Tank setup for Betta falx

[illumnae]

Here's the current setup (sorry card reader spoilt so this photo is even poorer quality than usual as i'm using my hp camera):

[illumnae]

the female has a slightly frayed tail now

[illumnae]

so, is there any way to "promote peace" between wild bettas? the male is chasing the female more and more aggressively daily...she's now constantly either hiding or on the run.

or are there "sneaker males" in bettas as well like with apistos, and my dominant male has caught on to the act and thus is harassing the subdominant? the female has a black edge on the anal fin, but the spotted tail (with no black edge) on the tail. there are some faded red markings on the anal fin too, but not the full fin like the male and not as deep red as well

[wks]

Yi Xiang, do what the Betta splendens breeders normally practise: keep the female betta in a floating container. The male can see her but he cannot 'touch' her.

[illumnae]

can't, the tank's too small to do that i was hoping something like dither fish would help spread aggression from the female

[wks]

One more solution for you Yi Xiang. If you have space, put another nano tank beside the current one. So the male can see the female fish.

[illumnae]

haha i'll put her in the Ap. bitaeniata tank in a clear container maybe? that's the tank sitting next to the betta tank at the moment (it will be moved to office sometime) and these days i see the bitaeniata male flaring alot at the bettas...guess bettas and apistos do look slightly similar

[trident]

yixiang,
finally got your wild betta falx! having fun?

[illumnae]

Haha yep Richard, they're pretty interesting I guess, just that the male's pretty aggressive so the female's always hiding.

[illumnae]

after switching to a mini-canister and putting some peat granules into the filter, my bettas seem more active and there's no browning of water yet. it seems that there was some courting behaviour, but i'm not sure as i'm not familiar with betta behaviour.

i see the male chasing the female, but not as aggressively as before, and instead of just running and hiding the female darts away then comes back and swims past/close to the male before being chased again...is this normal?

[illumnae]

well i just added a school of exclamation point boraras in (supposed to be 10 pieces but i only count 9 now for some reason ), hope it helps to dither aggression away from the female!

[illumnae]

haha i figure i'm talking to myself mostly because noone else besides eugene has any experience with betta falx?

anyhow, can anyone advise me on how to tell if a mouthbrooding betta has bred? i can't really tell, but the male has stopped harassing the female (it's either they bred or the boraras have achieved success in dithering aggression) - in fact the female now chills near the male, and the gill covers of the male seems wider set than before, and he hasn't been dashing to the surface to gulp for air like previously. He also lost some colouration that had been developing intensely before today.

i'm not familiar enough with betta body form, so i don't know for sure if his mouth looks bigger than before...are there any other ways to tell if mating has occurred?

[leeruisheng]

Seems like AQ doesn't have a strong wild betta community. Well you could post at bettabite.com or petfrd.com for more responses.

You may want to take a look at my B. krataios post. I've just uploaded a few shots of the male mouthbrooding. Take a closer look at his lower jaw and you should be able to see him holding the eggs. It's slightly transparent.

[illumnae]

ok thanks ruisheng

i agree, AQ has a stronger apisto (myself included) and shrimp following than wild betta

[illumnae]

the male started chasing the female violently again...is there any way to induce them to get along or are they just gonna be eternally incompatible?

[illumnae]

turns out i got a sneaker male and the alpha mauled him so badly i put him into a hospital tank to recover. with no sneaker male to chase, the alpha turned on my zebra oto instead and now mauled the zebra oto to near death...don't expect it to last beyond tonight. this betta killed a fish 5x its cost =(

[wks]

Yixiang, after observing your betta tank yesterday and now reading your complaint, I have to conclude that the current setup is too small for this aggressive betta. Its better to transfer the fish to the bigger 5 plan tank beside your bed. Move the apistos over to the betta tank.

[illumnae]

yeah i suspect so as well. when i read up on bettas, it seemed that people were having success keeping pairs in 5 gallon tanks, which is the size of mine. but i guess it's more the exception than the norm. anyhow, the aggressive bugger is alone in the tank with 8 boraras which he can't catch, so he's unable to go on any rampage anymore after killing his 2 other slower tankmates so i'll leave him there for now. as you could have seen, the tank's too cluttered for me to net him out unless i destroy my scape.

i will never move the Ap. elizabethae to the nano tank...they're too precious to me to squeeze them into a tank that small. only reason i put the bettas in was from what i read as mentioned above. my elizabethae are worth 70x the betta pricewise and infinately more valuable to me subjectively. these bettas were just for me to try out something new...i still much prefer apistos

i'll possibly put a lone apisto male in there when i manage to get this guy out of the tank. seems like bettas doing well in a 5 gallon tank is more myth than reality!

[wks]

Its ok to destroy your scape. I can take over your plants.
Maybe you should sell the pair away and get a smaller species like Betta channoides. The 5 gallon tank is more suitable for their sizes.

[leeruisheng]

I hope it does dampen your joy in keeping wild bettas. But in a way it's good cause it's challenging you.

So what are your plans now? Getting them a mate?

Did you manage to see them flare? Nice right?