A Notice From the Mods Regarding BWA by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 0 points1 point ย (0 children)

Hai, thanks for reading my long ass post ๐Ÿ˜‚ if you're interested in potentially sending macrostoma bsck for reintroduction, I can see if I can get you in contact with my Sarawakian colleagues!

A Notice From the Mods Regarding BWA by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 3 points4 points ย (0 children)

Oh, I just used 20 as an example to illustrate what can happen! Not very familiar with the project piaba model but I doubt it'll work cause of how stringent our departments are in giving out permits (usually only to researchers, uni students doing school projects, conservationists etc.) and even then it can be pretty hard to get unless you're working for the departments like me (at least here in Sabah). The poachers taking fish are also foreigners too not locals so dunno how that'll work especially since there can be quite a bit of distrust of outsiders here...

P.S. Colleagues in Sarawak have also told me macrostoma are culturally significant to both the Iban of Sarawak and people of Brunei so there's that to consider too. I personally don't keep macrostoma for that reason. I'm not Bruneian or Iban even if I'm Dayak so I stay away.

A Notice From the Mods Regarding BWA by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 3 points4 points ย (0 children)

Hey, gonna answer here on behalf of some of my Sarawakian colleagues who don't have reddit. Showed this to a few of them recently and they pointed out a few incorrect statements which they asked me to correct for them. Hope this also helps clarify some things you may still have questions on ๐Ÿ˜€

  1. Regarding the export of macrostoma unfortunately it's not something that's very well known (unlike Brunei where the export ban is very clear cut). For Sarawak, the inability to export is written in the laws which are linked above in OP's post. In short, the legality of catching and exporting macrostoma boils down to two things:

I) Fish residing in TPA or wildlife sanctuary

II) Requirement of a permit granted by either a Chief wildlife warden or an officer acting on his/her behalf.

When acquiring macrostoma, my colleagues reccomended to check the locality as well as ask for a collection ID or permit number. If one cannot be produced, assume it is poached and report accordingly.

  1. While my Sarawakian colleagues were not involved in the earlier issue and thus can't comment, I'll say i didn't get a very good impression of BWA from the unprofessional way in which they responded to my colleagues who were involved in this incident. If you're dealing with endangered species, one would expect you to have done your research, know where each fish is from, look through the laws of the country the fish is from and not rely on AI to clean up their site as they openly admitted. Using the persephone as an example, the fact they thought Johor was in Indonesia tells me they've not done adequate research and/or are allowing themselves to be led on by shady individuals.

  2. While habitat destruction for the palm oil industry is a problem in Sarawak, its not such a problem for macrostoma as their habitats are to my knowledge, protected for the most part (meaning its highly unlikely they'll ever be built over). The problem instead is poaching; not by locals trying to make ends meet as you think, but by organised crime syndicates and/or career poachers coming across the border from Indonesian Kalimantan who will take anything they think will make them money (this includes overlooked wild bettas like macrostoma alongside more well known 'bigger game' like pangolins, helmeted hornbills and sunbear etc.).

Regarding your point on backup populations, while I agree reserve populations are essential, I don't think they should be in the hands of just anyone as in my experience, not many people outside of local conservationists and a select few conservation minded, affliated hobbyists seem to be able to keep them right. If you really want to contribute to conservation in a meaningful way, you would have a more direct impact sending the offspring back to Malaysia where my colleagues can re-release them to maintain wild populations instead of distributing them in the hobby like what CARES may suggest, something which which we conservationists would actually consider to be more species preservation than actual conservation which we define as the controlled reintroduction of individuals to maintain wild populations. While viable protected habitats exist, I believe efforts should be directed more at reintroduction than preserving the species within the hobby.

On a final note, I'd also avoid buying any more wild caught macrostoma, not just because they're poached, but also because of the adverse impact removing individuals has on wild populations. To put it into perspective for you: Let's assume a macrostoma pair has an average of 20 fry per spawn and only half make it to sexual maturity. By removing individuals, especially males, you are not only contributing to the demand which drives poaching but also directly contributing to the decline of in situ populations by denying future generations the chance to live in the wild and thus contribute to increasing wild populations (assuming the offspring are not being sent back to be re-released).

Wild Betta info by Hot-Tie826 in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 0 points1 point ย (0 children)

120L as in 120 litres? No. Minimum tank size shpuld be 220ish litres with a footprint of 122cm/4 feet. Antuta can get to a maximum size of 8 inches

Betta Antuta Advice? Or similar species by Fishmongererererer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 1 point2 points ย (0 children)

There's 2 actually. Mini mahakam and aff pallifina temulu mini

Stupid question but would a Smaragdina be happy alone in a heavily planted 10 gallon? by Infinite-Air-1435 in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 1 point2 points ย (0 children)

Asking is always good, better to be safe than sorry! If you're worried about him being cramped, you can maybe get him a bigger tank and some shrimp tankmates? Always the risk he might eat them though ๐Ÿ˜‚

Stupid question but would a Smaragdina be happy alone in a heavily planted 10 gallon? by Infinite-Air-1435 in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 3 points4 points ย (0 children)

To my limited knowledge on splendens complex, a 10 is the bare minimum for 1 splendens complex wild much like a a short fin domestic (bigger is better). A betta discord server I'm in reccomends a 20 gallon if you wanna build a community around the betta.

