At only one inch, Betta imbellis could be difficult to sex. If you had group of six, it would be easier because the little males would flare occasionally. A mirror may help here. A male will flare and take on deeper colors but sexing is easy once the grow to 1-1/4 inch +. By then, the male's fins will be longer and will color up better we it sees it's reflection. I don't recall noticing ant obvious breeding tube among the males.
Betta imbellis take six months to reach breeding age and another 4 month to reach full size. Their care is no different than Betta splendens except you may keep the males and females together. The do not build as large bubble nests as B. splendens. Their tank should be kept covered to retain humidity and prevent the fish from leaping out. I spawn them in water no deeper than 6 inches. Females usually help the male place eggs in the nest during spawning but she should be removed after spawning is completed. The newly free swimming fry benefit from a few days of feeding Infusoria, then mikroworms and on the 5th to 7th day, most of the fry may be fed brine shrimp nauplii. If maximum production is not necessary, many fry may be raised on feeding brine shrimp nauplii from the beginning. This species spawns may number in excess of 200.
General care of Betta imbellis.
Maintain water temperature at 80*F/27.5*C and keep the water very clean. I use an Azoo BioFilter Oxygen Plus Sponge filter #9 in a 6 gal spawning tank. My breeding tanks are 8 X 8x 16 inches. Betta imbellis, especially their fry, are prone to Velvet, Piscioodinium infections. This can be very devastating among young fry. Keeping the water clean and fresh is extremely important. They are not demanding of water chemistry. I bred and raised them in my tap water with a pH of 7.4 and hardness of 6KH, 7GH and TDS of 340 ppm.
Feed as much live foods as is convenient, even brine shrimp nauplii is well accepted by adults but live blood worms, mosquito larvae and worms are all good foods.
I bought six wild caught Betta imbellis and raised them through 4 generations. My only complaint about this species is that they tend to appear dull out of breeding conditions. At breeding, the males have very intense colors and are among the most attractive of the wild Bettas. I'm currently raising several hundred F1 Betta sp "Mahachai".
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