u/cantabileChaos

I’ve been building up my tank over the past ~2 years with the idea in mind that I want to get a couple betta hendra pairs someday. I’m in no hurry because I want to be absolutely certain that I’m prepared when what I’m trying to keep is a critically endangered species, and I want to make sure that I have the resources to raise and rehome potential offspring in the event that my bettas breed.

I have all kinds of questions that I will probably be posting over time, but right now I wanted to focus on one specific thing- general betta experience. I have experience with other wild-caught fish from similar habitats, but my experience with actual bettas is pretty much limited to the classic “misinformed gift” situation from childhood where people buy a sick pet store betta for your birthday or something and give it to you in a teeny tiny tank with no heater or anything. Obviously this isn’t sufficient experience.

My main question is just how much more difficult are wild-caught bettas to settle in and care for compared to other wild-caught fish (kuhli loaches and tetras/rasboras are what I’ve worked with)? I have a heavily planted 2yr old tinted tank (working on slowly getting a darker tint) kept at tropical temperatures with adjustments made to simulate natural weather changes. It gets 12 hours of daylight and some brief muted night light before the tank light turns off, but it’s mostly shaded with a few sunny spots for feeding and basking. There is a large piece of driftwood and a few smaller pieces, large tree pods and a couple coconut huts for hides and a solid cave hidden under some lava rocks. Also tons of mulm at build up leaf litter. The tetras, rasboras and kuhlis had no trouble settling in, but I can imagine it’s much more stressful for a betta fish from a very specific habitat to adjust to something new compared to other fish who are more used to exploring more open waterways.

I’ve seen some mixed advice on whether hendras are good for beginners or not, so I was wondering if it might be a good idea to start with a very beginner-friendly species to get some experience first. Like I said, I want to have an established system for raising fry and selling/rehoming fish before getting any hendras because my main goal is to eventually have a decent small-scale breeding operation to help their numbers and bring more captive-bred fish into the hobby (I’ve also been doing some tentative planning for potentially starting a new fish expo in the area since we only really have a few and they’re all for saltwater fish), so I definitely do not have objections to a very long-term commitment to other types of bettas in the meantime.

And if that is a good plan, what would be some recommendations for other types of bettas to get more acquainted with them? I considered trying to find rescue bettas in the area, but haven’t had much luck finding a group here who lists them. I also am not crazy about the idea of having any male domesticated splendens in my tank due to both aggression and incredibly poor breeding practices (especially since most of the ones around here would be from petsmart). I would consider female domestic splendens if I could find one or a few who need to be rehomed, but want to outright avoid buying them retail unless I know they’re from a decent source. I would prefer another species of small betta who are okay with small community fish. There are plenty of established sections within the tank that can act as potential territories and are naturally “separated” by plants and hardscaping just in case anyone needs to establish their own little zone to hang out in. I think the best approach would either be a small sorority of 3-4, one larger male, or 1-2 males if it’s a species that can do well in the same tank as long as they each have their own territory. As much as I love the idea of getting pairs (for species that can live in pairs obviously), I don’t want to accidentally breed any bettas before I’m ready to cope with the offspring. I do have a separate 10gal laying around that could house fry, but I don’t know for sure if my preferred LFS would accept them yet and there’s not really a good established network I can find in my area for freshwater fish trading, so I don’t wanna be irresponsible and potentially end up with too many adults if they did breed and the fry actually survived in the main tank.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I need to get a few more rummies from a more trusted breeder/supplier after losing half of the ones I got from the LFS (shop is generally pretty good, but they seem to sometimes struggle with the more delicate species and these guys ended up being in worse shape than I realized). Of the ones I currently still have, all but one have reached close to their adult size now. The little straggler is eating like crazy and getting more bold recently, so I think he’s getting ready for his growth spurt. I noticed before that, while they weren’t necessarily being bullied, the smaller/younger of the rummies definitely seemed to be pushed around a little bit by the big guys and would group with each other or the smaller tetra species instead. The big rummies are very nice to everyone now, so it might have just been an adjustment period thing while they worked out their new social structure in the tank.

Do I have to worry much about any newbies getting picked on by the adults to the point of causing more serious stress, or is it pretty much likely just going to be a standard integration period? I have three types of tetras, some phoenix rasboras and some kuhlis and everyone is very peaceful with each other and the only time I’ve seen any food aggression since the first group of embers/rummies were added was when I gave everyone some garlic-soaked food and they just went so nuts over it they got a little overexcited. Rarely ever see any other aggression aside from gravid females getting protective before laying eggs, and any nips or chasing I do see is very brief and there’s enough territory for everyone to keep their distance if someone is in a crabby mood for some reason.

I know I’m probably overthinking it, but I know how sensitive rummies can be and don’t want to lose anyone else due to completely avoidable reasons.

If it could potentially be a problem, what are some steps I can take to help out the new guys early on? I usually keep any new fish in a little separate bin with clear sides within the tank for at least 15-30 minutes before letting them loose, both for more thorough temperature acclimation after drip acclimating and to let everyone check each other out and get used to new fish being around. So far, everyone has always just looked really excited to have new friends (including the rummies, they were SO hyped when I added the green neons and phoenix rasboras), but if I do see some signs of aggression, would it help if I just extended their little chill out time in their newbie force field? I don’t really anticipate any serious issues, but I just want to be prepared since rummies can have some slightly different behaviors than most of the fish I keep and because I’m super paranoid after losing 4 of them so fast. Right now the current guys seem happy and look great (and HUGE) and just hang out with all the other fish all day, but I definitely don’t wanna keep them in such a small group size for too long, especially since they’re true schooling fish while all the others are shoaling fish who don’t wanna school all the time (looks super cool when they do, though lol). Probably gonna get at least another 4, but I’m thinking maybe 6 just to give them a more comfortable group overall and so the little guys can form a safe group if the big ones are too much for them at first.