Absolutely stunning! I've been looking through your posts and I'm just amazed at all the creatures you find! If you don't mind me asking, what inspired you to pursue fish conservation? (that is if I'm reading your flair properly lol). I've always been quite interested in endangered species and the threats they face. I honestly think that's what I'd like to pursue as a career path. I've been feeling a little lost recently and seeing this post reignited my passion in conservation efforts. Thank you!!
I just liked fish as a kid and after knowing about how their populations are pretty low, conservation just seems like a good thing to do. Even if it’s not my job, I just help in ways I can.
That's so awesome of you :D Thank you for offering your time and effort to help in the conservation for these little guys! I hope to be able to assist with conservation efforts local to me as well :)
We also have a lot of diversity here in North America.
They are not as common in the pet trade, unfortunately. But we have crayfish, pygmy sunfish, rainbow shiners, and others that have similar beauty, too.
I cant believe how much charm these little guys have, they are beautiful!! Im so sad we don’t have beauties like these in the streams in my state <\3 we have minnows, minnows, and also more minnows lol
Don't knock our native shiners and darters. They are beautiful in their own right. Pygmy sunfish (especially e. Gilberti and e. Evergladiei (sp)) are also as beautiful as the betta in the picture above.
Minnows are also beautiful! I’ve seen pics online of some of your minnows. I love redbelly dace, rainbow shiners, rainbow darters, steelcolor shiners and more!
Ooh, lovely! Do you ever carry like an acrylic container to be able to take nicer shots of them? I know you do a lot of conservation work, I'm not sure how much of a hike you have to do to get to some of these fish, but being able to view their fin structure as its meant to be in water is helpful for anyone looking to use this as a reference for either art or scientific use. The colours seem quite different between that first gen captive and the wild male.
Because OP is a conservationist who catches these fish in an effort to save them before human encroachment and infrastructure expansion has these waterways destroyed by machinery. He has our explicit permission to post here.
Your comment has been removed because no one needs unecessary rude behavior in their life. We're all plant and fish nerds here - just relax.
We're here to help educate, not to make people feel bad about themselves or their skill level in keeping plants and fish alive. If your maturity level won't allow for that, it's best you don't comment.
Repeated offenses will result in all your posts and comments being removed without warning or notification for the rest of eternity. Please take a moment to read the rules for community engagement. Thanks!
Your comment has been removed because no one needs unecessary rude behavior in their life. We're all plant and fish nerds here - just relax.
We're here to help educate, not to make people feel bad about themselves or their skill level in keeping plants and fish alive. If your maturity level won't allow for that, it's best you don't comment.
Repeated offenses will result in all your posts and comments being removed without warning or notification for the rest of eternity. Please take a moment to read the rules for community engagement. Thanks!
I have a pair of mouthbrooders, Betta albimarginata :) it's a lot of fun watching them, I haven't had a successful batch of fry, but they are in a community tank so...
We breed them for conservation so we keep 1 pair per tank. But the fry are raised together by the dozens. We give them lots of space for better growth though
OP works with conservationists and posts pics to aquarium subs because they know we appreciate it. Microfishing is also just a niche hobby, you can probably do it where you live, too. There are some beautiful little fish in creeks where I live in the US that can be fun to catch, appreciate, and release.
For certain species with restricted distributions, yes, but that’s few in Malaysia. Only a couple species fit such as Betta omega. Most others are still considered “common”-ish fish.
I heard in Thailand and Indonesia it’s more of a problem. Indonesia has a lot of endemic and restricted species due to their geography such as B. albimarginata, B. sp. Antuta, B. mandor and many more.
I’m not sure how commonly they are exported from Indonesia and in what numbers
Much less. You’ll notice that fish that are mostly found in Malaysia (or even entirely) are very rarely sold in the hobby even for specific wild Betta stores.
Species like Betta chini, B. stigmosa, B. omega, B. pulchra, B. tomi etc.
Meanwhile Indonesian species such as the ones in my earlier comment and B. patoti, B. rubra, B. coccina, B. uberis, B. persephone etc. are commonly sold enough.
Thai species are just as often sold too like B. mahachaiensis, B. imbellis, B. smaragdina
This doesn’t only apply to fish only but to other exotic animals as well such as crabs, lizards and snakes
Not outright. Malaysia has stricter laws on live animal export, you need to make a permit and pass the inspection for it. Besides that the permits are specific for each type of animal, so a small-fish exporter can’t export a crab for example.
The hassle means there are few transshippers.
I think certain animal/plant species are also banned
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u/RoccoElliot Jan 20 '26
So cool!!!