r/wildbettaarchive

Hi all, it has come to the attention of the mod team that there has been an increasing number of posts unrelated to wild bettas (mostly pertaining to domestic bettas) being made on this subreddit. While posts to pertaining to wild betta adjacent and/or sympatric species (such as parosphromenus or Sphaerichthys sp.), and overall blackwater tank care are more than welcome, please note that this subreddit's primary focus is on wild betta complexes and not domestic bettas. Please do not make posts pertaining to domestic bettas here, as these posts are outside the scope of this community. Do not post an excessive amount of black water species that are not related to wild bettas.

There are other subreddits dedicated to domestic bettas, so please use those communities for posts that don’t fit the focus of this subreddit. **Posts that do not follow these guidelines will be removed.**

Hi everyone! I’m a biologist interested in developing wild-type Betta species as a comparative system for studying the evolution of social and reproductive behavior.

I’m currently especially interested in the incredible diversity of courtship, spawning, egg handling, and parental care across wild Betta. Bubble-nesting and mouthbrooding species can differ dramatically in how males and females coordinate during spawning, what happens during and immediately after the embrace, which parent initially picks up the eggs, how eggs are transferred between the sexes, and what the male subsequently does with them.

A lot of the most detailed knowledge about these behaviors seems to exist within the aquarium community rather than in the scientific literature so I figured I'd start by looking for existing videos of wild-type Betta spawning or breeding, particularly full or relatively unedited sequences. They absolutely do not need to be professional quality. Old phone videos may be useful.

I would be especially interested in videos showing:

-courtship leading up to spawning

-the spawning embrace itself

-egg release and the few seconds immediately afterward

-which fish recovers/moves first after the embrace

-males or females picking up eggs

-female-to-male egg transfer in mouthbrooders

-repeated spawning bouts during the same breeding event

-unusual courtship or spawning behaviors

mouthbrooding males taking up, manipulating, holding, or releasing eggs/fry

-bubble-nesting males retrieving eggs or maintaining the nest

Any wild Betta species would be useful, including B. channoides, albimarginata, pugnax, macrostoma, unimaculata, smaragdina, imbellis, mahachaiensis, brownorum, etc.

If you have footage, I’d love to know, if possible:

Species:

Approximate date:

Captive-bred or wild-caught:

Location/population/strain, if known:

Whether the pair had spawned before:

Anything unusual you noticed:

Please don’t induce a spawning event or change how you keep your fish just for this request. I’m mainly looking for videos people already have from normal breeding and husbandry.

At this stage I’m trying to determine what material exists and what behaviors are worth examining systematically. If particular videos eventually become useful for formal research, I would contact the owner first to discuss permission, attribution/acknowledgment, and any additional information needed before using them.

If you’ve bred wild Betta for years and have observations but no videos, I’d also be very interested in hearing what you’ve noticed—especially behaviors that differ among species or that you rarely see described in books or papers.

Feel free to comment or DM me. And if you know a serious wild-Betta breeder, group, forum, or YouTube channel that might have this kind of footage, I’d really appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

Thank you!

I currently have a 20 gallon Florida black water biotope tank with a small school of metallic shiners and a trio of American flag fish (one male, two females).

I’ve been thinking about getting an alien betta to go in there because with their dark coloring and spots of color, they’d look amazing in the black water (even though it would break the biotope). I have experience with betta communities but no experience with an alien betta (I would not attempt this kind of community with a betta splenden).

I don’t want to mess up the peacefulness of the tank because it is my favorite, so I wanted to see if anyone has any experience or opinions with this kind of mix? It’s heavily planted tank with lots of branches and sight line breaks. My main concern is the male flag fish who might become territorial, I don’t want him to beat up the betta who is a little smaller. I’ve also heard that aliens are more peaceful then their splenden counterparts because they’re mixed with wild type who are overall more social. I know this kind of thing can be trial and error so I do have a spare tank that I can set up for the betta if thing don’t go smoothly.

This is just a discussion though so I can see other people’s thoughts, so please don’t attack me for asking 😭 I don’t have the betta yet, it’s just a thought because I saw one for the first time in person the other day and he’d be beautiful in a black water set up.

I also plan on upgrading this tank to a 40 breeder! So if that changes the answer to this question lmk!

So I had to put down my betta because of genetic issues and infections or fin rot and now I’m wondering if and if how I can re introduce a new betta into my 5 gallon tank. All parameters except for nitrates are 0 and nitrates are about 15. I use 6 hours of seoura light at 30 percent and use thrive c once a week my water is soft and is 60kh and ph is around 7.5 any suggestions on the next step. I don’t wanna deep cleanse cause it wasn’t super seroius and all that but I’ll try to do a 40 percent water change and I might squeeze the sponge filter in the de chlorinated water. Any suggestions again

Hello everyone!!
I’ve always wanted to own a betta fish and I’m finally in the market for one as I have finally loved out into my own space. I’ve only ever owned tetras and they lived happily but I haven’t had fish in about 7/8 years (I was about 12). I’ve tried to educate myself over the years about betta fish but I would love some insight from some of you lovely betta owners! I’m based in England if that helps with where to get the best things!
So let’s get into the burning questions!
What’s some things you wish you knew before/during having a betta fish?
What’s the best thing/product to put on the bottom of the tank?
What types of plants have you found are loved the most by Bettas?
What are some absolute no gos that first time owners of Betta may not think about?
What pH do Bettas live best at? (all my sources have given different answers)
Where is the best place to get a Betta?
I understand that Bettas are usually territorial but has anyone got a Betta who lives with other fish? (What species and how big is your tank?)
And lastly, is there any fish tank cleaning products you absolutely swear by?
Thank you all for your time and help, it’s really appreciated! Xx
And I will definitely update when I have the tank all set up as I’m sure I’ll need help with names :))

Hello, I am a decently experienced fishkeeper of ~8 years and primarily focus on hillstream fish (specifically Balitoridae) but lately I have been becoming enamored with blackwater fish and specifically wild bettas. I have kept South american blackwater fish in the past as well as things like strawberry rasboras. I really want to start with a pair of either Betta api api, channoides, or brownorum and I was just about to purchase a pair of B. channoides from a company called Blackwater Aquatics last night, but then I came to this subreddit and looked them up and I saw a bunch of stuff about how they have critically endangered fish and may have poached material as well, so I'd rather not support that. So the question is, where exactly else can I find them? If anyone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it, thanks!

I have a channoides pair and I have no idea if they're eating. They don't look too skinny and using the few posts here for reference they should be just feeding on whatever is in their tank. I've tried different foods and the male will poke at brine shrimp a bit but keep his mouth shut. Would adding a few small feeder shrimp be a good "just in case" ? I'd love any advice on feeding them. I'm also worried about my female because I rarely see her during feeding time but again, she doesn't look malnourished (its hard to see them often in general, the tank hides them too well 😭) regardless I'm just concerned. Tbf it has only been a week since they were added so could that play a part?