# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Husbandry of Betta channoides

## Mez

hi guys, 
I recently aquired a pair of betta channoides (captive bred, Alan Brown) - after looking through the various posts on here they seem to be quite popular.
What size tank do you keep yours in? Do you use coconut hides like for apistogramma species, or just wood and plants for cover?
They seem a very shy species - what do you guys feed yours?
Also, how much current/flow do you have in your channoides tank,do they have any tankmates/dither fish with them or species only tank?
Lastly, does anyone have any photos of females with normal colouration, as opposed to in "breeding" colours?
Any help is welcome.
Thanks,
James

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## illumnae

I have a wild pair coming in tomorrow and would appreciate information on this as well, especially information about ditherfish. currently my tank (25 cm cube) has 2 zebra otos, 6 boraras and 2 sakura shrimp as tankmates. would like to know if these are suitable and what others would be suitable  :Smile:

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## Cacatuoides

I have 2 pairs of wild channoides in a 24" x 11" x 10"
Setup consist of driftwood, java ferns, moss and few floating frogbits...
Filtration is only by a small sponge filter....
I usually soak 5 - 7pieces of ketapang leaves in a pail and use the extract for the tank....

I've also included one coconut husk and a vase-like pot in it for them to do their mating stance and also for the mouth-brooding male to hide in it during brooding period...
It seems that the pair like to do their spawning in a dark place....

I feed them with live bbs, flakes and frozen bloodworm....

I set it up as a species tank so no tankmates inside....




These are pictures taken few weeks ago, I have removed that "cave" and replaced with a pot....
I have also rescaped the tank too  :Wink: 
Currently one male has been mouthbrooding for 6 days  :Jump for joy:

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## mobile2007

Haha, waiting for mine too  :Wink: . Will be housing them in 1 ft tank, simple setup with one log of java fern.

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## Cacatuoides

Good good....looks like we're recruiting more into the wild bettas scene!!

Welcome to the dark side  :Jump for joy:

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## Mez

i have just found one shop that stocks wild bettas, they had:
betta channoides - £25 a pair
betta cf. tangankilan - £8.95 a pair
betta imbellis - £5.95 a pair
betta simplex 
betta edithae
betta rubra - betta rubra was £150 a pair! *£150!*
Are the prices comparable to singapore? why rubra are so expensive?
Anyway, as for the channoides, these have been fed dry foods and i am having problems getting them to eat frozen bloodworm and brine shrimp. i think i will try some live daphnia to see if i can get them going. They spend all their time in a coconut husk hide...i hope they will be more outcoming.
James

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## leeruisheng

In Singapore, can get a pair of _Betta rubra_ from S$268 onwards.

Read that they're endemic to Northwestern Sumatra and dangerous to go catch them.
Being easy spawners could be one of the reasons to be expensive.

Good luck to you.

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## Mez

Well, just a quick update, the male now seems to have a mouthfull of eggs...

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## Cacatuoides

Wow!! congrats Mez....do leave the male alone and avoid feeding for the entire holding period up to 14days...

The wild bettas are quite expensive over your side, channoides are about S$50 for a wild caught pair  :Razz:  B. Rubra's price is sky high too! One of the reasons is due to lack of demand which causes few supplies, thats why so expensive....

Most of the wild bettas originate from south-east asia, it'll be cheaper to get it straight from the source  :Wink: 

Looking forward to your photos soon!!

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## genes

Please post in appropriate forum for buying or selling of livestocks. Thanks.

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## mobile2007

Got mine just from bro illumnae, the color of the pair seems quite dull. Not sure this is due to shipping stress. Smaller size than what i thought. Will post some pics once they settled down.

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## illumnae

mine are still stressed too =\ i've seen the male eat and the female has a fat belly so she's eaten too, but they're still both very lethargic and chilling close to the ground. hope they don't belly up on me =(

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## Mez

Female died this morning/last night :Crying: 
Male still fiddling with eggs and looks happy..wonder why the female go belly up  :Sad: 
Hopefully i be able to find another pair soon from the same shop...if not..maybe i buy from thailand and pay shipping.

