Wild Betta fish habitat

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Hey betta… take a walk on the wild side! You know about bettas, but what do you know about wild betta fish? Let’s take a look at wild bettas that can be kept in an aquarium.

Just about everyone knows the betta – it’s a beautiful, colorful fish that can be purchased just about anywhere. What most people don’t know is that there is a whole other side to bettas that are not nearly as common in the aquarium trade. The less vibrant, but perhaps more beautiful, wild cousins to the average domestic betta are abundant in its natural habitat.

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A key difference between wild bettas and domestics is that males and females can be kept together in the same aquarium. The wild bettas are much less aggressive towards each other than domestic bettas, which were bred initially for fighting

There are many species of wild betta. They are divided into complexes:

• Akarensis
• Albimarginata
• Bellica
• Coccina
• Foerschi
• Picta
• Pugnax
• Splendens
• Unimaculata
• Waseri

Each complex has its own particular characteristics that make them unique, such as breeding habits, color, shape, size, and scale patterns.

The Splenden complex is the closest wild cousin to the domestic betta that is typically seen in the aquarium trade. Wild splendens, such as B. Imbellis, B. Smaragdina, and B. Mahachai come in stunning colors such as copper, green, and gold. They are bubble nesters – the male creates a bubble nest by exhaling at the surface of the water; he then embraces the female, which causes her to drop her eggs. Once he fertilizes the eggs, he places them into the bubble nest and tends to the nest until the fry are free swimming. Other bubble-nesting complexes include Coccina, and Bellica.