Betta rutilans
Betta rutilans (Witte & Kottelat, 1991)
B. rutilans is one of the ‘red wine’ bettas, which are a part of the B. coccina complex. Like the other species in the complex, B. rutilans is a small, slender, dark red bubble nest builder. Compared to other bettas in the complex, B. rutilans males lack a midlateral blotch of color on their flank when displaying (like B. coccina), and also lack blue-green spots on the unpaired fins (like B. tussyae). Basically, B. rutilans is defined by what it does not have compared to other betta species. About the only thing that B. rutilans owns is a white filament extending from the pelvic fins, which may or may not be present from fish to fish. There are a lot of other differences that are asociated with fin ray and scale counts, but these fish are so small that seeing them on a live fish would be extremely difficult.
I had a bad experience with B. coccina last year, so I decided not to play with the wine bettas until I was better able to provide the right conditions for them. The real problem was that I did not really know what the best conditions were. At the 2007 OCA Extravaganza I had the change to sit around with Anton Lamboj quite a bit. He is the west African cichlid guru, but he is an all-around excellent aquarist who happens to LOVE wildtype bettas. He told me how he keeps species of the B. coccina group and it did nto sound too hard. I promised to get some the next chance I got. It turned out that Mark Denaro, owner of Anubias Design, was at the show with B. rutilans, so I bought three pair.
What Anton does, and what decided to do, is put all I bought into one small tank (a 2.5 gallon) that I stuffed wiith java fern, star grass and java moss. The mass of plants is so thick that the fish cannot see each other unless they accidentally bump into one another. The plants are so tight that the fish have to creep through the leaves like a snake rather than swim. I do 50% water changes with pure RO about once a month. The tank is filtered slowly with a small sponge filter. I also added a piece of catappa leaf for tannin. The hardness is basically zero, and the pH stays around 6.0. The fish were doing well, but I did not see any indication of spawning during the first couple months. I feed the fish daily with baby brine and grindal worms. They eat vorasciously and are very active all of the time.
Last week I decided to change the tank a bit. Apparently the fish’s natural microhabitat is leaf litter. Because of the leaves, plants and forest trees where the fish are found, it is also very dark. I took out most of the plants and put in about 20 catappa leaves, then put the plants on top of the leaves. Now the tank is so dark with tannin I cannot see the fish! The pH is still about 6.0, but I expect that to drop some as the leaves decay. I do not really know how I will know if they spawn unless I hapen to see the fry. Anton says that in the dense cover of the tank fry survive, and his colonies have as many as 50 fish in them at a time! I hope it works.
Have you ever talked yourself into doing something that you did not need to do? Today I talked myself into doing a water change in the B. rutilans tank because the tannin were so dark I could not even use a flashlight to see what was going on. In the process of doing the water change I disturbed the catappa leaves. After I put clear RO water back in the tank, what did I see? Floating betta eggs! They must have spawned shortly after I put allthe catappa leaves in there. At least I know that they are breeding…
February 20th, 2008 at 2:52 pmSo far so good. A male is guarding larvae in a film canister that he built a bubble nest in. The eggs have hatched, so I do not know if they are the original spawn I disturbed (I have seen mouthbrooding bettas gather up scattered eggs, but I do not kow if bubble-nest breeders will do that)or if this is a new spawn. I noticed them first on Friday, Feb. 22, and they are doing well today. I am pumped! I have bred B. splendens before, but this is the only other bubble-nester I have had any success with. It makes me want to go out and drop some money on other types!
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 pmThis species is known to be a ’switch hitter’ in that it has been observed mouthbrooding on occasion. No one knows what triggers that behavior, but it could be as simple as damage to the nest, so it’s entirely possible that the male either picked them up and put them back into what was left of the nest or into a rebuilt nest or that he will mouthbrood them to term. My guess is that you’ve actually had several spawns. I find that one spawning pair frequently triggers spawning in other pairs when they’re kept in a group. This is probably related to the release of hormones into the water but could be a result of other factors. Regardless of what is actually happening, congratulations are in order!
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 pmhI - i HAVE JUST ACQUIRED 3 PAIR OF BETTA RUTILANS - THEY HAVEN’T ARRIVED YET, AND I NEED SOME ADVICE ABOUT HOW TO MAKE THEM HAPPY. THANKS! lynda
March 5th, 2008 at 6:11 pmHi Lynda…
I think that the set up I am using works pretty well. RO water is a must though. I am starting to see fry occasioanlly, so some are surviving.
The tank has an outbreak of small invertebrate creatures… looks like some kind of small flatworm. I have been treating with flubendazole with little success. I will try fluke tabs next. I think the meds and frequent water changes have made the adults stop spawning. Water changes disturb their nesting sites, and the meds are probably not to good for eggs and larvae. I am gonig to give the meds another week to work, and if they do not I will move the colony to a new, clean tank and disinfect the one they are in now. When I make the switch I will pull any fry I find.
March 15th, 2008 at 7:08 amI always have those little planaria in my tanks that are rich in organics. They don’t harm unless they are very very many (literally thousands per cubic inch) in which case they deplete the oxygen. I doubt this is of critical importance to anabantoids, but it is to killies (I found that out on my own). I think while treating for these, you are also killing infusoria.
March 24th, 2008 at 6:28 pm