Betta splendens of Nong Kae

Story/Photo: Nonn Panitvong

“We will have to find David Beckham before we make the u-turn” I told David Armitage.  We were not in Manchester where the English Football Captain lives but we –me, Oam, and David- were on the road heading to Saraburi Province in Thailand.  Yesterday, Mr. Sui told me that very same sentence which made me stunted for a while.  “Beckham?”  “Yeahhh Beckham, he will be on the big billboard beside the road.  When you pass the billboard you make the u-turn.”

After the U-turn, I couldn’t remember how many left and right I turned but we finally arrived at Mr. Fai’s farm.  He is a good friend of Mr. Sui who was on his trip back home in the North East.   Mr. Fai was well informed about our visit, he know we were there to visit the locality of Betta splendens of Nong Kae district of Saraburi Province.   3 months ago, Mr. Sui posted pictures of the locality and the fish he caught on the local web board.  I was excited.  The location looked great and the fish looked real and terrific.  “Real!”  Yes real, it is getting harder and harder to find the real wild B. splendens these days.  Fish fighting is so popular in Thailand that now most of the people only breed the fighting strain.  When they get too many females or when they get a clutch that doesn’t fight well, they simply release them into the ditch near their houses.  These domesticated form of B. splendens are large and more aggressive than their wild cousin.  When they are in the same habitat the domestic one simply out compete the wild form for everything from food to nesting site.  As a result it is getting harder and harder each day to find the real wild form of the wild B. splendens.  How do I know this population is the real wild form?  I have to admit this is a total guest…well….educated guest but still…..  Generally, the wild form is smaller and thinner.  They got less iridescence blue shine on their body scales.  They finnages seems to be larger over all –proportionate to the body- and they only come in with one standard color and pattern, deep red and blue.  We found out that after being released into the wild, the domesticated form, over a few generations, will get smaller and duller and eventually look like the wild form.  The problem is that we do not know if the wild forms from each locality look the same or not?  Do they have any unique character of the population before the introduction of the domesticated form?   We are loosing them before we even find out.  I have not heard of anyone catching both wild and domestic form from the same locality; so my guess –once again- is that the wild form has to give way to the bigger and bolder domesticated one.  I have caught some big and bold fish in one locality, I’ve seen the veil tail form swimming in the pool, and I’ve seen a population of domesticated Betta in the wild half way to its evolution back to live in nature.  Why smaller and less intense color make them survive better in the environment?  Maybe smaller mean better penetration to the thick vegetation, faster at attacking prey and faster at escaping from being eaten by some bird or bigger fish.  Less intense color means less visible in the water, thus easier to camouflage.  It’s all make sense to me.

We say Hello to Mr. Fai and proceeded to the pond.  Then, David Armitage has been in Thailand for ten plus days already.  He already collected all species of bubble nesting Betta in Thailand but still the place is interesting.  I was told that the water has very low pH that it tasted sour.  It is very clear.  It would be interesting to take under water pictures in the pond.  This pond is not natural. It was dug to keep water to supply to the fruit orchard near by.  It is rather deep –about 1 meter at the deepest part- it surely is not a typical habitat for B. splendens.  The little pond was simply amazing.  The water was very very clear.  White lotus scattered here and there, the Utricularia aurea, aquatic carnivorous plants, are present in large quantity.  A large Anabas testudineus swam in open water and disappeared into the deeper part of the pond when it saw us coming.  I began the quest by walking along the shore looking for bubble nest.  I was told to look for it under floating leaf or in the grass along the shore.  3 local kids were called to help us find the nest, their expertise in this pond really help us.  In no time, the kid spotted the first nest, it was build attached to a grass, then second one in the thick grass close to the shore and the third one under floating dried mango leaf.  The last one seems to be the easiest one to take photograph, so I went into the water.  Careful not to scare the parents or cloud the water, I sneaked closer.  I did not bring my snorkel so taking underwater picture today will be a total guess.  I dipped the camera in, hoping that one of the parents was under the nest.  It was when I took the 5^th shot that I saw a red and blue shine shot out of the area under the nest.  It must be one of the parents.  Sadly, I didn’t capture any of their pictures.  It was nice anyway, because there were a lot of eggs under the nest.  I hope I didn’t disturb them too much. I hope that the father will come back to pick all those eggs that failed from the nest because I disturbed the water surface.  

While, I was busy taking under water pictures in the pond, David already caught 2-3 pairs of the B. splendens at the other end of the pond.  The fish were rather large compare to other B. splendens from other location.  The kids told us that this is almost at the end of the rainy season and the fish caught at this time of the year are normally larger than the fish caught early in the year.  The fact that this pond is rather deep, large and not too dense might play some role as well.  Apart from that one single Anabas, I don’t see or caught any other fish in the pond.  Lack of competition and predator should give the Betta the opportunity to live longer and grow larger than average.   

Now come to the most popular question, how can I be so sure that this population of Betta in the pond is the “REAL” wild form?  My answer is I’m not sure.  The only doubt I might have in this population is the fact that they are rather large.  Other wise, there color, pattern and finnage met my “individual standard” of the real wild fish.  I’ve seen the fish that Mr. Sui caught earlier in the rainy season and they are all of the standard size, thin and small.  Some individual also have the long spade tail, which is normally present in some individual caught in this area –central plain.  I also compare the largest specimen caught on that day to a fighting strain and he was significantly smaller over all.  My conclusion….this is a real wild form with unique opportunity to grow larger than average.  These large fish we caught should be the fish from the last year spawn and my guess is that they will not last over the dry season.  It will be this year spawn that will spawn next year.  

My only regret is that a friend borrowed my pH meter on that day so I didn’t measure the pH.  I did taste the water and it was not sour.  Somehow, I forgot to bring some water sample back home.  Anyway, it was late rainy season and the rain still fall occasionally.  I’m pretty sure the pH will be lower and the water will taste sour in the dried season. 

I sure hope to visit this place again in the near future.  Not only to catch the fish for size comparison but to meet my dear friend, Mr. Sui, whom I met over the internet and still doesn’t have a chance to meet him in person.  He just got married last week-end and I’m wishing him all the best in his new venture. :D

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