The tank housing my pair of Betta sp. wajok, is the favourite of my fish room. While it might not seem like much from photos, in person it is extremely natural looking. In fact, with tea-coloured water, and roots trailing from the surface plants, you almost don't notice the jar that houses one of the two males. The combination of peat moss, leaf litter and wood on the bottom of the tank, creates an enriching environment for my fish to explore, and encourages the growth of infusoria - an important food source for future fry. As I've likely mentioned in previous entries, the tank itself is 45x27x30cm. I keep the water level at around 15cm, which allows the watersprite to grow emersed. I personally like the look of shallow water, and I think it probably reflects more closely the type of environment these fish would inhabit in the wild. The water temperature is kept around 24 degrees Celsisus, and partial water changes are carried out once a week (usually only a couple of litres). While I do throw in a rooibos tea bag or two, the leaf litter, peat moss and wood seems to be enough to keep the water dark. Unfortunately, I ended up with two males, so I am not able to ascertain how conductive this set-up is for spawning. My experiences thus far show me that this is quite an aggressive species. The two males could not cohabitate peacefully, and the male pictured above caused some serious damage to his rival. It's going to be interesting to see if some of this aggression abates with the arrival of a female, and whether this male directs his energies into courtship rather than battle.
Because I do only have two males I can't comment on what it takes to successfully breed these fish. However, rest assured, any progress made in this particular area will certainly be shared - and include plenty of photos! As this is not an officially described species and there is only scant information available online, I am hoping that my replacement female survives the importation process without incident. I very interested in working further with Betta sp. wajok, and will chronicling all my experiences (both good and bad) right here. Comments are closed.
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AuthorLocated in Melbourne, Australia, I currently keep and breed a number of species from the coccina complex. Archives
November 2017
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