Betta Breviobesus Build

the BBB. LOL!

So, I was talking to my wild betta guy in indonesia yesterday and it seems he decided I needed another species with my order... so he sent me a pair of betta breviobesus. Apparently they are quite uncommon because I can't find any kind of decent info on them aside from that they are in the pugnax complex and are native to the same river basin.

Since they can hybridize with Betta enisae which I'm getting in the same order, they can't go in the 40 breeder biotope. So I am setting up a 10 gallon for them.

I was planning to use mostly crypts in the tank, though the crypt parva that I ordered recently and was planning to steal from to get things started seems to actually be brazilian microsword... the most useless plant I've ever had the displeasure of trying to keep sunk in my tanks LOL. Pretty for sure, but not what I wanted and a whole lot of trouble if you ask me

Anyway, I am setting up a 10 gallon last minute thing for them. I literally have no driftwood right now so I'm looking for some pieces to create fake roots and a waterfall. I picked up a new 10 gallon today at the Petco sale and 70 bucks later, got a backdrop, tiny internal filter, and an anubias that I didn't even realize was not a java fern, but is still really pretty. Of course I'll be adding java moss as well, and I dropped a single Amazon frogbit plant in the tank with a bit of water to settle the sand (black blasting sand I couldn't be bothered to wash) before I fill it up and turn on the filter.

If anyone knows of interesting crypts for sale online, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the stores. I do have a few uncommon ones that I can't even name, but they are in my fancy betta tanks and they aren't coming out. And I doubt my fish store will be getting more anytime soon.

I would also like to find something that looks like that green, fuzzy, tiny moss that grows on rocks around waterfalls and plant some on the wood I want to use as the waterfall. I'm thinking I might have better luck with that at a terrarium supply place, though.

I'm only planning to fill the tank maybe 3/4 of the way up, to allow for riparian growth, but we'll see how things go. Obviously the more water, the better. These are big fish LOL.

 

Wow, what a nice surprise! When you say they're "big" how big do you mean?

 

Aquaphobia Pugnax complex bettas tend to be the largest of mouthbrooders and IME reach even greater sizes in aquaria as the water quality of their tank is better than them being trapped in the swamps when their streams dry up. I had one pair for a while (I dubbed them The Puggles) and they were over 6" long. We're not sure what species they could have been.

They are listed on his stock list at 3". I expect they could easily reach 4 with good food in my aquarium, though there is no way of knowing for sure how old they will be when I get them. It might be their offspring that end up huge LOL.

Either way I'm kind of excited to experiment with them and see if I can get them to breed. Like I said there is very little info on them online so I'm planning to start them in neutral water with low kH and gH, but stable around 6.8-7.2 pH. I will see if they seem to do better with a higher percentage of my tap water as opposed to RO but I will be adding plenty of driftwood into the tank as they were probably collected from a peat swamp.

 

New name to me. But I've spawned a couple of the big mouthbrooders, they're usually easy to feed and breed. Good Luck!!

 

chromedome52 Hermanus has had them for a while. I'm sure I've seen them on his stock list for a good few years, but I've never really heard much about them in the betta community or species conservation groups I'm a member of.

I'm also pretty sure they have a really restricted range in Borneo (where all the cool mouthbrooders seem to be from LOL). I considered putting them in with my B. rubra, but I suspect their preferred water is a bit less acidic than the rubra like. I kind of feel guilty though, because rubra are fairly small, and I have mine in a 15 gallon whereas these big boys are only going in a 10 gallon. I'm hoping the fry are sexable at 1" so I can sell them/give them away early and not overcrowd the tank. Though I'll need to learn to sex them first LOL.

 

BucePlant has two uncommon Crypt Cordata variants, as well as Crypt Fusca, and some other fun species like NuriI and Striolata.

Out of curiosity, do you know of good places to source wild bettas in domestically? I'm not in the market just yet, since I'm eking out a corner of my office with custom shelving to fit a few 20 gallon tanks, but I'm really interested in Betta Hendra and Taeniata.

 

PastaAlGul sure I do B. hendra shouldn't be too hard to find. Fewer people keep taentiata but if you join the IBC facebook groups you should be able to get them.

Given that you're in Seattle you might also try The Wet Spot in Portland (a drive I know, but more reliable than shipping)

LOL how did I forget about Buceplant? I am ordering some crypts... I hate impromptu tanks x.x

 

Jocelyn Adelman you asked for photos... I got a few of the breviobesus. They settled in within minutes despite the lack of decor in their tank.

They are much prettier than I thought they'd be!

 

Stunning!!!!

Check out pellia moss, good size but darker coloration similar to subwassertang. Riccia would be better for the lighter color (Moss that grows on rocks next to streams that you mentioned)

 

That's a handsome fish! I love their little pugnacious faces.

