Schalleri betta

Care at a glance

Overview

A peaceful, shy fish best kept as a pair or a small group in a species tank of 60 liters or more, using the middle of the water. The IBC species program keeps it at pH 4.5 to 5.5 with almost no hardness, and wild water runs 26 to 30 C, so aim for 24 to 29 C and pH 4.5 to 6. Males square up during spawning but rarely do real damage when there is cover. Feed live and frozen daphnia, brine shrimp, and bloodworm, then dried food once it is recognised. Keep tank mates to calm blackwater fish or none at all, and expect it to eat shrimp.

In the wild

The Schalleri betta, called Schaller's mouthbrooder in older books, lives only on Bangka, the tin mining island off the east coast of Sumatra, where it is spread across swamps and small streams, and a 2025 survey even found it in abandoned mining ponds ringed by regrowth. The water is peat stained, very soft, and acidic, measured at pH 4.2 to 5.8 with conductivity of 30 to 80 microsiemens, under dense vegetation such as Pandanus and Melastoma. Set up a dim blackwater tank with RO or rainwater, leaf litter, botanicals, dense plants, and caves, filtered gently by a sponge. Keep the lid tight.

Good to know

Betta schalleri is a mouthbrooder in the Betta pugnax group of the family Osphronemidae, described by Kottelat and Ng in 1994 from a stream north of Payung on the road to Pangkalpinang and named for the German fish importer Dietrich Schaller. It is small for the group, with the holotype at 44.8 mm standard length and adults around 4.5 cm. It is closely allied to Betta fusca and Betta raja and looks very much like raja, but it has 27 anal fin rays and 31 lateral scales, and like them it lacks a chin bar, tail bars, and dark fin margins. The IUCN lists it as Endangered because its whole range is one island where habitat keeps disappearing.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Balunga betta

  Betta balunga

  2 in (5 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2 in (5 cm)16 gal (60 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Antoni betta

  Betta antoni

  2 in (5 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2 in (5 cm)16 gal (60 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)

• 

  Chukai betta

  Betta tussyae

  1.6 in (4 cm) · 11 gal (40 L)

  1.6 in (4 cm)11 gal (40 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Chini betta

  Betta chini

  2.1 in (5.4 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2.1 in (5.4 cm)16 gal (60 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Banded betta

  Betta taeniata

  2.2 in (5.5 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)16 gal (60 L)72–81°F (22–27°C)
• Kuehnei betta

  Betta kuehnei

  2.4 in (6 cm) · 16 gal (60 L)

  2.4 in (6 cm)16 gal (60 L)70–77°F (21–25°C)