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Labyrinthfish page 3

Betta splendens w.f. female
Belontia signata
Betta fusca
Betta pugnax
Betta splendens wf m .

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Besides the species that build a foam nest there is still a rather big group of mouthbreeding species. In the item "current animal" you got acquainted already with the mouthbreeding Chocolat Goerami and the fascinating way they start mouth breeding. On this page you meet, besides the well known Betta splendens, here the wild form, a couple of mouthbreeding species: Beta pugnax and the related Betta fusca. Who compares the animals on the pictures below will not be astonished about that relationship. And it is possible that is turning out that in both pictures it handles about the same species. The indicated place where the can be found also point in that direction. They live in overshadowed and rather fast streaming waters underneath overhanging growth on the banks. B. pugnax at Penang and Kuantan and B. fusca on Sumatra.
These species can best be kept in pairs. There is no drawback in

keeping several pairs in an aquarium sufficient large.
We advise to use on the floor preferably not to coarse gravel .
Tight planting with sufficient shelter near and under coarse pieces of fossil wood in the background. The position which is very often upward, combined with the slightly epigynous mouth, give us the indication that food, taken from the surface, could be the most significant part of the natural feed. So in the aquarium much insects and their larvae.
On the utmost left a picture of the "Ceylonese fighting fish" Belontia signata. The species becomes ca 15 CMS of length. That leads to the advise to keep them only in very large aquariums, and like in nature in colony. In the mating season they give evidence of a considerable territorial attitude, which makes it absolutely necessary to create suitable escape routes and shelters.See also the pages 37, 38 and 40