Betta persephone always keep your tank covered

[black_knight]

I had 6 lovely Betta persephone. I had just placed 2 pairs separated with a divider in a 2 gallon tank hoping to get some breeding action (I had 2 ripe females). I've had good results with Betta coccina in this set up or a reverse trio in inducing spawning.

I fed fed them this morning but forgot to replace the lid. Well got home this evening and I had no fish in the tank. I found their dried up little bodies up to 10 ft away. Just some caution. In the wild bettas inhabit small bodies of water and when stressed or spooked they literally will flop across mud from puddle to puddle.

This was a horrible mistake. It took me 4 years of searching to get my group of 6. Now all I have is 2 large males. One really old one (more than an inch- not suppose to get that big but he's likely pass his normal lifespan) and one who lost his most of dorsal fin to a croaking gouramis he picked a fight with. In other words past their prime and no breeding potential.

Just as a warning. Cover your betta tanks. :aua::aua:

[mnemenoi]

Damn that sucks, we had some WC killies and they were ninjas about getting out of a tank, cover had a dime sized hole and a 2" fish managed to get through

[morpheus]

man that really sucks. sorry to hear it.

[ptran]

Sorry about your loss. Where did you get them from?

[black_knight]

I originally found bought 4 juvenile betta brownorum from the Fish Gallery, right before he left. After a week of settling in I noticed 2 were brown to slate grey most of the time and their fins were blue. I was sure they were either B. miniopinna or persephone. I purchased 6 from The Wet Spot in Oregon a year ago and these had exactly the same color pattern as all my males. I lost 1 original to fungus, after it injured itself jumping out. Then I lost another 2 males from the new batch when they jumped into the filter pump area of my Fluval spec V on different occasions. So I was left with 4 males and 2 females before this disaster.
The Wet Spot had only one B. persephone when I last checked ( I think a male).
If you want to breed bettas in the coccina complex (dwarf fighters), you need at least a reverse trio. They are really cool. I've gotten brownorum to spawn. I had coccina fry. They are all very undemanding, but need soft water to get them to spawn (RO). The eggs won't hatch unless you've got acidic conditions. They are cave spawners ( though some will actually paternal mouth brood - never seen that). Fry need live foods and are very temperature sensitive. Also don't change the water- they ll all be dead in a few minutes if you do. You raise the fry just like regular domestic bettas but don't fool around with the water and keep temp constant.
My number one source of loss with these bettas is escape from the water. Forget plastic lids, for 1- 1 1/2 inch fish they are strong jumpers. I've had them displace 2 1/2 gallon glass lid. It needs to be weighted down or taped.
Second source of loss is fungus. If you keep them in Houston tap, they will eventually get infections. Even though you can house multiple males and females together, they will fight. They usually get mouth and fin infections. If you keep them in soft water or RO, they are super hardy. They rarely will get infected. They don't do well with antibiotics, or salt (big no no s). I had one loose a whole dorsal fin to another fish- nothing happened - just put him in a tank with almond leaves ( you can use Kent's black water extract) and RO water healed up, but fin will never grow back.

[Brandon O'Brian]

That sucks! I am so very sorry! The same exact thing happened to me with a male Betta uberis that was given to me. All species of Betta jump, so I have to make sure that my aquariums have no openings at all. I hope you can get more Betta persephone soon.

[blaciarmd]

It happened to meet too. I had betta pugnax just jump out even with cover

[Brandon O'Brian]

If a there is any gap at all, they will jump through it.

[ptran]

If a there is any gap at all, they will jump through it.

Murphy's law always strikes. lol

[Brandon O'Brian]

Murphy's law always strikes. lol

Indeed! LOL!