 

That's a handsome fish! I love their little pugnacious faces.

The males in particular have resting... well you know what face. LOL.

Jocelyn Adelman when their wood arrives I will probably pull some riccia from the big breeder tank and tie it to the wood right at the waterline. The tank is actually fuller than I had pictured, and probably could use another gallon or two of water.

I am so pleased with how attractive these guys are. Especially the female, she is this lovely pearl color with some turquoise tints. I can't believe they settled in and colored up so fast - in bags, all of the wilds had the angry mottled coloring they get when they are *extremely* upset about life. I put these guys in their sparse as heck tank and Bam, instacolor!

Now I just need to get pictures of everybody else... lol!

 

They're beautiful!!! Can't wait to see more pics! Love the coloring on them

 

Sooo... Pretty sure they spawned today while I was at work. He's wearing spawning garb and is not moving his mouth at all.

Given he has a big scratch on his jaw and another poke on his bottom lip, I'm thinking he won't hold to term (in fact I kind of hope he doesn't as I may need to treat his injuries). But still. Prolific little buggers, aren't they? LOL

Jocelyn Adelman the first of the wood arrived today. I'm going to use it for the waterfall - it's tiny, but perfectly shaped

Got some more photos of the male. He has some owies on his face from netting and shipping... and he's holding I'm pretty sure. So yeah, that should be interesting later. Though I already know I'd rather sacrifice the eggs than have anything happen to him. These shots really do show his color though. Such a pretty boy.

 

Omg!!! He is absolutely stunning!!!! Seriously. Freaking. Beautiful. I would also hope for his survival over the eggs!! Ugh, I'd be devastated for you if anything happened to him!! Oooh... I wonder what he would look like against a black sand substrate? Send him to me, and I'll check for you! hehe

 

Agreed with nightshade, his (and hers) coloration is truly stunning!!!!
Crazy that they are spawning already!!!!

 

Jocelyn Adelman Hermanus told me the other night that he went into his fishroom to collect the fish I ordered, saw that this female was eggy, and decided to send her with a male too. LOL. I'm hoping he swallows soon in case I need to treat him, but I guess we'll see. He doesn't even look like he's holding, but I don't think the female absorbed the eggs, so I assume they're in his mouth. If it wasn't a big spawn, this guy is big enough that he might not have to puff up his gills.

Anyway, the build continues:







Interestingly, they couldn't have cared less about my hands being in their tank, even while the male is holding. Since they are wild caught, I expected them to be pretty shy. I mean they are happy now, because they have somewhere to hide, but still.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this new light does with the red crypts I added today. I got my order from Buceplant, and while I was at my LFS they had a few decent sized red crypts too, so I picked up a pot.

As I ended up with WAY too many plants, I went ahead and put the extras in my fancy betta tanks and my Betta rubra tank which is looking really sparse since the java moss suffocated all of the other plants. I may post pics later when the water clears up

Also I just realized I forgot to get blackworms for them while I was at the store... dangit! I was talking to the employees about the event they have coming up, I got sidetracked Poor hungry female

Maybe tomorrow I can snag some worms from the big wild tank and try to seed this one. The other tank, they have completely colonized the sand and are reproducing, and the big male enisae keeps stirring up giant meals of blackworm lol.

 

Funny! Last week I was at my lfs for some blackworms... paid for them, got a few other things as well... when I got home no blackworms apparently all my chatting distracted the poor lfs employee (was a great conversation though!)

(Let me know if too many plants... can cancel)

 

Jocelyn Adelman no I still need moss and java fern to mount on the wood.

the other plants I ordered from you are for other tanks as well so please, send them LOL.

NightShade would you believe me if I told you their substrate is black diamond blasting sand? LOL it's got a layer of stuff on it already. Probably because I'm too lazy to wash my blasting sand and it's all dusty.

Anyway I wanted to update, because if you look closely at the photos, Little Buddy has some damage to one side of his face/gill/jaw/lip. Apparently he had a fight with the net when he was getting caught LOL. But, the update is, I haven't even treated him at all, just put him in his tank with clean water and plants and some driftwood and IAL (the tank is almost put together, just waiting for goodies from Jocelyn and for the wood to sink... LOL) and the swelling is slowly going down. It looks like the bump on his lip is healing up too, so I'm very happy about that.

Oddly, this pair I think are officially my favorite of all of my fish right now. They are so much more stunning than I pictured! And even though they are wild-caught, they are personable and come to the front of the tank when I'm near (except now that the male has hiding places, he's not out as much. Not sure if he's still holding, or just wants to have some piece and quiet while his mouth heals).

