# breeding wild imbellis



## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

hey guys i just bought a pair of wild imbellis from aquabid. and i was just wondering is breeding wild bettas any diff from breeding any other bettas? also this will be the thread for the imbellis spawning log


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Note, I'm just starting to research this as well, but based on what I'm finding so far, the conditions needed for breeding differ slightly for each species. For imbellis, a few differences from splendens:

- Imbellis can be kept in pairs full time in a 10 gal tank with lots of cover and plants.
- Imbellis prefer slightly cooler water than splendens, mid 70's to low 80's maximum
- Spawning is very similar to splendens, imbellis are bubblenesters, and I think the female does not need to be removed from the tank after spawning?

Also sending you a PM with a link to more info.

I am considering getting a wild pair myself so I will definitely be subscribing to your thread! How did you decide to go with the imbellis? I have been looking at some smaragdina and mahachai pairs, but if you end up with babies for sale I would totally be interested in a pair from you.


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## EvilVOG (Nov 23, 2011)

pretty sure baby is correct from what i've heard. I've also heard that the fry are experts at hiding, and it's led people believe that they didn't have a spawn at all


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

if i do have a spawn of imbellis i'll be sire to sell if to anyone here that wants one but yea thank you guys for the tips.


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## Mahachai (Sep 15, 2012)

Wow! Congrats! I own a metallic mahachai pair myself. It's nice to know that there are more people getting into wild type bettas! :greenyay:


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Mahachai said:


> Wow! Congrats! I own a metallic mahachai pair myself. It's nice to know that there are more people getting into wild type bettas! :greenyay:


Ooh I would love to see them  Do you breed your mahachai?

I wish there were a wild type betta subforum here


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Soft water, dim lighting, lots of tannins, lots of cover and lots of live/frozen foods and you should be good to go. 

That is essentially my recipe for breeding wild bettas and has never steered me wrong. 

I never remove my females from the tank as with wild bettas they will tend to guard the area around the nest and chase others away. However, some females will readily eat their fry so you have to be mindful of that.

Unfortunately, only a handful of members own wild bettas so it would probably be a wasted sub-forum. They are such a niche market, which is a shame as there are so many species, from the tiny uberis right up to the substantial macrostoma.


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

The seller just told me that my fishes will be shipped on the 7th on october to me thats a long time from now


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## PitGurl (Feb 22, 2011)

I'm just getting to wild bettas myself. I've got a pair of guitar smaragdina and a pair of mahachai coming next week. I'm looking at getting involved in the IBC's species maintenance program http://www.ibcbettas.org/smp/index.html

I'm also hoping to show my wilds in IBC shows.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

PitGurl said:


> I'm just getting to wild bettas myself. I've got a pair of guitar smaragdina and a pair of mahachai coming next week. I'm looking at getting involved in the IBC's species maintenance program http://www.ibcbettas.org/smp/index.html
> 
> I'm also hoping to show my wilds in IBC shows.


That's awesome Pitgurl, I had no idea this program existed! I would love to learn more about it and maybe get involved at some point. Would love to see pics of your pairs when they are settled in too


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## Mahachai (Sep 15, 2012)

babystarz said:


> Ooh I would love to see them  Do you breed your mahachai?
> 
> I wish there were a wild type betta subforum here


Maybe you should start a wild thread. Here's my mahachai thread: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=114529&highlight=mahachai 

I haven't breed them yet. Did you know there's a betta store in St. Paul? The guy sells all kinds of bettas and even wild pairs too! :lol:

http://www.mnbettashop.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/Thebettashop


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

I wish they had something like that here in sac town cali. All we have is a local fish store with lots of sick bettas in small containers


Mahachai said:


> Maybe you should start a wild thread. Here's my mahachai thread: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=114529&highlight=mahachai
> 
> I haven't breed them yet. Did you know there's a betta store in St. Paul? The guy sells all kinds of bettas and even wild pairs too! :lol:
> 
> http://www.mnbettashop.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/Thebettashop


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## Mahachai (Sep 15, 2012)

Sorry to hear. Well, if you're ever interested in wilds, you should check his page or message him on facebook. It's nice to buy Thai quality bettas from a US seller rather than the hassle from overseas.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Mahachai said:


> Maybe you should start a wild thread. Here's my mahachai thread: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=114529&highlight=mahachai
> 
> I haven't breed them yet. Did you know there's a betta store in St. Paul? The guy sells all kinds of bettas and even wild pairs too! :lol:
> 
> http://www.mnbettashop.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/Thebettashop


Yes! I love this store! Tony has AMAZING fish and he's super helpful and friendly, I bought my Pineapple girl and Neptune from him. I do think he charges quite a bit for his wild pairs but they are direct from Thailand yes? Having seen them in person I can vouch that they're extremely healthy and beautiful, and he takes good care of them. Is he who you bought your mahachai from?

