HMPK Koi Fancy Male Betta

This is a koi-patterned halfmoon plakat male betta (Betta splendens), a short-finned show form carrying blocks of red, black, orange and white. Bettas come from shallow, slow-moving water in the Mekong basin — rice paddies, ditches and floodplain pools — and that origin is behind most of the myths about them. Shallow and slow does not mean small, cold or unfiltered, and getting that distinction right is the difference between a betta that lasts a year and one that lasts several.

Aquarium care

• Reaches about 6 to 7 cm.
• Needs a heater. Room temperature in most Alberta homes is too cold for a betta.
• A filtered tank of around 19 L or more, with the flow turned down.
• Gentle flow rather than no flow; still water is not the goal.
• Must be able to reach the surface to take a breath of air.
• Feed a betta pellet as the staple, with frozen bloodworm or daphnia as a supplement.
• One male per tank, always.

Good tankmates in a larger aquarium include corydoras, otocinclus, kuhli loaches and nerite snails. Avoid guppies, other gouramis and fin-nipping barbs. Floating plants and a resting leaf near the surface are appreciated more than ornaments.

Stock rotates with each shipment, and livestock is available for local pickup at our Lethbridge store. Browse the betta collection.