The female is also already eating. I gave them a few freeze-dried bloodworms over the weekend mainly to see if the male would eat, as if he wouldn't, he's probably holding. The female gobbled them all up once she smelled them as they rehydrated. The male didn't eat (I really hope this means he's still holding <3).

I will get some better pictures of their tank and them once all of their stuff settles down.

The colors on these two are more amazing every day

 

Subtle hints aren't your thing huh? been a crazy day, I needed a giggle so totally appreciated!
I shipped earlier today, set to arrive wed... will send you the tracking info shortly

No new pictures????

 

I didn't get an alert all weekend for this thread, or your other one! (not until you tagged me) so weird.

Love the new tank scape! I can totally see why this pair is your favorite! They pose for pics well too... hint hint lol! That's awesome that they didn't mind your hands in the tank, and how personable they are... I truly like hearing about them.. they sound wonderful! Sign me up for their babies ...could do a shuffle, & put rubra in my 20, and them in my 40B (since the breviobesus are larger... correct?)

So glad the male is healing up. I hope he is holding too. Did you ever go get some more blackworms? I've been wanting to order some myself... I'd like to have a small amount colonize my tank.. but right now, I am not sure I need the amount that the blackworm place would send. No good fish stores around me. I'll prob wait on that.

Eh... it's ok to be lazy about rinsing sand... just got done rinsing like 50lbs for my 40Bead: so... yea, I kinda envy the lazy route haha

Jocelyn Adelman, need to PM you about plants later lol

 

Subtle hints aren't your thing huh? been a crazy day, I needed a giggle so totally appreciated!
I shipped earlier today, set to arrive wed... will send you the tracking info shortly

No new pictures????

Woot woot (what subtle hint did I miss? sometimes I get excited... lol especially about fish!)

I will take new pics when their wood sinks. Or the next time Little Buddy is out and looking handsome LOL. They are so photogenic I swear they pose sometimes haha.

NightShade be careful where you order blackworms from, mostly because they usually come in HUGE batches when you order online unless you can find a nice private seller. I get mine from the LFS because they sell smaller portions. The largest is a tablespoon which was way more than I needed to set up a colony in the 40 breeder.

Also yes Brevis are larger than rubra, but you could probably house them together as the Brevis are so far MUCH more peaceful than the rubra. Rubra are feisty haha but wouldn't even care about these dudes in their tank.

Anyway if they spawn I will definitely save you some juvies.

 

Woot woot (what subtle hint did I miss? sometimes I get excited... lol especially about fish!)

I will take new pics when their wood sinks. Or the next time Little Buddy is out and looking handsome LOL. They are so photogenic I swear they pose sometimes haha.

NightShade be careful where you order blackworms from, mostly because they usually come in HUGE batches when you order online unless you can find a nice private seller. I get mine from the LFS because they sell smaller portions. The largest is a tablespoon which was way more than I needed to set up a colony in the 40 breeder.

Also yes Brevis are larger than rubra, but you could probably house them together as the Brevis are so far MUCH more peaceful than the rubra. Rubra are feisty haha but wouldn't even care about these dudes in their tank.

Anyway if they spawn I will definitely save you some juvies.

Yea, that's what worries me about ordering blackworms lol.... there's no one local to get them from. Only safe source I've found online, iirc, sells them by 1/4 pound lol I'll email them and find out... I'll find something

Sweet!! Thank you!! ❤️ I would love to have both breviobesus & rubra in the same tank!! I can imagine all their pretty colors together now!!

Can't wait to see the pics

 

My lfs also sells blackworms, $4 per tablespoon... first time I went I asked for three... OMG the amount of squiggly things was too much!!!!! Stuck with one at a time since then

 

Blackworms are a bit gross to look at for sure haha. But IME there is no better staple for insectivores. Blackworm infusions are like insta-breeding juice LOL.

 

Eh, I wouldn't mind them I don't think... I LOVE earthworms in the garden... I rescue them all the time lol... and put them back in the moist rich dirt ❤️ Lol... yes, I was a weird kid!

Lol! Blackworm infusions... Instant breeding juice... do you play Marvin Gaye or Barry White too? (Lol... sad thing is that prob half the members are too young to know who I'm talking about )

May have to get one of y'all to send me some blackworms sometime.. I don't have anything other than a rubbish petsmart that doesn't even sell rocks or driftwood anymore... should've seen the bad care my Mystery Snail's shells showed... their shells were horrible at first.. one almost died. They don't even have them on display... I seriously wonder what their snail tank looks like (that's why I still have so many snails... couldn't bring myself to trade for store credit.) nevermind the ridiculous prices they have. Ugh.

 

May have to get one of y'all to send me some blackworms sometime.. I don't have anything other than a rubbish petsmart that doesn't even sell rocks or driftwood anymore... should've seen the bad care my Mystery Snail's shells showed... their shells were horrible at first.. one almost died. They don't even have them on display... I seriously wonder what their snail tank looks like (that's why I still have so many snails... couldn't bring myself to trade for store credit.) nevermind the ridiculous prices they have. Ugh.

