# 30 Gallon Albimarginata Planted Tank



## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

This tank was originally set up for Mahachai Bettas but for some reason my pair found a way to jump through a 1/4" gap between the hood and rim of the tank.

A couple of weeks ago I managed to find a few Albimarginatas on aquabid and introduced them to the tank. Yesterday, I purchased 2 lonely female Albimarginatas from a local pet store that had them for quite a while.

I noticed the 2 females from the local pet store had small dots over there pupils. I assume it is cataracts or cloudy eye from the dirty water condition they were in. They are being left in a clean 10 gallon with almond leaf, meds, and fed lots of live food. There are 3 healthy pairs in the 30 gallon atm.

TANK SET UP: Eco Complete mixed with Floramax and Tahitian Black Moon Sand for substrate. Fluval 50 HOB Media filter with a large piece of sponge over the filter to restrict water from flowing into the tank which makes it extremely quiet. UV Sterilizer in place to control bacterial bloom but no longer needed. Dual high output lighting: 10k Full Spectrum t5 w/Zoo Med Plant t5 Bulb. 2 Mopani Driftwood that hasn't stop growing white fuzz.

PLANTS: Water Lily, Betta bulbs: Aponogetons, Amazon Sword, Lucky Bamboo, Java Fern, Baby Dwarf Tears, Rotala Indica, Anubias, and a plant that I forgot the name for in the left hand corner.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

Can someone look at the 2nd and 3rd picture and let me know if their eyes look like they have cataract or what can it be?


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

The eyes just look a little cloudy, if at all. I wouldn't worry. 

Albis are one of my dream fish and (besides the species I would like for conservation reasons) the wild at the top of my list. I love the tank... Can you get a pic of whatever the betta bulb grew into? I have some sprouting now lol.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

I will let you know if they ever go through with brooding.

If you look at the center of the picture with the view of the tank. The betta bulbs grew into the plants that are skinny and long and have multiple strands floating to the top. They are left of the red lily.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

The long skinny green plants. That consists of 2 bulbs.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Albimarginata are so adorable. I find wilds will sometimes get cloudy eyes if they have been kept in crap conditions. Macrostoma seem particularly prone to it. It seems to clear up once conditions improve. 

Sucks about the mahachai. I cling wrap all my wild betta tanks now so there are no holes as they are just such expert jumpers.

Good luck with the albis.


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## Canis (Apr 15, 2013)

The un-IDed plants look live variations of aponogeton. I have two that came from bulbs, but both look completely different from each other.

Wish I could get some Albis, they're gorgeous fish!


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

No way, another wild betta enthusiast in MN?! This is so exciting  If you end up with extra albi fry I will totally take some off your hands. If you're in the metro area I could even come pick them up. Let me know if you ever get into the bigger mouthbrooders, I'll probably have some ocellata/pugnax to offload in the next 6 months and with our winters I will not be able to ship elsewhere til spring, so you would get first dibs.

Anyway, do you have snails in the tank? They seem to help eat the fuzz on driftwood. If not, the fuzz should clear up on its own eventually.

The fish themselves have very good coloration and appear healthy to me. The female in the third pic even looks eggy (unless you snapped the pic right after a meal).


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## Canis (Apr 15, 2013)

Oh, I didn't even see that you were in MN! Me too!


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

LittleBettaFish said:


> Albimarginata are so adorable. I find wilds will sometimes get cloudy eyes if they have been kept in crap conditions. Macrostoma seem particularly prone to it. It seems to clear up once conditions improve.
> 
> Sucks about the mahachai. I cling wrap all my wild betta tanks now so there are no holes as they are just such expert jumpers.
> 
> Good luck with the albis.


Thanks for the info. I may try to cling wrap as well.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

babystarz said:


> No way, another wild betta enthusiast in MN?! This is so exciting  If you end up with extra albi fry I will totally take some off your hands. If you're in the metro area I could even come pick them up. Let me know if you ever get into the bigger mouthbrooders, I'll probably have some ocellata/pugnax to offload in the next 6 months and with our winters I will not be able to ship elsewhere til spring, so you would get first dibs.
> 
> Anyway, do you have snails in the tank? They seem to help eat the fuzz on driftwood. If not, the fuzz should clear up on its own eventually.
> 
> The fish themselves have very good coloration and appear healthy to me. The female in the third pic even looks eggy (unless you snapped the pic right after a meal).


