mouthbrooding-betta

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Hi, I just joined the forum and wanted to share a little about the wild bettas I currently keep. I just have 2 wild species at the moment but Iā€™m hoping to branch out, the species I have are Betta edithae & I believe Betta unimaculata, or a species within the unimaculata complex. Iā€™ve had the Edithā€™s for about 4 months now & the Unimacs just came home 2 weeks ago.

Both species are quite interesting, my female and young Edithā€™s happily zip around the front and beg for food, the males are a little more reserved and tend to be brooding. Hereā€™s a photo of the female:
C6A813C7-AFB0-45D8-994B-2331D9E3E5D5.jpeg

Mom and one of the youngsters:
B4188967-6089-415B-9325-6293B9B20125.jpeg

And here is one of the males displaying, sorry the photo isnā€™t great!:
9D481EB9-E5C6-461F-89ED-E7A8A5CC16DB.jpeg


And now for the Unimaculatas! These fish are absolutely huge and I love them for that. They show very strong sexual dimorphism, the male is darker, the female is lighter and more striped.
0F1E414C-D45D-4D73-A24B-7BFB7F541970.jpeg

And some more photos because I love these fish:
9C210D68-9CEE-44F9-B0E2-2BC214A9F090.jpeg
9DFFBD1C-92F7-4B39-A8B3-5480E57B2ED3.jpeg


Thanks for reading, I hope you find these fish to be interesting! I love both these species so Iā€™m happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability.
 

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Hi, I just joined the forum and wanted to share a little about the wild bettas I currently keep. I just have 2 wild species at the moment but Iā€™m hoping to branch out, the species I have are Betta edithae & I believe Betta unimaculata, or a species within the unimaculata complex. Iā€™ve had the Edithā€™s for about 4 months now & the Unimacs just came home 2 weeks ago.

Both species are quite interesting, my female and young Edithā€™s happily zip around the front and beg for food, the males are a little more reserved and tend to be brooding. Hereā€™s a photo of the female:
View attachment 155191
Mom and one of the youngsters:
View attachment 155197
And here is one of the males displaying, sorry the photo isnā€™t great!:
View attachment 155192

And now for the Unimaculatas! These fish are absolutely huge and I love them for that. They show very strong sexual dimorphism, the male is darker, the female is lighter and more striped.
View attachment 155193
And some more photos because I love these fish:
View attachment 155194View attachment 155195

Thanks for reading, I hope you find these fish to be interesting! I love both these species so Iā€™m happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability.
Wow! Where did you get these guys and how much were they? They are beautiful!!!
 
Thank you! I was able to get the Edithā€™s from a LFS for $10 each I believe & the Unimacs were from a local breeder and they were $65 for the pairā€¦ honestly it feels like a steal! Theyā€™re such cool fish, Iā€™m hoping theyā€™ll spawn in my tank.
 
Any species that you would like to keep in the future?
 
Any species that you would like to keep in the future?
I think what species I wouldnā€™t want to keep would be a better question! Iā€™m really loving the mouthbrooders so Iā€™d love to try a few more species (especially Macrostoma) but I might actually acquire some B. mahachaiensis from someone local before too long. I used to have a female hendra and Iā€™d love to have a pair of them, she was a great fish and it lots of fun to watch her color up and down. Iā€™d also love to try out species from the albimarginata complexā€¦ itā€™s a good thing I can only have so many tanks for now!
 
Really good choices there. I like them a lot and I'm sure you're going to enjoy working with that group.
 
Great looking fish! Iā€™d like to keep mouth brooders in the near future. I currently have Betta uberis- bubble nesters in the coccina complex. Theyā€™re fascinating to watch. I just wish that they werenā€™t so skittishā€¦.Whatā€™s the typical brood size for your species and do you make an effort to maximize survival rates? Iā€™ve had my pair for a bit over a year and I typically see one juvenile at a time- but no more than that. I probably have 7 total now but itā€™s hard to say because they are such good hiders.
 

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Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides. Get channoides.

Oh, have I ever mentioned this to you, but get channoides.
Hehe, I actually think the LFS has a pair at the moment. Unless I decide against the B. mahachaiensis thenā€¦ hmā€¦ donā€™t tempt me!

Great looking fish! Iā€™d like to keep mouth brooders in the near future. I currently have Betta uberis- bubble nesters in the coccina complex. Theyā€™re fascinating to watch. I just wish that they werenā€™t so skittishā€¦.Whatā€™s the typical brood size for your species and do you make an effort to maximize survival rates? Iā€™ve had my pair for a bit over a year and I typically see one juvenile at a time- but no more than that. I probably have 7 total now but itā€™s hard to say because they are such good hiders.
Very nice! A friend on another forum has a group of uberis and the guy I bought the unimacs from breeds them too. Honestly, I havenā€™t kept the best track of the Edithā€™s reproduction- they breed in the tank and I just let them do their own thing. Unfortunately, Iā€™ve had a good number of fry succumb to a stubborn fungal infection in the main tank (Iā€™ve read that doing more frequent, smaller QCs may help though and that your typical weekly WC may to blame. I havenā€™t experimented to see if that is the case for me quite yet though) and the adults and larger fry are rather ravenous so I only have about 6 good sized fry so far. Actually, some of them will be heading to a new home soon, which is bittersweet. They have so much personality & Iā€™ll miss them!

Raising Edithā€™s is definitely a case where if one wanted to, you could have many, many more fry but for now, Iā€™m content just seeing who makes it to a good size on their own. The male Unimac is holding right now so hopefully Iā€™ll have some news about how that goes before too long.
 
Hehe, I actually think the LFS has a pair at the moment. Unless I decide against the B. mahachaiensis thenā€¦ hmā€¦ donā€™t tempt me!
Best Betta that I have ever kept. Easy to breed, easy to keep. Out of all the Bettas that I have, I have the most success with that species. At one point, I have at least 20 something fry in one batch. Dad is such a great holder to the point of him still holding after I yank out of the water. All the other species are quite finicky whenever it comes to breeding, but not channoides!
 

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