Article of the Month MARCH 2015 : Betta mahachaiensis

First topic message reminder :

Mahachaiensis is one of the fish that I brought back from Thailand. It is endemic to Thailand and until now only found south-west of Bangkok and in a province north east, close to the border with Laos.

I definitively have the variety (recognisable by the form of the tail) from the area close to Bangkok. The seller even showed me on Google maps where he had the fish from. I am not sure whether these are all wild caught or F1.

This fish was until 2012 listed as Betta sp. 'mahachaiensis' but after that it became apparent that it was a separate species. I read that this fish is responsible for the so-called 'dragon' variety of the splendens and I can imagine that when you see the scale pattern on mahachaiensis.

This fish makes even the nicest fancy betta look like a sinco (sin color) and I can't get enough of watching this fish; they are gorgeous!

I got 2 males, and 3 females. Two females are still juveniles and are in not too good condition, already when I got them. The seller gave them for free, when I asked for females. The third female is mature. One of the males is around 3 months old (suspected F1), and the other male mature.

I have put the mature male and female in a 10 gallon tank in the hope to breed them. The male already produced a small bubble nest, but I think it is still incomplete and that no fertile eggs are in the nest at the moment.

Enough talk; some pictures now:

female (hardest to photograph as she is often in hiding):

DSC02247 by Biulu, on Flickr

male:

DSC02269 by Biulu, on Flickr

It was recommended to include caves as hiding spots in the tank and they are actually using them:
DSC02244 by Biulu, on Flickr

The nest: I think it is still too small, but for 2 days in this tank, not bad
DSC02243 by Biulu, on Flickr

The male guarding the nest:
DSC02252 by Biulu, on Flickr

Some more pictures of the male so you can see the scale pattern and irridiscent colours under different lights (as I said, I can't get enough of this fish!)

DSC02264 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC02250 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC02266 by Biulu, on Flickr

Here are some of the juvenile male and in the last picture you can see clearly why they call it a dragon type scale:

DSC02241 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC02238 by Biulu, on Flickr

DSC02256 by Biulu, on Flickr

Congrats on healthy fish and the fry can juvenile male plakat's live peacefully among each other?

Biulu wrote:The fish are doing very well, thank you! However, I am not trying to breed them actively anymore now since I know I will be travelling again in about 3 weeks' time.

The person taking care of my fish in that time will have enough on their hands with the betta plakat fry and maybe the peackock gudgeons. I have a tube of eggs bubbling of these at the moment.

Time for me to jump on a plane and take care of your fish while you are gone I guess.

CAAIndie wrote:
Time for me to jump on a plane and take care of your fish while you are gone I guess.

You are more than welcome CAA!

Biulu wrote:

CAAIndie wrote:
Time for me to jump on a plane and take care of your fish while you are gone I guess.

You are more than welcome CAA!

On my way.

This evening I noticed that the male had a nest again. This time, the nest is considerably bigger than the last time with a nice multilayered centre.

I couldn't see anything in the nest yet, so I am not sure whether the male is going after the female to get her to the nest, or trying to keep her away from the nest....

I took out the female tonight as I saw this:

DSC02581 by Biulu, on Flickr

You can see the black dots in the bubbles on the left hand side of the nest.

Bwaaaaaaah. Exciting! 

(Bwaaaaaah is my excited sound).

Thank you for sharing the photos.

WOW now that's exciting, good luck and keep us posted.

Steve

Biulu wrote:I took out the female tonight as I saw this:

DSC02581 by Biulu, on Flickr

You can see the black dots in the bubbles on the left hand side of the nest.

Thats great can't wait to see a whole bunch of fry swimming around!

Very very nice.

Ok guys, I am at a loss with this fish. I noticed that the nest held eggs on the 6th of April.

Eggs are supposed to hatch in 24-48 hrs according to the literature and become free swimming after 3 to 4 days. So, in the worst case scenario fry should have hatched on the 8th and be free swimming on the 12th.

Until today I have not seen any wigglers. Although the male is still under the nest, he doesn't seem to maintain it anymore as the bubbles are larger and the nest gets smaller. Several of these bubbles still look very black but I do not see anything move.

I wonder whether I should move the leaf under which the nest is to see if anything falls out?

I have also looked into the tank to see if there is anything free swimming already, but nope. Although there is so much java moss in that tank that they might well be hiding in there....

Fingers crossed that they are just hiding! Nothing helpful to add... other than that I hope they are in there.

Yes, me too! I have decided that tomorrow with lights, I will shake the leaf with the nest a bit and see what happens.

Biulu wrote:Yes, me too! I have decided that tomorrow with lights, I will shake the leaf with the nest a bit and see what happens.

I'll be super excited to see if you find anything. Be sure to update us if you see anything.

So, my action clearly upset the male and he was for a while going after things that were microscopically small. However, even with the magnifying glass I wasn't able to discern whether these 'things' were fry.

The tank has quite a lot of java moss and decomposing leaves so there is enough food for some fry to survive if there are any.

I have decided to let nature take its course, did a big water change (hadn't had any for 2 weeks due to the nest) and put the female back in.

I figure they will eventually get it right and if not, I will change the male for the juvenile that is getting stronger and stronger.

Biulu wrote:So, my action clearly upset the male and he was for a while going after things that were microscopically small. However, even with the magnifying glass I wasn't able to discern whether these 'things' were fry.

The tank has quite a lot of java moss and decomposing leaves so there is enough food for some fry to survive if there are any.

I have decided to let nature take its course, did a big water change (hadn't had any for 2 weeks due to the nest) and put the female back in.

I figure they will eventually get it right and if not, I will change the male for the juvenile that is getting stronger and stronger.

Many years ago (probably 20) for a Grade 12 Biology project I tried to mate Bettas. I had an immature male, he would make the nest, spawn, the eggs would be in in the nest, I removed the female and then over the next few days he would eat/kill everything.

Sometimes it is best to wait until you have eggs in the nest and then remove both male and female.
I guess you can try again when you return from your trip.

I will try again, that is for sure! I also have another male that I could put in there if he is not up to it.

Anything new with these beauties? Any more luck with them?

I just saw this topic and was all excited!!!  I was hoping for a trip to Montreal.