I think I am going to make a Wild thread soon 



Setsuna said:


> I wish they had something like that here in sac town cali. All we have is a local fish store with lots of sick bettas in small containers


Setsuna if you ever need access to healthy wild species let me know, I've been looking around myself and have started finding some good US-based sellers. I have 6 imbellis juveniles on their way to me and a pair of smaragdina. I bet you could also find some local breeders near you who don't necessarily advertise but would give you good deals on their healthy spawns. I know for sure there's a Macrostoma breeder in Sacramento. Maybe check up on the IBC website for leads?


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Oh duh, I came here to ask a question XD So I've got those 6 imbellis juveniles I mentioned. I only have a 20 gallon long heavily planted tank for them right now. I know you're supposed to have at least 30 gallons for a community tank of adults, but will they be ok temporarily until I can get another tank set up for them? I can also split them up if it's not workable.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Honestly, I keep my wild bettas in smaller quarters than recommended and have no problems. I house a unimaculata pair in a 10 gallon tank and they just gave me 20 odd fry. I have a group of six brownorum (3 pairs) in a 12 inch cube and the dominant pair spawns weekly. 

I've found as long as you offer plenty of cover (java moss is the best for wild bettas I've found) and maintain correct water parameters, you can usually have them in smaller accommodation than what sources online recommend. 

Imbellis might squabble a bit but I had a group of four and really it never went beyond body slapping and chasing. They are much less aggressive than their domesticated counterparts.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

LittleBettaFish said:


> Honestly, I keep my wild bettas in smaller quarters than recommended and have no problems. I house a unimaculata pair in a 10 gallon tank and they just gave me 20 odd fry. I have a group of six brownorum (3 pairs) in a 12 inch cube and the dominant pair spawns weekly.
> 
> I've found as long as you offer plenty of cover (java moss is the best for wild bettas I've found) and maintain correct water parameters, you can usually have them in smaller accommodation than what sources online recommend.
> 
> Imbellis might squabble a bit but I had a group of four and really it never went beyond body slapping and chasing. They are much less aggressive than their domesticated counterparts.


Thanks so much, I really appreciate the advice. It's hard to find active breeders of specific species who can provide information about this stuff.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

No worries. I have successfully bred around 9 species of various types and so have sort of guesstimated my way through the whole process. 

Nice to see some more people getting into wild bettas. They are lovely fish.


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## Mahachai (Sep 15, 2012)

babystarz said:


> Yes! I love this store! Tony has AMAZING fish and he's super helpful and friendly, I bought my Pineapple girl and Neptune from him. I do think he charges quite a bit for his wild pairs but they are direct from Thailand yes? Having seen them in person I can vouch that they're extremely healthy and beautiful, and he takes good care of them. Is he who you bought your mahachai from?
> 
> I think I am going to make a Wild thread soon


Yup, that's where I got my Mahachais. Tony is a great guy and his bettas are beautiful and I always check or visit his new shipments. I've only seen him sold a local breeder's HM bettas once, but the rest of his bettas are from Thailand. Wilds are quite expensive the Mahachai pair I had was $40 and his single blue Mahachai male right now is up for $35. : P Yet, I'm surprised he sold me a wild "caught" emerald smaragdina male for only $10. 

Would love to see a wild thread. :-D


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Haha here it's around $65-$95 for a mahachai pair from the aquarium. Not sure how much it would be to purchase them from a private breeder. Some of my larger species have been around the $95-$110 mark so that is why I try to hang onto as many fry as I can as they are hard to get and expensive to boot!


