(the latter could, however, be attributed to parental “culling” of weak fry). Betta balunga is in the “Akarensis Complex,” a group of closely related Betta species having physical similarities. Akarensis Complex members all have pre- and post-orbital stripes (the post-orbital stripe is faint or interrupted in some species); chin bar present; caudal-fin lanceolate with highly extended median rays in mature males; caudal fin usually with transverse bars; greenish or bluish iridescent scales on body of males in some species; opercle without iridescent scales, except in juveniles. Other species in the Akarensis Complex are B. akarensis, B. aurigans, B. chini, B. ibanorum, B. pinguis, and B. obscura. Dr. Robert J. Goldstein provides this physical description of Betta balunga in his excellent book, The Betta Handbook: “This robust 5 inch (12.5 cm) mouthbrooder (females are a bit smaller) is dark gray with blue highlights in the anal fin and sometimes the lower caudal. A broad black line from the lips through the eye crosses the gill plates and continues to a basicaudal spot near the base of the tail. The band may fade behind the gill covers. The male's caudal fin has a netlike pigment pattern and the central rays extend beyond the fin. The anal fin is dark margined with a white submarginal band. In nuptial coloration, the male develops a dark mask, a second black line extends downward from the eye. and the iris becomes red. The nuptial female lightens. and develops a dark band on the back and another in the midline of the flank.”1 Aside from some fin count differences (virtually impossible to detect on live fish in an aquarium), Betta balunga can be distinguished from other members of the Akarensis Complex by an interrupted second postorbital stripe on the opercle and a reddish-orange eye. This is one of the easiest fish to care for I ever had. They eat almost anything. I feed mine live blackworms and Atison’s Betta Pro pellets from Ocean Nutrition™. (I believe this exact product is no longer available, but the company still sells “Atison’s Betta Food” pellets.) Once fry appeared, I included microworms and powered dry food. (And, of course, fry will feed from the naturally occurring infusoria on the surface of a
mature sponge filter.) Occasionally I feed live adult brineshrimp rinsed in freshwater and treated with a few drops of liquid vitamins (I use Vita Chem from Boyd Enterprises, Inc.), because adult brineshrimp, while apparently a treat for the fish, have little nutritional value. For a fish that is so easy to keep and that breeds so easily in the home aquarium, it’s surprising to me that they are not more well known. Apparently, they were first described back in 1940 by the American ichthyologist Albert William Herre3 and I have read nothing about them ever having been considered extinct. They are not listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, or in the C.A.R.E.S. Preservation Program Conservation Priority Species at Risk List. However, Betta balunga is endemic to Borneo, which is the third largest island in the world, and home to three countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei). Borneo “was once covered with dense rainforests, but along with its tropical lowland and highland forests, there has been extensive deforestation in the past sixty years. In the 1980s and 1990s the forests of Borneo underwent a dramatic transition. They were leveled at a rate unparalleled in human history, burned, logged and cleared, and commonly replaced with agricultural land, or palm oil plantations.”4 “The island historically had extensive rainforest cover, but the area shrank due to heavy logging for the Malaysian plywood industry. The rainforest was also greatly destroyed from the forest fires of 1997 to 1998.”5 So, as far as I am concerned, all animals endemic to Borneo should be considered to be a conservation risk. As I indicated, I have found this to be an easy species to keep. They spawned in a tank having soft, acid water, aquascaped with many caves and hiding places (important for mouthbrooding species). Some of the fry left with the parents may have been eaten, but those that were not (and there were many!) faired far better than fry removed from the parents and reared in a separate tank. For someone eager to try an “easy” mouthbrooding Betta species, I can certainly recommend Betta balunga.
References 1 http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/263424/ 2 Goldstein, R. J., The Betta Handbook, Barron's Educational Series, 2004. p. 71 3 Herre, A. W. C. T., Additions to the fish fauna of Malaya and notes on rare or little known Malayan and Bornean fishes. Bulletin of the Raffles Museum, July 1940, No. 16: 27-61. [see also: http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/16/16brm027-061.pdf] 4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_in_Borneo 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borneo
16
Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S. (NY)
November 2012 November 2012
19
Modern Aquarium - Greater City A.S (NY)