abdomen that males get. The colour of the fish I saw really was that bright, vivid purple that one commonly sees in modern male B.splendens. It was that purple all over, so a much more colourful fish.
I would have loved to have bought it, but really don't have a tank spare to put it in. It was also £20.
When our male B.splendens dies eventually, I would love to replace him with one of the fish I saw.

If anyone's interested, they were at Aquajardin, at Fair oak, near Southampton, UK.

 

[Inchworm]

If you scroll down a bit on this page you will see some pictures of them:

http/www.ibcbettas.org/smp/articles/mouthbrooder.html

 

[hamfist]

If you scroll down a bit on this page you will see some pictures of them:

http/www.ibcbettas.org/smp/articles/mouthbrooder.html

THere is nothing there that looks like the fish I am describing.

Please check my posts ..... vivid purple colouring, very chunky build. None of the wild Betta pictures I've seen are anything like that.

 

[grumpysteve]

if it's a similar shape and size it's probably line bred. how big was it in the shop?

 

[ellena]

I saw some fish labelled as extra large female bettas the other day. 3 together in a tank, but I'm fairly sure they were males. Flaring with full beards the lot of them. I thought they were just big plakats. Lovely colours but shorter tails.

 

[Inchworm]

If you scroll down a bit on this page you will see some pictures of them:

http/www.ibcbettas.org/smp/articles/mouthbrooder.html

THere is nothing there that looks like the fish I am describing.

Please check my posts ..... vivid purple colouring, very chunky build. None of the wild Betta pictures I've seen are anything like that.

Then it's not a B. pugnax

if it's a similar shape and size it's probably line bred. how big was it in the shop?

Again, probably not a B. pugnax

 

[OohFeeshy]

Quite possibly some sort of giant PK sort of thing. I've seen some pretty darn bulky plakats around; 'pugnax' makes me think they're probably from fighting lines rather than ornamental.

Also, don't tell me it's in Southampton! I just *had* to look it up on Google maps... apparently it's only half an hour or so from me... And it's only a week or so until I'm back home... Pfff!

 

[hamfist]

THanks for the responses guys. Have now had a google on Plakat bettas (as I had only read the name before and knew nothing about them). I am convinced that the fish I saw were particularly huge male Plakat Bettas. I was just amazed at how big and bulky they were, only about 8cm in length but at least twice the weight of what I would consider an average ornamental male B.splendens.
Very impressive fish !

Next time I'm in the shop, I shall let them know what they have (oh they'll love that won't they .... not !!!)