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## PitGurl (Feb 22, 2011)

My pair of guitar smaragdina come today. Unfortunately there was some confusion with my mahachai pair and they didn't make the last shipment. The seller offered me a refund which I decided to take over waiting another 2 weeks. Right now I think I'm just going to work with one species. 

I'm going to condition the pair for 2 weeks and then they'll be going in the spawn tank. I'll keep a spawn log for them. There isn't much info on the guitar strain and you don't see them that often which is why I want to breed them. They are slightly different from the regular smaragdina. They live in moving bodies of water such as streams, they have longer ventrals, they're brighter colored on their fins and the pattern on their caudal is more pronounced.


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## VictorP (Jun 5, 2012)

That's really cool! I have a pair of golden smaragdina.


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

i hope i get the imbellis tomorrow. im going to go pick them up from julie tran (the transshipper) since she live in the same city as me. i'll post pictures if i get them tomorrow


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

The couples are here. They was so scared on the trip here that they lost both thier colors. Imma give them time to recover and i'll take pictures to show you guys and start the project from there on wish me luck


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## Hallyx (Jun 11, 2011)

VictorP said:


> That's really cool! I have a pair of golden smaragdina.


I'd really like to see pictures of them. Thanks.


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

i dont have pictures of my own yet but heres video of them 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwqU_9hIS9w


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

After hours of observing my wild imbellis i learned alot. Imbellis are much more friendly. Wild bettas likes low light tanks and Males will only chase females but they wont bite them(or maybe its just my pair). They are also much easyer to breed then splendens due to the fact that males wont bite the female till they sometimes die or hurt real bad like splendens. I had my 2 imbellis for only 2 days and the male already have a big nest up unlike splenden males they need to be conditioned and see a female to motivate them to build a nest. I also learned that wild bettas like planted tanks more then regular betta jars. So if you have any wilds plz add some plants to thier tanks they will be much more happy


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

You are so lucky to have wild bettas! Good luck breeding!


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

blueridge said:


> You are so lucky to have wild bettas! Good luck breeding!


Im planning to buy another pair of imbellis again. this betta type is so good looking that i just need another pair


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

good news the wild imbellis are breeding at this moment. i recorded a short video of the wild imbellis breed. todays date is 10/16/12 and time is 2:00pm 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw-3QV8HnW4


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## PinkGuava (Oct 15, 2012)

Wonderful video! I'm super excited for you as I own wilds myself too!


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## RichardA (Dec 2, 2011)

Acclimate them SLOWLY 

Wilds are not as shock resistant as splendens are.

LittleBettaFish pretty much covered all you need to do otherwise.


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

so after the spawning session i waiting till night time(midnight) to take out the female because my tanks was a 5.5 gallon and i didnt have as much plants for the female to hide in.


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

PinkGuava said:


> Wonderful video! I'm super excited for you as I own wilds myself too!


wat do you have? mahachai? smaragdina? imbellis too?


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## blueridge (Jul 1, 2011)

Awesome video!


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

Okay guys I'm updating you guys a little. So I took out the female at night when she's sleeping and now the male is left with the eggs. The seller that I bought the pair from. him and I becames friends and I showed him the video of the pair spawned then he gave me a few tips that I didn't know. He said don't feed the male and just let the male eat the egg shells and the unfertilized eggs wait 5 days later then take him out of the tank by hand and try not to bother the male during the time he's caring for the egg it's best for him. So from here I'm just going to do wat he says and see wat happens next.


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## PitGurl (Feb 22, 2011)

Who did you buy the pair from?


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

PitGurl said:


> Who did you buy the pair from?


not sure if i want to blast his name on here unless i ask him if i can


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

babystarz said:


> Note, I'm just starting to research this as well, but based on what I'm finding so far, the conditions needed for breeding differ slightly for each species. For imbellis, a few differences from splendens:
> 
> - Imbellis can be kept in pairs full time in a 10 gal tank with lots of cover and plants.
> - Imbellis prefer slightly cooler water than splendens, mid 70's to low 80's maximum
> ...


i have had alot of tips from the seller after showing him the spawning video of the pair. i'll post all the things i ask him and his replys on here



*Me
*
should i leave to female in the tank or take her out?
yea
 *Answer
*

If you have big tank with many plants for her to hiding then you no need to take her out, but I saw your tank are not many plants so better you take her out after she finished the egg.
 *Me
*

okay
 
*Answer*
But you no need to take her out right now, you can take her when you close all the lighting and after 1 hour you use a flashlight and see if she are sleeping at the beside far from the nest then you can slowly the her out.
 