The solution is to open your own fish store. LOL!

 

So, NightShade Jocelyn Adelman

I got my new filter. The new wood sank. The crypt parva minI died but the rest seem to be bouncing back since I removed the soft wood and did a 50% water change (sidenote: DO NOT PUT GHOSTWOOD in your aquarium. Bad, bad choice. It's being repurposed to my gecko tank). I have some biofilm/algae on the glass so the pictures are terrible, and I clearly need another nerite for this tank. I actually want a herd of amano shrimp, but I honestly don't know if the bettas would eat them or not. I might try one and see how it does.

THE FILTER IS A HUNK OF LAVA ROCK WITH SPONGE ON IT. It's awesome. You'll love it. I've planted it with terrestrial moss that I'm going to try to grow all over the top of it, and I really hope it works because it would look AWESOME.

Please excuse the terrible pictures.

These guys are still my favorites haha. They come up to the front of the tank whenever I'm in there, and do the food dance. Right up until I open the lid, at which point they both vanish LOL. It's hilarious to me.

The male is healing really nicely, though he did swallow broods... twice :/ Oh well. I want his face healed so I'll take it LOL.

 

I'm curious about the lava rock filter! Is it a power filter?

 

Coloring looks amazing!!!

Word of warning on the moss covered Sponge... will be difficult to clean if ever necessary.... fabulous idea with the lava rock though, will add great bio to it!!!

 

I'm curious about the lava rock filter! Is it a power filter?

It's air powered. It looks like what they did was flatten and drill a piece of lava rock, and insert the top of one of the dual-side sponge filters from CLL Pet supplies or a similar retailer, making sure the lava rock was bigger than the sponge.

Jocelyn Adelman the moss isn't growing on the sponge. It's growing on the lava rock. I would only plant a "sponge" if I was doing a larger pored sponge as a backdrop/hamburg mattenfilter (which I would have totally done in this tank if I'd had the time to order the foam).

I'll get better pictures soon too as with the extra flow, the tank seems to be clearing up a bit The fish seem to be loving it haha! They now have gentle flow, and they are colored up and hanging out together (they are really cuddly; it's so cute!)

since you were asking about my setups for wilds, I thought I'd tag you here as this is my newest (and possibly soon-to-be proudest) one.

 

This has to be the best thread I've seen on fishlore, by a wide margin. There is so much to be learned from this one - it is great.

 

This has to be the best thread I've seen on fishlore, by a wide margin. There is so much to be learned from this one - it is great.

Coming from you, that is a HUGE compliment! Thank you so much!

 

This has to be the best thread I've seen on fishlore, by a wide margin. There is so much to be learned from this one - it is great.

I agree... I jump every time I get an alert! Same goes for junebug's other Betta threads too!

 

I am also locked in. Good stuff!!

 

I got some updated photos of the kiddos last night since I wiped the biofilm from the front of the tank.

Papa's wounds are healing nicely, though he's still a bit "poofy" on that side of his jaw. Still, he doesn't seem to be in any pain and is eating (a LOT - he's a hungry, hungry boy!) so I'm no longer concerned. I didn't even have to treat him haha.

I need to do a few more water changes on their tank to get the water to be not-so-dark. And raise the pH a bit I'm sure haha.

 

Okay, here are some better pics (and a couple where I couldn't get rid of the reflection on my phone )

Jocelyn Adelman you can see where I've planted the terrestrial moss; it shouldn't affect the sponge at all as it's at the very top of the lava rock, which will be above water most if not all of the time.

Also got a cute shot of husband and wife LOL!

Now I just need to get rid of the stinkin' algae. I can't find the nerite I put in there. A really adorable little horned guy from my local shop. I'm hoping they didn't eat him and he's just hiding in there, though I may break down and get a couple more, and maybe a japanese trapdoor snail just to keep the fungus and algae down (and eat the plants that melted in the great aquarium fog, thank you terrible driftwood).

 

I have to say it's amazing how the color on the Java fern pops!!!!! Don't think I realized from the prior pics of her that her tail was so short!!! Their coloration is gorgeous!

 

Thanks Jocelyn Adelman java fern looks GREAT in blackwater. Also the light temp on the light I have on there, even though it's not the greatest plant light (.5 watt aquaneat) is really nice.

The bolbitis is a nice color contrast, I think. It's so much brighter than I remember them being LOL.

 

Yay video of the Brevis!

Ignore me. I don't know how to microphone on this video LOL. But the fish are still cool. And still my favs <3

 

Loving this thread as well. Those are some real beauties you have there.