# wild imbellis



## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Soooo...I have been looking at them a lot and i kind of want some. They are beautiful fish but I don't want to get one until I know how their care differs from our domestic betta's. Are they still overly aggressive like our domestic betta? Can males and females live together? Are they solitary? Do they prefer larger tanks (20 gallons) or would they be okay in smaller tanks (5 gallons?)


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I've kept imbellis before. You can keep them in the same tank as a male/female pair. However, you will need to provide plenty of cover (java moss works best) as like all bettas they can be aggressive and territorial at times. 

A 5-10 gallon tank for a pair is fine. A group may need a tank in the 15-20 gallon range.

They do best in softer water, and I always think wild bettas show their best colouration in water that is tinted heavily with IAL. 

They may be finicky as to what food they will take (most wild bettas prefer frozen and live to pellets) and may initially be shy until they settle in. Wild bettas are often a little more skittish than splendens so you have to be careful not to startle them too much.


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

would live brine shrimp with frozen bloodworms and beefhearts be okay as a meal for them? Granted I trade on and off every day?

Also if kept in pairs will they breed a lot? If so I want to make sure I can secure safety for the fry or are they better left with the parents?


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I don't particularly like beef heart as a food for bettas. I have had more luck with live blackworms, live white worms and frozen brine shrimp (they will eat live as well) and frozen bloodworms. 

It depends on the individual pair as to how often they will spawn. I have found if conditions are right, wild bettas can be very prolific breeders. Some of my pairs will spawn weekly. 

I believe with imbellis you can keep the fry in with their parents but it depends on the individual fish. My channoides male and female would eat their fry as soon as they were free-swimming but other people did not have this occur. I will generally leave my fry in with the parents (if they are not the kind to eat their fry) until they are a week or so old and then remove them to a separate grow-out.

It can mess up your water quality if you try and raise a large amount of fry in the parent tank.


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Thanks for the info, sounds like I would have to get my pair and just watch them closely to see how they behave as a pair with breeding and fry then build their maintenance around their schedule. Also where can I get them that I know they were not straight from the wild. I wouldn't want to have betta's straight from the wild, it would make me feel bad knowing they had a wide open world and now they have this...tank.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

LittleBettaFish said:


> I don't particularly like beef heart as a food for bettas. I have had more luck with live blackworms, live white worms and frozen brine shrimp (they will eat live as well) and frozen bloodworms.
> 
> It depends on the individual pair as to how often they will spawn. I have found if conditions are right, wild bettas can be very prolific breeders. Some of my pairs will spawn weekly.
> 
> ...


i was just thinking the bioload of an adult pair and a full spawn would be kinda excessive....mommy, daddy and all the babies would be swimming in poo in a matter of hours.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I get all my wild bettas either through the transhipper here, or through Xtrembettas in Indonesia. I think The Betta Shop in MN stocks wild bettas such as smaragdina and imbellis so possibly try contacting them. A couple of members on here have imbellis so may be worth asking where they got them from. There is a big wild betta species thread located in this forum.

I understand your reservations about wild-caught bettas. However, while they can be a little more difficult to acclimatise at first, once they settle in they do not care in the slightest. 

I have a few wild-caught pairs and they spawn and swim around enjoying life in captivity. 

Most of these fish are facing massive habitat destruction anyway in their native home, so they are probably more likely to go extinct from that than from capture for the aquarium trade.


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

OMG IN MN...that is where I am right now...uh oh. >.< 

Also another question, in the event I have a bunch of wild babies will there be a large enough population of people looking to take them in as pets? Also are there issues with wild betta's being inbreed like our domestic ones? I assume since they are wild and not shown they won't be so inbred and will actually be healthy and hardy animals.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

LadyVictorian said:


> OMG IN MN...that is where I am right now...uh oh. >.<
> 
> Also another question, in the event I have a bunch of wild babies will there be a large enough population of people looking to take them in as pets? Also are there issues with wild betta's being inbreed like our domestic ones? I assume since they are wild and not shown they won't be so inbred and will actually be healthy and hardy animals.


pssst! you didn't hear this from me, but there's a street in st. paul MN that has TWO betta shops within a few blocks of each other.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I've found if you provide your wild bettas with ideal conditions, they are very hardy, much hardier IMO than the domesticated splendens, even when very young. 

It can be difficult to find homes for any offspring, as the wild betta market is something of a niche one. However, with imbellis they are close enough to splendens that they don't really need specialist care like some of the other species. You could probably sell them to people who own/have owned splendens and are looking for something a little different.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

LittleBettaFish said:


> I've found if you provide your wild bettas with ideal conditions, they are very hardy, much hardier IMO than the domesticated splendens, even when very young.
> 
> It can be difficult to find homes for any offspring, as the wild betta market is something of a niche one. However, with imbellis they are close enough to splendens that they don't really need specialist care like some of the other species. You could probably sell them to people who own/have owned splendens and are looking for something a little different.


or to breeders looking to introduce metallics into their splendens line.