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## Cacatuoides

You got a source from Thailand? Please share!!

Those who have just gotten your new fishes, it would be best to condition them well and healthy by feeding them good food before any spawning activities.....

Spawning will drain out a lot of energy from the little fishes  :Wink:

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## Mez

I dont have a "source" as such, but there are plenty of people who use *a well known fish auction website based in the USA* who are based in thailand and sell to the UK and europe, as well as australia, canada etc. Most of these people seem to be selling Plakats and show bettas, but there are a few that sell wild bettas also.

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## mobile2007

Mine seems to be adapting fine to the tank. pH is around 6.2 using ketapang leave and feeding them with tubifex right now. 

Bro caca,
Just wondering how you train them to eat flakes or pellets ? 

How to differentiate male or female ?

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## 900801

male and female the female is usually dull in colour.4 to 5 thread thread down there is a thread "Betta channoides mating (Picture intensive!)" by genes 
you can see which is male which is female.

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## genes

Here's the thread
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=38334

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## illumnae

mine's still hiding alot...hope they turn out fine and aren't sick or anything =( they've been eating frozen bloodworms though. tank's in the bedroom and i don't want tubifex in my room  :Opps:

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## Mez

illumnae,
My remaining male hides all day and night in a coconut husk hide..sometimes he comes out for a wander, but other than that, he sits with his head poking out of the darkness..

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## mobile2007

Well, that's because my tank got not many place to hide.  :Grin: 

Now i can see the color of the male slowly gaining, differ from the female.
Looks good.

i think 3 of us got the same specie. See who has the lucky pair, breed breed breed !  :Laughing:

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## illumnae

the colour in my male came back last night. interestingly, he has a blue/green irridiscence in his caudal and anal fins....very unusual based on pictures i see of betta channoides. the black with white seam on the caudal and anal fins and the white tips on the ventral fins are showing now on the male. sad part is that i hardly get to see the male since ehe hides all day...hope he gains some guts soon

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## illumnae

anyone have suggestions for dithers? my tank looks empty as the bettas are always hiding and the boraras are too small and don't show up well against the dark background

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## mobile2007

Hope bro mez don't mind i post photos of my channoides here.

*Male betta 
(* Still wonder why the color not so red/purple )



*Female betta*

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## illumnae

i think the full red only comes on during breeding time. mine's about that colour too

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## 900801

I think so too.Mine is also like that colour

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## Cacatuoides

Mine is showing faint but visible shades of red even during now times....I'm keeping them in yellowish water from ketapang extract....guess the color will be better when they feel more comfortable in their suroundings....

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## genes

> i think the full red only comes on during breeding time. mine's about that colour too


I do not think so. Even when not breeding, mine are still red. The last time i had all 3pairs house in a same tank. Only the alpha male will exhibit the redness. Now that i have seperated a pair out, the lone male also turned red. 

Give them more time, it took a couple of days before my alpha male decided to go red.

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## illumnae

mine's a brownish maroon now, with the black and white seam very obvious. however, the pair is still extremely skittish and hiding all the time. hope they get used to their new surroundings and swim around more soon!

this pair is quite refreshing...my 3rd pair of wild bettas, and the only pair that can chill in the same corner together without the male trying to kill the other one.

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## Mez

Mine has a faint red to him, but when breeding he was intense red like in genes photos displayed in this forum.
He has still got the eggs in his mouth, and has not swallowed them (yet).
Is it common for the male to eat the fries?

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## mobile2007

The betta seems to love bloodworm alot. Swallow up instantly when i dropped the bloodworm in. Feed them tubifex, they have problem swallowing it ( as the worm struggle inside ?) always.

Hikari got this freeze dry bloodworm laced with multi vitamins. Do you all think it will help to enhance the color?

