# Getting my first wild



## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

I'm very excited. Someone posted an unknown wild for sale on my other forum so I jumped at the chance to get one. I'm thinking its a smaragdina but I can't be certain. Either way its in the splendens complex so I don't have to have a ginormous tank to house it (like all the other wilds I love). He (or she) will do well in a 10 gallon.

Once I figure out what it is and what gender it is I might take a stab at breeding once I get a nice tank set up for a pair.

I probably spent a little more than I should have for an unknown fish but I have some saved up and my search for new pairs has come up with nothing so I figured what the heck. I was supposed to be buying a nice melano HMPK pair but the seller has yet to get back to my emails so ya snooze ya loose. This way I save a little money and its not burning a hole in my pocket ;-)

The fish should arrive at my parents house Thursday or Friday (depending on whether the seller ships it out tomorrow or the next day). My mom will take care of it until I get home Friday afternoon. I'll be sure to post pictures.

The good thing is I can get pictures and take them to my GABBA meeting on Saturday. Many of the breeders in our group breed wilds so someone should be able to give me a definitive answer on the species/gender.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed he arrives safe and sound. I paid extra for express shipping (which IMO its ridiculous to pay $35 to ship ONE fish.. but I digress) so hopefully he won't get too stressed out. My mom's a dab hand at acclimating so I'm not too awful worried.


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

Awwe, congrats! Fingers crossed, cant wait to see pics!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

He's on his way to my parent's house now. My Mom doesn't understand why I would want a "brown fish" when we have those in the lake LOL


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

lol! I like smaragdinas and imbellis so I'll be getting those when I decide to get into breeding wilds.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

I prefer mouthbrooding wilds but they're so expensive and need bigger tanks than I'm allowed to have at this time so I figured this will kind of be a medium between the wilds I really want to work with and the splendens I'm used to. From what I've been reading smaragdina and imbellis are pretty much just the mellower versions of splendens. They still have the same care needs and breeding methods so its not much change.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I've heard the same about mahacai but heard their fry aren't hardy and hybrids aren't very healthy in general.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Update:

There was a mix up with the paypal so the fish didn't get mailed out until Friday. It was supposed to arrive Sunday but didn't.So I was forced to go back to school with no fish. Finally it arrived on Monday but my Mom was out so it went BACK to the post office. My mom finally picked it up this morning and has it in a 1 gallon jar.

I'm going home next Tuesday for Thanksgiving (I work Thanksgiving so we're doing dinner on Wednesday) so I'll bring him back when I go back to school.

I'm bummed that I have to wait a whole week to see the little guy (or gal) but I'm relieved that it made it safe and sound. I'm hoping that he will be ok in my guppy tank for a while until I can set up his own tank.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm glad he/she made it ok.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Ahh.. the wait is finally over!!! Here is Spike!

I'm pretty sure he's a young male Betta smaragdina but I'm not positive. Hopefully in a few days he'll color up and I can get better pictures of him. I was relieved to know that he doesn't mind his guppy tank mates. Sorry for the bad pictures.. he was stressed from the drive and the poor boy has been in cold water for the past two weeks (well.. room temperature but still..)





























And for comparison.. here is a picture of a male smaragdina off the IBC SMP website..


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## LikeDiscoSuperfly (Oct 18, 2010)

he is actually quite handsome =] 
How is he doing now?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

He was more colored up today and went after his white worms like he's never been fed LOL

I'm happy to see him swimming around with the guppies, he doesn't seem to mind them at all. 

My other betta forum seems to think he might not be a smaragdina but something from the coccina complex. I'm still not entirely sure. Hopefully he'll color up more and be more distinguishable.


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## fleetfish (Jun 29, 2010)

He certainly is beautiful! good luck with him. I know next to nothing about wilds but I think you've piqued my interest.


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

any updates?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Spike is now living in a private 2 gallon planted tank because he decided to start nipping my guppies fins and I think he even killed one of them. I'm trying to decide whether or not I'm going to keep him. If I do decide to rehome him it won't be until Spring anyways.


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

oh wow. aggressive fella.

it was the smargidina that were used to make the copper line of bettas right?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Smaragdina and Imbellis


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

did u ever try breeding it?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

No. I still am not sure what species he is.


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

oh wow. 
does he atleast build a bubble nest?


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## Miharu (Dec 6, 2010)

I had betta coccina a long time ago, and he does look like them!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

No he doesn't (or at least he hasn't yet). That could indicate he isn't a bubblenesting species in which case he could very likely be a coccina. We'll see what happens now that he's by himself and doesn't have to fight a filter current.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Well.. what ever he is he makes bubblenests. Today I found a small one in one of the corners of his new tank. The mystery continues.


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## Miharu (Dec 6, 2010)

Hmmmm how interesting! You should submit a photo to the IBC or something and see what they think!


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

strange...


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Yeah.. I've been meaning to post pics of him on the SMP yahoo group.. just haven't gotten around to it.

I got some better pics of him... you can view them here...
http://s970.photobucket.com/albums/ae182/jh9264/Fish/Mystery%20Betta/


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

he looks awesome


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## beat2020 (Dec 31, 2009)

He looks like a smaragdina to me....


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

i saw some mahachai's that looked like that! especially where he's kinda bluish


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

Whatever he is, he's certainly handsome.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

After much discussion with wild people (that is, people who breed and raise wild bettas LOL), I've decided that he is in fact a smaragdina 

Still not sure if I'm going to breed him or not but I do think I'll keep him. He looks nice in my npt


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## BettaJ (Nov 18, 2010)

1fish2fish said:


> After much discussion with wild people (that is, people who breed and raise wild bettas LOL), I've decided that he is in fact a smaragdina
> 
> Still not sure if I'm going to breed him or not but I do think I'll keep him. He looks nice in my npt


:-D


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