Hi Bill,
My knowledge in the captive husbandry of wild bettas has been pretty dismal but nevertheless I do know of some sites with great information as to how to care for these wild bettas. A friend of mine says that these newly acquired wild bettas must be kept in a shady spot with least interference. Feeding them should initially be in the form of daphnias. Then slowly wean them over to tubifex over the next few weeks. In a batch of say 10 to 20 fishes usually the weaker ones will die off pretty quick. The tougher ones are those that have a higher chance of survival. In every import of wild bettas that I've had the chance to see, many, if not at least 70% of those actually die off from secondary infections such as fungus or from improper housing conditions. They require slightly acidic water. Addition of sea almond leaves, or oak leaves, if you're from the States would be good. Keep the filtration to a minimum leaving the least amount of disturbance caused by the bubbles. Sponge filters suffice for their filtration requirements.
Here's the URL on the IBC Species Maintenance Program site.
http://www.ibc-smp.org/species/rutilans.html
http://www.ibc-smp.org/articles/voor...t_coccina.html The 2nd site tells you alot on how to care for bettas from the coccina group, of which rutilans is a member.
In any case, the best person for you to ask on their care would be Tony himself. :wink:
Hope it helps.
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