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## Cacatuoides

I read that it is common that the male swallows the eggs during holding but not often they will snack on their fries  :Wink:

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## illumnae

mine love bloodworms too

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## illumnae

This is my female:



Still unable to get a picture of the male, but I'm glad that they're both less skittish now and starting to venture out abit more. They still hide alot, but every now and then I see them swimming around. Hopefully I'll be able to see more of them as time goes by and they get even more used to the tank. The male is still dark brown/maroon.

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## illumnae

Here's the male slightly discoloured after eating:







he's still really shy, so no good angles!

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## Jervis

Hello  :Smile:

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## leeruisheng

Not too sure about _Betta channoides_ but if they are always hiding, it could be harassment from other tank mates. 

Actually wanted to mention about providing more shade with floating plants or tall plants because the tank might be too bright for their comfort. But then those who have seen my _Betta rubra_ setup, it's very barren (and still no cover :Laughing: ) but yet they still venture into the open. Their tankmates are fries and yamatos.

So my guess either it's the tankmates that makes them uneasy or still adapting to environment or water parameters not to their liking.

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## illumnae

thanks for the tips =) for my channoides, the only tankmates are sakura shrimp, zebra otos and boraras, so it's unlikely to be harassment from other tankmates. i do notice that they are slightly more daring now, instead of hiding at the backmost rocks 100&#37; of the time, they venture out more especially to get at food. hopefully given another couple of weeks they will venture out into the open like your rubra  :Smile:

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## leeruisheng

Does your channoides attacked the sakura shrimps? Rubra is one of the aggressive bettas but I think they are intimidated by the size of the yamatos so both live peacefully. But however mac will hunt down the yamatos like no tomorrow. So I'm wondering since the sakuras are smaller than channoides, would the chans not bother them.

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## illumnae

the sakuras are too big to fit into the chanoides' mouth, so i think it's fine. they've been sharing the same tank for half a week and the most i've seen is the bettas inspecting the shrimp. no attacks have been observed yet. i did come home today to see a dead half eaten shrimp, but it was being eaten by his fellow shrimp not the channoides, so i think it died of other causes, not being killed by the bettas

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## Cacatuoides

I may think that the hiding is due to the bright lightings...these fishes come from slightly tanned water in the wild

Mine's kept in slight brownish water with floating plants and minimal light, all are exploring every corner ofthe tank

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## mobile2007

My male betta suddenly become aggressive towards the female this 2 days, whenever she is closeby, he will nipped at her body. 

Does anyone knows whether this is mating behaviour ?

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## leeruisheng

Usually there will be chasing followed by mating. That's what I've experienced. But that doesn't mean that as long as the male is chasing it means he wants to mate. Can have other reasons too. Shouldn't worry much as Bettas are relatively easy spawners.

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## mobile2007

Yah, too anxious to see my betta spawn. haha.

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## Cacatuoides

Its already been 13 days and my male is still "holding"......
How long is the "holding" period for channoides? Any idea?

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## leeruisheng

Should be about time. But no worries already, he's passed the critical initial period of mouthbrooding. Congrats Eman. Finally.

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## mobile2007

Did you separate the female out? If not, like to know how you feed the female so that the male won't join in and cause the eggs to be swallowed.

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## Cacatuoides

Thanks Wilson, finally having something breeding in my tanks once again....miss those days having to take care of cute little fries and see them grow  :Wink: 

I kept them in 2 ft tank, got wood and plants....the brooding male will always hide in a pot in one corner while the rest will be on the other side, i will openly feed the others on the side....so far so good  :Laughing:  2 pairs in the same tank

Just spotted the male, his mouth is so full....looks like it will burst anytime  :Grin:  hahas

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## leeruisheng

Initially when mine was mouthbrooding, I did not separate the pair and as advised, I did not feed them at all afraid that the male will swallow the fries and go for the food. 

