Just found betta imbellis at Petco

So I was poking around at our Petco (before you yell at me, I know, Petco isn’t great but ours is pretty decent and I was just stopping by) and I found the most interesting little guy, he looked vaguely familiar.. I searched up a picture of betta imbellis to compare and, sure enough, they looked exactly the same! I have an empty, heated, cycled, planted 10 gallon that is set up perfectly for a betta, and I’ve been wanting a betta imbellis for a while, so, ummm.. I might have maybe kinda sorta gotten him… oops? He was sold as a “Delta Tail Male”, and I snatched him up for $8. Will post pictures as soon as I’m done acclimating any name suggestions?

 

Oh wow that is a rare find....at least in Canada. They live in extremely acidic waters just as a precaution

 

Gotcha, thanks for the warning! *goes to dig for catappa leaves I’m sure I probably have laying around somewhere* the pH is at a fairly reasonable level, (low-ish 7) and as he was most likely tank bred seeing as he was in Petco I’m not too concerned about it but I will definitely make an effort to have a few more tannins and leaves than my previous splendens buddies

 

I wouldn't say extremely acidic, decently so, but seriously fish says 5-7.5 pH and 18 - 179 ppm TDS

Not nearly as much as say a betta hendra from the coccina complex

 

What a lucky find, just make sure you've got a super tight lid on there!

 

I will for sure! Planning on getting a mesh lid asap, but I’ve got a good one on there for now

 

Can we see some pics? That would help with some name suggestions, though Lucky comes to mind...

 

Can we see some pics? That would help with some name suggestions, though Lucky comes to mind...

Oh I forgot to post pics! Yeah, let me find some (I already have around 10 lol) Lucky was a thought I was tossing around, I’m also thinking something like Orion, or I could find a Pokémon / favorite book or movie character! Here are some pics!


I’m awful at fish photography, my apologies in the second one you can see the white on the ventral fin, that‘s mainly what tipped me off that he wasn’t splendens, but his imbellis patterns are much more clear irl
also, forgot to add, he’s eating very well and seems healthy and happy so far!

 

Hate to be the one to burst your bubble, so to speak, but your fish is a domestic Betta splendens. B. imbellis has shorter fins and a red crescent on the rear edge of the caudal fin. It just might have some imbellis blood, however - domestic bettas are said to be a mixture of B. splendens, B. imbellis and B. smaragdina.