wild betta splendens?

[Finster]

I'm glad I finally found this forum. Seems like most other betta forums are geared towards fancy splendens breeds. I'm hoping with all of the knowledge of wilds here, that someone can answer a dumb question for me. Does the "original" betta splendens still exist? I don't mean the thick bodied big headed plakats that you find on Aquabid, I mean the betta splendens that look very much like imbellis. Are there any left in the wild,and are there any sources in the aquarium trade?

Thank you
Joe

[hwchoy]

welcome Joe. we in Southeast Asia is very lucky to be in the middle of Betta diversity and simply being able to get out to the wilderness to look for them.

However as far as B. splendens is concerned, it is very difficult to be sure whether a given population, even if found in the wild, had not once been domesticated or have domesticated strain reintroduced. Thailand is heavily populated so the chances of finding population is uninhabited locality is slim. My own practical approach is to accept the morphology exhibited by any population that is collected from the "wild" (i.e. reasonably rural area).

[Finster]

Thank you. I realize that it may not be possible to find an uncontaminated population. I guess what I'm really asking, is do the wild Betta splendens collected and sold in the area look like the wild ones in this link, http://smp.ibcbettas.org/species/splendens.html or do they look like the short body fighters sold on Aquabid?

[Bettafanatic]

Hi there, I doubt a pure betta splenden exists. Perhaps its in the form of veiltails?

[hwchoy]

Thank you. I realize that it may not be possible to find an uncontaminated population. I guess what I'm really asking, is do the wild Betta splendens collected and sold in the area look like the wild ones in this link, http://smp.ibcbettas.org/species/splendens.html or do they look like the short body fighters sold on Aquabid?

it should look like the IBC one. the picture of that B. splendens is from Nonn Panitvong and he is a very knowledgeable Siamese aquarist and nature explorer.