# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Advice on Betta sp. "Mahachai"

## Enda

I'm getting interested in the above species since seeing some gorgeous males at C328. I would like to ask all the experts here for advice on keeping it. Is it a hybrid of B. splendens or actually an undescribed species? What kind of conditions are needed for it, soft water I assume... How aggressive is it? Can I keep more than one pair together (say 2 pairs in a 2ft tank)? Can it be kept with other fish e.g kuhli loaches, sparkling goramis? I was thinking of setting up a biotope 1ft tank for this species. Any other advice, I know some bros on this site have alot of experience with this fish. Thanks alot!

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## johannes

Betta sp mahachai is an undescribed species, found in mahachai, thailand.

you can com it with other fishes that you mentioned earlier and if your tank is big enough, you can keep more than 1 pair inside, given they belong to spendens complex, they would exhibit certain level of aggression towards each other. by putting more moss and other vegetation, you can minimise the fighting/damage that would occur. :Smile: 
however, if you want to breed it, it would be better to keep a pair in a smaller tank by themselves.

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## Enda

How does their aggression compare with imbellis? My imbellis male just harassed my female to death, I expected them to be more peaceful.  :Sad:  I suppose I will need hiding places for the fish in a 1ft. Also how big does mahachai grow? I've seen adult males almost two inches long; is that around max?

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## johannes

mahachai are more aggresive than imbellis... :Smile:  they can grow up to around 6 cm

you cantry to put more moss in your imbellis tank to minimize aggresion bro... :Smile:

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## oaken

I just have to chime in and say that in my experience Betta sp. "Mahachai" is not very aggressive at all, I have never seen them do any damage to each other. The females fins can get some very small damage during reproduction, though. But the males does display a lot for the females, but it has never been a concern as long as there is a lot of plants which the female can hide in.

The real concern with this fish is it's shyness, it seems to be more shy than many other Betta. So lots of floating plants and lots of plants (like javamoss) is essential.

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## apistomaster

My experience with breeding and keeping B. "Mahachai" is very similar to that of oaken's.
I consider them even more peaceful than B. imbellis.
I would recommend keeping them in moderately hard alkaline water.
They are not a soft acid water dweller.
An excellent beginner's wild Betta species.
One pair produced so many fry I was able to feed a surplus of 300 to my Peruvian Scalare to avoid over crowding the 175-200 I kept.

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## danzzz

Hi, can betta mahachai male and female be housed together? or will the male harass the female to death? thanks!

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## Guppendler

Better to separate them, there’s always the possibility of the male harassing and stressing the female to the detrimental of the female’s health

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