Mating of my wild Betta Imbellis

With the only wild fighting fish Betta Imbellis left in my keeping, I handle this pet with special care,  ensure there is a constant change interval of water and also feed it with more nutritious food. Occasionally I throw in some deserts made up of  mosquitos that tried to bite me but failed miserably, flattened under my claps and ended up in the belly of this beloved fish of mine. Surprising, over a few months,  it has grown much bigger than its normal natural size found in the wild. Somehow I believe, the confined space without any external threat or predator, easy prey of rich diet readily available and also the lack of "exercise" contributed to its current state of physique!

With the pools of bubbles that appear occasionally on top of the container that it lives in,  it was a sign that the fish had grown to its puberty age. I was in a situation of lacking the stock of wild females for its mating. It happened that the local aquarium shops sold me some Siamese female fighting fishes of various breeds and colors. I had chosen a few and reared them at home for a couple of weeks to pick on the right fish for the breeding project. After much observation I decided to pick on the white and long fin female. Well it was almost like matching an Asian to a white woman! My only worry was that this wild male might not recognize a white bigger size female as its own kind because it has never seen one before in its life time! Initially when the male was first introduced into the bigger tank of the female, it behaved a little bit timid, perhaps the size of a strange looking female might seem formidable and difficult for it to handle. I guess my worry was unncessary, its lust for a female after being suppressed within a confined wall for that few months upon reaching its adolescent stage eventually reared its ugly head! The female was no match for its fiery courting bites and it finally succumbed and gave way to her little wild beast!

One day after I returned from work to home,  the pool of bubbles was thick and whitish and I knew the mating had taken place and eggs were laid and kept floating above the water level by the bubbles. The male fish kept on chasing away the female after their mating ritual was over. It was as though the love affair between them was finally over. In actual fact, it is a natural behavior for the male to take care of the eggs until they are fully hatched. Female fighting fishes tend to eat the small fries if without the protection from the male fish, and that is the reason why the female was constantly being chased away!

Looking at the haggard and sluggish moving female fish and constantly being attacked by the male, I scooped it away to another container. Now the male was given the full time nursery responsibility to care for the youngs. Eggs turned greyish after 2 days and the tiny young fishes finally appeared on the third day under the tender care of the male fish. The young tiny fries dotted the surface of the aquarium and they live on micro-organisms that are plenty in the aquarium. The aquarium is filled with water weeds, plants and wood to resemble the natural habitat environment though the lighting is still a bit bright to be considered as natural. I temporarily switched off the water pump to avoid the young fishes from been sucked in during the filtration process.

I am curiously anxious to see how the offsprings of this mixed mating will eventually grow and look like. I guess they would bear the best features of their parents. Perhaps, decorated with fluorescent, glow in the dark iridescent bluish green color over a white based body, long and red spotted tails and fins etc. Bigger in size and more hardy species could be the possible end product! I mean, if  you look at how those mixed children from parents of different races look like,  then you could possibly relate and figure out why I have this imagination!