After having a few successful spawns, I decided to try and feed the female who is still in the same tank. Surprisingly the male just resisted the temption of the food and continued mouthbrooding till time ripes.

So maybe after you've got a few spawns, no harm experimenting.

Cheers,

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## Cacatuoides

This is the 3rd time and is successful....the previous 2 failed maybe due to disturbance and hungry....now he's being good and still mouthbrooding!!

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## mobile2007

bro caca, you mean your pair already spawned for 3 times? you feed them viagra ?  :Grin: 

thanks for the advice, bro ruisheng and caca.

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## Cacatuoides

Oops, its 2 times for this pair which is mouthbrooding....the other pair have not tried to spawn yet  :Wink: 

Forgot I got 2 pairs in the same tank, my bad

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## mobile2007

Very different experience in keeping betta and apisto.

My caca young fishes are like hyperactive kids, running all over the tank, eat alot, poo alot. While my newly acquired channoides are like tortise, move very slowly, eat little little a few worms. haha  :Grin:

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## illumnae

congrats on your potential spawn  :Smile:  mine are still chilling. i think i suck at keeping/breeding bettas...have much better success with apistos!

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## leeruisheng

The time will come. Anyway you've just introduced them.

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## Mez

Hi folks.
Well mine has been mouthbrooding for at least 12 days now, and he has got eggs and/or fry inside his mouth, every now and then i presume one fry is trying to make a "run for it" as ive seen a tail come out of his mouth then him "chug" it back down.
Since yesterday his mouth has become less full looking, and i am presuming this is because most of the fries have hatched. Im hoping he spits them out really soon, because he has not fed for almost two weeks now and im presuming this is his first spawn, so has done well not to eat the eggs.
What does everyone feed the fry?

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## mobile2007

Can try live bbs, microworms, daphnia, or maybe decapsulated bbs eggs.

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## Cacatuoides

Best to feed fries with bbs.....clean and easy to hatch

My male has released the fries today....will update tonight  :Wink:

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## illumnae

congrats on your spawn Eman  :Smile: 

as for "easy to hatch"...i'll beg to differ  :Grin:  easiest is still decapsulated brine shrimp egg - just soak and pour!

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## mobile2007

bro caca, congrats. Waiting for your further report. :Laughing:

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## illumnae

good news for mine is that i found them chilling and not hiding when i got back from work today...hopefully this is the start of them getting used to the tank and they'll venture around alot more. today and tomorrow are starvation days before i start weaning them onto dried food

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## Cacatuoides

Saw that my male has emerged from his hideout and his mouth doesn't seem so bloated....
Can't spot any fries in the tank so I netted him out and stripped him, releasing 6 fries....
After I transferred the fries into a breeder box, I was a little late to realise that the fries were small enough to slip through the slits of the box.....by then, only 2 fries remained and was re-transferred to a jar....

Male is going through recuperation stage to replenish nutritions before releasing back into the tank....

I'm still thinking if I should change it into a bare-bottom tank for easier maintenance, etc

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## illumnae

time to invest in a fine mesh netting breeder box!

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## leeruisheng

Sometimes the male releases in batches, that's why his mouth is not as bloated as before.

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## Cacatuoides

Yea I suspect that he's releasing them in batches but I couldn't spot any fries in the heavily decorated tank thats why I decided to take him out for stripping  :Laughing:

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## Mez

Hi guys.
I still cannot see any fry, and the males mouth looks normal, its been around 15 days now or more. Every now and then i see the male "adjusting" his throat, but i see no signs of fry.
Should i offer food?

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## Cacatuoides

When I thought my male has released all the fries, I threw in some frozen BS into the tank...He just swam past it and not paying any attention to it

I thought it was strange not for him to eat so I took him out for stripping and realised that he still has fries in his mouth.....thank god he resist eating the food while having fries in his mouth

I find that having grvael in the tank makes it difficult to spot any fries....

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