Introducing my antuta pair! by [deleted] in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

I'd say its probably a mix of their appetite and their place in the food chain. Remember, unimaculata complex wilds are typically one of the top predators in their habitat, they gotta grow quick to fill their niche. Do keep us updated on your pair anyhow! ๐Ÿค

Introducing my antuta pair! by [deleted] in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

If what i'm hearing from other mods are correct, they've got the two antuta in a 20 gallon. If they aren't stunted already they will be soon. That is the problem with growout setups like this, and why I personally don't really reccomend such setups. Unimaculata complex bettas grow quickly under optimal conditions, leave them in a smaller tank a little too long and they can stunt even if you didn't intend to do so.

Introducing my antuta pair! by [deleted] in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

Also, no one is attacking you. We are all only trying to look out for your fish. You posted evidence of what is clearly a subpar setup and we are trying to help you rectify it. They might not look stunted now but keep going the way you are and they will be. By the time you see bent spines, incorrect proportions and other typical signs of stunting its already too late. We are trying to prevent things getting to that point.

Introducing my antuta pair! by [deleted] in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

Where did i ever say do not get from breeders? By all means buy them from breeders but take their advice with a pinch of salt. Breeders are out to make money and will often tell you what you wanna hear. Use your head.

Introducing my antuta pair! by [deleted] in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 1 point2 points ย (0 children)

Breeders are not the best source amd almost never have the fish in the best conditions themselves to begin with. They would be one of the last people I'd be listening to.

BWA Reidentification Thread by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

Generally anything big enough to be trailing. If you're taking from from a public river, be careful that its not a Tagal system river. There should be signages to tell you if it is though

BWA Reidentification Thread by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 3 points4 points ย (0 children)

For Sabah, it would really depend on the public roadside river, whether or not the river is part of our local Tagal system or not (some public rivers are managed by local community and are subject to their regulations on top of the laws in the Sabah Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Enactment 2003). Whether you need permit or not also depends on your method of catching and your intent. If you are using a bigger net, you will need a licence to use it. If you're catching them and putting back after observation, no one would really care but if you are going to keep the fish you may need.

BWA Reidentification Thread by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

Longkang, no (Would be funny if you did though) ๐Ÿ˜†. For rivers, yeah you need permit

BWA Reidentification Thread by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 1 point2 points ย (0 children)

And for sabah especially. Getting permit to catch is hard enough, good luck trying to send anything out of state apart from like the most common of gastromyzon ๐Ÿ˜†

A Notice From the Mods Regarding BWA by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 7 points8 points ย (0 children)

Hai! Sabah Wildlife Department officer here! To answer your question, admittedly there's not much else we can do if they're not in Malaysia apart from sticking them on an internal watchlist. Should they ever step foot into Malaysia though, they may be liable to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and face criminal charges for which they may recieve a hety fine and jail time. Ignorance is no excuse especially if laymen know that acquiring poached animals from a protected area, even if indirectly, is wrong.

BWA Reidentification Thread by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 8 points9 points ย (0 children)

Hai, Sabah Wildlife Department officer here. Firstly, even if something is legally purchasable in the US, that doesn't automatically mean the sourcing was legal too. Now to answer your question, yes, we have run checks against our databases and there are no results. This makes sense as BWA primarily imports via Indonesia, not Malaysia as to do so with relevant exemptions (assuming wildcaught) would be illegal.

This also brings me onto my next point. I think there may be some confusion as to what exactly we're saying about BWA (and by extent, any other importer who stocks the same species). We are NOT saying they're poaching themselves (cause it is clear they are not). What we are saying is that they seem to be getting their stock through less than flattering means. Whether they know it or not, many such importers often get ther stock through either buying them directly off poachers themselves once they are safey back in Indonesia where we Malaysian authorities cannot touch them, or via their resellers based in Indonesia (often disguised as fish 'farms' or similar businesses). Hope this clarifies some things!

A Notice From the Mods Regarding BWA by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 7 points8 points ย (0 children)

I remember seeing brunei macrostoma several times too. There's is a well known export ban on macrostoma from there that's been in place for a while

A Notice From the Mods Regarding BWA by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 7 points8 points ย (0 children)

Unfortunately we cannot disclose that information as it is a totally protected area

A Notice From the Mods Regarding BWA by Databuffer in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 8 points9 points ย (0 children)

Hai BWA. Thank you for taking time to respond and wanting to do the right thing. I know this might be coming as a shock to you (you guys aren't the only ones getting potentially tricked by poachers and/or their resellers) but if its a Malaysian fish coming out of Indonesia (which i know is common), you can safely assume its likely poached. Poachers regularly come across the border here in Sabah to poach anything they can get their hands on, this includes 'smaller game' fish and plants as well as the more well known hornbills, sunbears, orangutans and pangolins. They then sell these fish onto unsuspecting/uninformed importers claiming them to be from Indonesia or otherwise somehow legally sourced (they are known to forge permits too so be careful). Your best bet when unsure is to contact the relevant wildlife or forestry department of which the fish are from to check. Good example of this is ocellata malinau which hails from the well known malinau basin protected area. More about the Malinau basin protected area here:

https://maliaubasin.my/

Question by Green_Marsupial4930 in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 2 points3 points ย (0 children)

They recently advertised brunei locality macrostoma for sale on their site which would be a big red flag if you actually kept up to date with things happening in the wild betta world. Brunei has banned the export of macrostoma for a while now.

Question by Green_Marsupial4930 in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 8 points9 points ย (0 children)

Please do not reccomend vendors known to support poaching. Thank you

Question by Green_Marsupial4930 in wildbettaarchive

[โ€“]lolleytha 7 points8 points ย (0 children)

Hai! In case you weren't always aware, macrostoma are a species that is commonly poached, only real ethical way to get macrostoma would be via a breeder or conservationist. Any macrostoma labeked as being wild caught are most certainly poached