Wild bettas

[TheFishNerd]

Aliens are hybrids within species from the splendens complex. Betta imbellis is actually a species on its own, no hybridization.

That makes sense which is why I should probably not cross my alien and imbellis. Thank you for the information and I will try and get my imbellis a suitable partner after I have a successful spawn.

 

[laichyee]

any chance if any alien betta owner is still watching this chat.

May i know the care guide for alien betta?

heard that they prefer lower temperature as opposed to their betta counterparts. PH level requirement?

Thank you in advance.

 

[duanes]

I have kept B albimarginatta and B edithae


above B albimarginatta, below edithae


below edithae spawning.

they are mouthbrooders

 

[Alexandboi]

Alien betta don't require much different from other betta. Keep them as you would any other domesticated betta and they will be okay.

 

[Hybridfish7]

I can't seem to find much information on the internet about keeping and breeding healthy wild bettas. I have 3 beautiful wild bettas I got two days ago. They are doing really well and already starting to get quite a bit of color after shipping. They are so much better than I could have imagined. All three are already eating and very active. I was most surprised by the little turquoise alien girl who immediately started trying to get the male's attention and the blue alien female shows faint breeding stripes. The male is quite a bit smaller and more timid and tries to show off to the females but gets scared away as soon as he comes too close to the divider. There is plenty of room and plants for him to steer clear of both females unless he chooses to come up to them. They still have a lot of growing to do before I let them together and the male will be completely by himself within a week or so to grow and adjust to their new home. Anyone else kept wild bettas and can give me some tips/tricks to caring for them and hopefully breeding them? Some questions I have are...


1. Is my ph of 8.2 too high for them? (The male is a wild caught imbellus) They are active and healthy but I am worried it might cause long term problems.
2. Is flaring and showing fins aggression or normal when they are trying to get the opposite gender's attention?
3. How long should I wait before introducing them to each other?
4. I have leaves, a piece of driftwood, and low light live plants to try and replicate their natural environment. Anything I missed?
5. The blue alien female is a lot bigger than the male but much more mild tempered while the turquoise alien is the perfect size (A little bit bigger) and much prettier but quite aggressive. Which one should I introduce to my boy after they have adjusted to their environment and been conditioned?

Thanks in advance!

1. For the most part, wild Bettas prefer to be kept on the acidic side. With that being said, they can adapt to a much higher pH as long as you keep it stable.

2. It's normal. I've seen my male wilds do that in front of the girls.

3. For breeding purposes, you can introduce them when they're ready to breed i.e. male building a bubble nest.

4. That's perfect for wild Bettas! If you don't have any floating plants, then get some. Wild Bettas love floating plants.

5. I don't recommend using your male B. imbellis to breed with your female aliens, but if you were to, I would try to stick the mild manner one.

Aliens are pretty much hybrids of everything in the splendens complex except that one super rare one and the other that just got rediscovered. So basically imbellis, splendens, smaragdina, and mahachai, the base is mahachai and splendens, supposedly. As a result of this, with mahachai being a naturally brackish betta, aliens also tend to show better coloration and generally do better in higher ph. Your 8.2 is fine for the most part. and Crispii, thank you for not crossing the alien with a wild caught imbellis. Everything in the splendens complex is better with higher ph surprisingly, or at least ok with it. The exception being smaragdina, which isn't too good over 7.5.