*Me
*
okay
 
*Answer*
Then better have a cover for the tank, don't let the wind blow the surface of the water and no need to feed the male and don't make any sound.
*Me*
okay 

*Answer*
Better don't see him ok? Haha..
 *Me*


hahaha
that i cant promise
i want to see when the frys hatch and swim
do i have to take out them male after the frys swim?

 *Answer*


Don't disturb him man.. After 5 days you can take him out by the hand slowly when he sleeping.
 *Me
*

okay
 *Answer
*

After you take out the female please feed her because she is hungry and pity..
 *Me*


okay
 *Answer
*
Male can eat the egg cover and the egg without sperm, so please don't feed him!


 *Me
*k


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## JikoJiko (Jul 18, 2012)

Setsuna said:


> i have had alot of tips from the seller after showing him the spawning video of the pair. i'll post all the things i ask him and his replys on here
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You seem to have a hold mindful or things about These Imbellis.... My male is partly bred with an Imbellis so he Shares the Long body and thin width or Imbellis... But because his father was not an imbellis... His form shows some part of regular domestic bettas... But if you saw him you would know that he has Imbellis genes in him....


Anyways... to the point....

I do not know if any one told you this and I am pretty sure some one did or you already know... but ... with my breeding the Half Imbellis... He seems to be able to care for his fry longer than the regular Domestic bettas... inwhich they say that they eat their fry about 3 days after hatching... 

I kept the Half male Imbellis with his Babies for about a week after his eggs hatched... The female was also a half bred Imbellis though I tool her out since he was destroying her finnage... But I think that Imbellis, since they are near wild most of the time.. still caring the wild breeding strain of caring for there fry untill the fry can run away by its self... 

NOTE: During the half imbellis's care for his eggs to hatching i still fed him regularly with live larvae and bloodworms... Still he acted normal... catching his fry and spitting them back near the nest... though I did see that some fry (instinct) ran away from him... yet he didnt eat them he jus caught them and threw them back up near the nest...

Ofcourse he prob ate like two - five but still I have this sense that Imbellis wilds will take care of there fry at a longer rate compared to the domesticated Betta that everyone talks about. : P


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

JikoJiko said:


> You seem to have a hold mindful or things about These Imbellis.... My male is partly bred with an Imbellis so he Shares the Long body and thin width or Imbellis... But because his father was not an imbellis... His form shows some part of regular domestic bettas... But if you saw him you would know that he has Imbellis genes in him....
> 
> 
> Anyways... to the point....
> ...


Thanks for your tips. Its good that you feed him too but it me i dont really want to feed him also due to tank dirtying the tank because they frys are going to stey in there for a while. But i guess it just depends on the breeders i guess


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

Fry updates will be up soon


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## JikoJiko (Jul 18, 2012)

Setsuna said:


> Thanks for your tips. Its good that you feed him too but it me i dont really want to feed him also due to tank dirtying the tank because they frys are going to stey in there for a while. But i guess it just depends on the breeders i guess



Your welcome... OH well that makes logical sense.. why alot of my fry died... and also prob due to the green water that was depleting O2.... (I didn't have a small airstone in there till later).... also could be from weak fry aswell... I only have 5 now... out from like 50-100... that hatched... 

Yeh.... ok keep up with your idea.. lol.. Goodluck...


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

this is another wild imbellis that i had recently bought. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkUW9R_i8os


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## JikoJiko (Jul 18, 2012)

Setsuna said:


> this is another wild imbellis that i had recently bought. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkUW9R_i8os


It looks so naturally beautiful!


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## Setsuna (Sep 5, 2012)

JikoJiko said:


> It looks so naturally beautiful!


This guy was captured from natural habitat


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## JikoJiko (Jul 18, 2012)

Setsuna said:


> This guy was captured from natural habitat


Thats shows it !!!! :-D


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## BettaFx (Oct 15, 2012)

gratz =] 

soft water,
IAL water banana leaf too if you have
more space...lots of hiding spaces just about the same


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## phikhanhs (Jul 25, 2011)

Nice ^^


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