B. burdigala sp. 'Kubu'

[Emokidz]

Hi everyone, just like to share some pictures of my B. burdigala pair, to promote the wild betta hobby and share the beauty of this fish. I got this pair from Aquarama 2011 and have been keeping them in a 1 ft Gex ever since. These pictures were taken this morning. I noticed that the male had constructed a small bubble nest and both individuals are coloured up and flaring occassionally. I'm surprised as this is the first time they are doing so and had thought that they weren't a compatible pair previously. Will hope for the best and update more later on.

The pictures were taken using my super old sony cybershot, so don't expect anything great. In fact, the pictures don't do justice to this tiny yet extraordinary fish.

The male is in the front here. The green irids along the length of its body are beautiful, two scarlet lines on the operculum and coupled with the large dorsal sail - characteristic of B. burdigala.
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The female, usually more drab, but colours up in her breeding suit. Vertical bands along the body can be seen in this picture.
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Some flaring going on between the two. The scarlet pectorals of the male (left) are much longer than that of his his female counterpart, ending with white tips.
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And finally both out in the open and at a better angle.
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Setup: 1 ft Gex, KTP stained water
Substrate: none
Plants: Nana, flame moss
Temp: 27 deg
pH: 4.5 - 5
Diet: Live Daphnia/tubifex, Frozen bloodworms/bbs/daphnia, Hikari micro pellets

Weekly 20% water changes done.

Thanks for reading!

[Emokidz]

Was thinking if I should post this picture as it's horribly out of focus, but was the only one I could get which shows the extent of burdigala's irids. Sigh, it would have been a beautiful picture if it was sharp T_T

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Hope you guys enjoyed reading!

[Mudskipper]

Gorgeous!!! Makes me drool!!

[fhan]

nice pairs and good set up; hope breed soon.

[Fendi]

Wow nice pair.. Hope the pair will produce you with lots of
fries soon..

[Emokidz]

Thanks guys! Yup, this is a nice pair (healthy too!). I hope they breed. Would be a waste if they didn't.

[stormhawk]

Nice fish Bernard, I think I saw them at the Aquarama but did not want to set aside a tank specifically for them. Wish you luck in breeding them, they are probably by far the nicest of the coccina group, at least to me. I did not expect the females to have that white "egg spot" thing at their anal opening just like female B. splendens.

Btw, those are the pelvic fins you were referring to, not pectorals.

[Emokidz]

Oh my... Yes, Pelvic fins! Haha. Thanks for that. I too think that B. burdigala are one of the more beautiful members of the complex, but to be fair, each of the other members seem to have a rare beauty about them. Uberis and Persephone are, IMO, really beautiful fish with personalities that match their appearance.

[johannes]

These are one of my favourite bubblenesters...

[griffinkid]

Wow! They look very well conditioned, hopefully they breed for you soon!

[Emokidz]

Some updates on the pair, they have not spawned yet. Haven't tried to separate and re-introduce them though. Both are still healthy and doing well.

[Emokidz]

Ahhhhh... Sad news, sad news! The male burdigala passed on. Not sure of the reason though - was quite sudden. The female is still doing fine and eating well. If anyone has lobang for Betta burdigala, do tell me! Haha. :P

[Mudskipper]

Alamak, so sorry to hear that. It's never easy when one passes on.

[Emokidz]

Haha! Yea. Heartpain. Especially when they aren't available at all. I tried to get a reverse trio from Hermanus when he came down to Singapore. But the 3 fish died in transit. Arghhhhh. Haha.

[Mudskipper]

OH NOOOOOOOO!!! That is truly sad. Sometimes, all you can do is laugh, I guess. If not, it would drive you mad. Good luck...

[Emokidz]

Yea! Agreed. Murphy's law strikes again. lol!

[Shi Xuan]

Hi guys,

Don't be too sad over the lost of the male burdigala. Ok, I got this link somewhere in a Japanese website, I hope it spice things up a bit though.

http://mannequeen.net/~hisyo/pannkaran2.html

Try to read the text with a google translate unless you read japanese.
I hope you have more luck with the species very soon. Good luck.

best regards,
Shi Xuan

[Emokidz]

That looks like Betta uberis if I'm not mistaken. Haha! Thanks for sharing.

[Shi Xuan]

Yeap, they might be Betta uberis but for a while, it's really difficult to identify. It's simply labelled as Betta sp. Pankalabun?? Nice species too but no wild betta species for me now. I fear the betta bug taking over my limited tank space.

[wonderpets]

Really nice collection you have bro =) shyt!!! I thinking of getting back into bettas argh!!!