Betta Coccina

8/10/2013

Here is a species I haven't had in my fish room for a long time: the stunning and rather ferocious Betta coccina. This was actually the first species of wild betta I started off with about three years ago, and it has taken me this long to source myself a group again.

These three come from an Australian wholesaler. I received them a while ago, but they were all suffering from a very nasty ich infection when I got them and so I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself in case they didn't recover.

However, after over a week of treatment with Protozin and heat, they seem to be on the mend. After my terrible morning, it was nice to see the dominant male looking much more healthy and feisty than he was when he first arrived here.

I believe I have a female and another smaller male. While it would be nice to one day have a wild-caught pair, for now my 'aquarium strain' coccina will have to do.

Once they are completely recovered I will be setting them up a proper tank and separating out the smaller male so as to hopefully encourage a spawn.

8 Comments

Nicholas

12/10/2013 10:32:02 am

I'm having a really hard time with a group of betta coccina, I can't properly sex them and I've had a couple deaths. What makes females different than males? do females always have a stripe across their backs? Under different lighting conditions they all seem to have stripes on their backs, but if I shift the light then they look like males.

Ashlea

12/10/2013 02:06:29 pm

Based on my experiences, male coccina have larger, more sharply angled fins with longer/fuller ventrals than the females.

Females should have a smaller anal fin and may appear rounder in the stomach area than males.

Also, you may be able to spot the ovaries on the females if you use a strong flashlight.

Any reason for the deaths? They can be a quite sensitive species so do need specific conditions to do best.

13/10/2013 07:26:33 am

My water parameters are very good, I assumed it was from fighting. I had 6 fish in a 40 gallon breeder. the surviving fish are extremely healthy looking.

13/10/2013 01:05:08 pm

The coccina complex as a whole can be rather aggressive compared to some of the other wild bettas, but I would find it strange for there to be deaths due to fighting, particularly with a group of six fish in 40 gallons.

My two males live together in a 7 gallon tank, as my previous two males did before them and while they do have moments of friction, I couldn't see them fighting to the point of serious injury or death.

I do have to ask how often you see your coccina? My wilds seem to be able to turn themselves invisible in a 5 gallon tank. I couldn't imagine letting them loose into a tank eight times that size haha. Would be lucky if I saw them once every year at Christmas.

13/10/2013 02:33:32 pm

they're wild, and I see the most dominant fish all the time, the second most dominant most of the time, and the third hides quite a bit more but comes out for feedings consistently. The third also has vertical stress stripes and is less colorful than the other two.

betta fish tank for kids link

11/11/2013 06:00:19 pm

It is my great pleasure to visit your website and to enjoy your excellent post on Betta Coccina blog. I like that very much.

Ivo

2/7/2014 03:41:48 am

Hi! I as well enjoy your website very much! great inside information and perfectly written.

A question: I also have a pair of "coccina" or at least that's the name under which I sold it. Would you be able to correctly ID them from a few pictures? You can reply to my email address if you'd prefer. Then I can send you the pictures directly.

Thanks in advance! Keep up your great effort.

2/7/2014 07:52:51 am

Hi Ivo, if they are Betta coccina, I'm fairly certain that they will have black ventral tips. I don't think any other species has black ventral tips, at least not any species that are similar in appearance to coccina (tussyae are white and livida are green).

I can't seem to find your email address in your post, so hopefully you read this reply.

Red Wine Bettas

Betta Coccina

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