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

homegrown terror said:


> pssst! you didn't hear this from me, but there's a street in st. paul MN that has TWO betta shops within a few blocks of each other.


Terror xD now look what you have done. Before I leave back to TX looks like I'll be creeping about St Paul hehehehehehe BWAHAHAHAHAHA AAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAA -coughs, dies, twitches-

I'm going to get lost in those stores, don't think i'll ever come back out. They will have to beat me with a broom now.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

homegrown terror said:


> or to breeders looking to introduce metallics into their splendens line.


I personally don't like crossing wilds onto splendens. Especially if you are selling them on the open market. Because hybrids can sometimes look so similar to wild type, it can be hard to tell if what you are getting is pure or not. 

You wouldn't want to be purchasing what you think are pure imbellis only to find later down the track what you have is actually a hybrid. Hybridism is quite a problem for true wild splendens, which is why it can be difficult to find a pure line.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

LittleBettaFish said:


> I personally don't like crossing wilds onto splendens. Especially if you are selling them on the open market. Because hybrids can sometimes look so similar to wild type, it can be hard to tell if what you are getting is pure or not.
> 
> You wouldn't want to be purchasing what you think are pure imbellis only to find later down the track what you have is actually a hybrid. Hybridism is quite a problem for true wild splendens, which is why it can be difficult to find a pure line.


one thing i've always wondered, do imb/spl hybrids keep their genetically trained splendens aggression, or do they behave socially more like a regular imbellis?


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## PitGurl (Feb 22, 2011)

I agree with littlebettafish as far as hybrids. Over in Asia they cross plakats with imbellis as well as other wild splendens quite often to create the ideal fighter. The problem is it's common for the owners of these fish to release them into the wild when they are done with them. The hybrids then breed with wild splendens and dirty up the gene pool. The habitat of wild bettas is quickly shrinking and with so many hybrids pure wilds are becoming harder and harder to find. That is why I decided to start breeding guitar smaragdina, which is a sub species of smaragdina.

This AB breeder sells all types of wild splendens. He is very nice and his fish are beautiful. He does sell hybrids but almost always labels them as such.
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?disp&viewseller&Pibk


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Hmmm I wouldn't want wild betta's conditioned for fighting though. I don't want aggressive fish who will rip each other apart and the fact he crossbreeds makes me skitish because mixups could happen.

Edit: Also how many pairs could I keep in a 20 gallon? a 30 gallon, 40 gallon?


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

You've gotten some great advice so far! I have had my imbellis community tank of 6 for about a month now and I just love them!

I got mine from Anthony at Wet Spot Tropical Fish in Portland. They do have an Aquabid account, it's called Wetspot. You can contact Anthony directly at [email protected]

I have ordered 3 different wild species from the Wet Spot, they're all very healthy and happy fish, none aggressive and no signs of splenden interbreeding. They also ship with high quality materials and include heat packs or cold packs if needed.

Tony at the MN Betta Shop is also fantastic, I'd recommend sending him an email before you stop by so he knows to have his wilds out on display. He does usually have a couple of pairs out but I'm sure he has more, and he tailors his retail display based on customer needs. You can even set up a private appointment with him. He carries some harder to find products and live foods as well, so be sure to inquire about those. The only reason I ended up going with Wet Spot over MN Betta Shop for the wilds was pricing, but both are very knowledgeable sources of healthy fish.

I think Arcade Street actually has 3 betta shops 


I feed my wilds a mix of .5mm NLS pellets, frozen brine shrimp and blood worms, live grindal worms and soon will be adding live blackworms to their diet. I will also give them live mosquito larvae once winter is over.

If you're interested in doing a community tank, I LOVE the 20gal Long Aqueon tanks. They are perfect for bettas because they have lots of horizontal space to swim around in without being too tall. Even better, you can grab them for $20 each at Petco's $1/gallon sale (which I believe is still currently going on?) I pair that with a Versa-Top 30 cover (I buy these online on Amazon, they're WAY cheaper online!). It's *very important* that you have a covered tank for wilds, they are great jumpers. I tape the sides of the covers down with shipping tape to ensure not a single seam or crack is exposed for anyone to jump out of, after hearing horror stories from LBF and Aus. The upside to being so careful about this is that the humidity level in the tanks remains higher than the outside air, which is good for the fish and means less water evaporates from the tank. I have done all NPT tanks for the wilds to encourage plant growth, I use Miracle Gro Organic Potting Mix (with the sticks removed), capped with either Quikrete's Fine Grain or Play Sand. The Fine Grain is easier to work with IMO, as it does not need to be pre-washed and it settles down fast. The Play Sand needs to be rinsed 10 times and will still kick up dust for a couple of days.

Now, if you're more interested in breeding up lots of fry, I would advise that you go a slightly different route than me and go with one pair in a 10 gal (or slightly smaller works too, space constraints for wilds are more of a suggestion than a rule), and a bare tank bottom. You'll still need plenty of plant cover so they feel secure.


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## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

Amazing, thanks babystarz. I think what is the most exciting thing about them is though they are less colorful than our splendons I think they are much more beautiful.


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