betta question

[finfan]

well, i am contemplating keeping a male and couple of female betta's in my community tank (in the future, doing research now), i know some male betta's can be aggressive and harass others, but i have had a betta in a community tank for 2.5 years who lived happily with all other fish (except female betta's - who he chased quite a bit), anyway, i have several questions:

1) Where can i find mouth brooding betta's?  Are the available at LFS's? If not, where do I get them?

2) Which type of mouth brooding betta is the easiest to keep?

3) Are the mouth brooding betta's similarly tempered as "regular" bettas?

4) Have any of you (reading this post) ever kept mouth brooding betta's?  Kept in community tanks?

I love betta's and would love to keep a pair or 1m/1f or 1m/2f, because i want them to breed (understanding that the fry never may make it)

i don't want to get "regular" betta because the current from the filter will never give them enough stable water top to breed, plus too small tank for him to find a isolated spot

[PhishPhreek]

Re: betta question

For information on betta species go to

http://smp.ibcbettas.org/species/index.html

Here you will find links to information and pictures of many
Of all the species available only betta splendens (fighting fish) are aggressive to the extreme.  Most of the wild species are drab and live in low pH (5.5 - 6) soft acid rain forest environments.  The few that are colorful are also expensive.   I have raised betta flax & betta picta (mouth brooding) in a 10g species tanks (families) java moss, driftwood, in rainwater with a pH of 6. and low light.  The males hold the eggs and protect the fry.

for more information go to

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ibcsmp/?yguid=92966933

you can find exotic betta species at Aquabid.com.  one of the sellers I recomend is

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anubiasdesign/message/10639

[Fire_chair]

Re: betta question

One of the recent Tropical Fish Hobbyist had an article on wild Bettas. I think it was one of the mouthbrooders but I'm not sure. I'll check which one later

[nacra99]

Re: betta question

1) Where can i find mouth brooding betta's?  Are the available at LFS's? If not, where do I get them?
Well.. haven't seen any around at LFS's around here. I would reccomend either Mark from Anubiasdesign (follow PhishPhreak's link) or Brian from www.brianstropicals.com Brians tropicals

I breed macs but none for sale for another 3 months or so.

2) Which type of mouth brooding betta is the easiest to keep?
Others might disagree, but I think that Channoides and Albi's are good mouthbrooders to start wit


3) Are the mouth brooding betta's similarly tempered as "regular" bettas?
Tempered???/ Not sure that this means

4) Have any of you (reading this post) ever kept mouth brooding betta's?  
Yes. I currently breed macrostomas. But IMO, not a good species of mouthbrooders to start out with. They are good in a cold water community tank.
Here's a shameless plug for my macrostoma website Ventralfins.com