Yes she just ate. I haven't been able to get the males to hold to term. Once the 2 store bought has been medicated fully I will throw a pair into the 10 gallon and see if they'll breed again. Will let everyone know for sure when I have grown fry. Do you happen to have albis as well?


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

My fancy tail Pleco is eating the fuzz from time to time.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

MNWILDBETTA said:


> Yes she just ate. I haven't been able to get the males to hold to term. Once the 2 store bought has been medicated fully I will throw a pair into the 10 gallon and see if they'll breed again. Will let everyone know for sure when I have grown fry. Do you happen to have albis as well?


Not at the moment but I have had them before and am very familiar with them. I think male albis are a little slower to mature than other mouthbrooders. They will become better at holding over time. Don't be surprised if they take a year to really get things figured out. They breed like crazy but the whole caring for eggs part of it happens less often. Especially because the females usually want to spawn again and start bugging the males while they're still holding the last batch of eggs. If you are interested in a successful spawn, I'd highly encourage you to move the females to another tank once you know the males are holding. It's less stressful for the males this way. Then after the babies are swimming around, give the males at least a week without the females to rest and eat plenty of nutritious food.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

Sad, both the store bought albis died. I am glad I quarantined them.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Sorry to hear that. Sometimes previous bad conditions just catch up with them.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

MNWILDBETTA said:


> Sad, both the store bought albis died. I am glad I quarantined them.


 That totally sucks! Feel free to join us in the wild species thread, there is at least one active member here breeding albis (Wildbetta) and you might be able to get some from the latest batch of fry:
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=116188


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

UPDATE: I have 15 frys. Will post pic soon.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

So shortly after the 2 store bought females died, my main bathroom pipe busted forcing me to move out for a whole month while repairs were being made. I had to move the fish to the kitchen and was only able to see them 3 times a week. During that time frame my pleco got hungry and sucked the guts out of one of my male albis and he died a week after I moved back into the house. The female that always followed him around got sad(I'm not kidding, they always swam together and never left each others side). She seemed depressed and died shortly after as well, which left me with 2 males and 2 female. 

Not too long after I moved back, one of the pairs started spawning. I didn;t pay too much attention since they didn't hold to term the first time.

2 days later he was still holding to term so I started keeping track of the days he has been brooding. I caught him on day 10 and left him in a breeding net.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

Here is my dominant female.










Here is the male brooding caught after 10 days and placed into the breeding net.










Here are the fry on 11/17/13. SO TINY!! I started feeding them BBS and microworms.










I placed them back into the breeding net simply because I didn't want them to die due to a big water change. I removed the plastic trim on the bottom of the net so they wouldn't get stuck. Works flawless. I have a few java fern, duckweed, and almond leaf in it.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

I drained some water out and placed enough into this 5 gallon to use as a grow out tank until my 10 gallon is ready.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

I have 2 pair of wild caught that just arrived! They are definitely darker in color and younger assuming by their sizes. The females went for each other right after settling in the tank. My 2 original adult males went crazy and started sparring after meeting the 2 new beautiful females.

Here are the 2 new pairs of wild caught albis. You can tell the 2 females got at it.











Here is a link to the spar between the 2 adult males.

http://youtu.be/C-vr9U1DAGM


Picture of them as of today coming out of hiding to spar while having eggs in their mouths. Can't wait for new frys.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

Here are the fry. They are 1/3 of an inch, maybe a little bit bigger.


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## MNWILDBETTA (Aug 8, 2013)

I forgot to mention that I took out alot of the plants and placed 2 large driftwood pieces in the tank as well as a bunch of almond leaf to give it a more natural and acidic environment to help improve their condition. I have noticed that my albis are more active and vibrant in color after the tannins from the almond leaf and driftwood were added.


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