The Hunt for Betta macrostoma
(by Michael Lo)
Betta macrostoma is one of the most beautiful wild fighting fishes from Borneo. It was first described in 1909 by a scientist who collected the fish from a river in northern Sarawak near Brunei. It is a protected species in Brunei. However, it is not a protected species in Sarawak.
As I was told by someone who provide the information about the locality of this species in northern Sarawak, the name of the nearby town & the location of the area where I explored are not disclosed in this article. Betta macrostoma is a rare species in Sarawak, hence it is one of the most expensive tropical fishes in aquarium trade.
June 1st, 2005. It was the first day of the native’s harvest festival or Gawai. My friends, Han & Tan were following me to drive from my hometown, Kuching city in the southern Sarawak all the way up to Miri town in the north near Brunei border. The driving journey took us about 11 hours.
June 2nd, 2005. We took an express boat at the river mouth of Sungai Baram (Baram river) to a small town in the up river of Sungai Baram. I was pretty excited to see the scenery along the river so I decided to stand at the entrance of the express boat. Han was braver than me. He sat on the top of express boat and enjoying the scenery of the beautiful Baram river. When the boat was sailing pass a few floating logs, a young Iban who was sitting near the window pointing the floating logs and shouted at me ; “Buaya !!!” He was telling me those floating logs are actually crocodiles. (Crocodylus porosus) To me, this was my very first time to see wild crocodile swimming in the river. According to a local, there was no crocodile attack any human in this river for the past 100 year. However, there were two separate incidents that an old fisherman and a young boy were attacked by crocodile recently. The young boy was killed by the crocodile and the old man managed to escape with some serious wounds. It was a big news in northern Sarawak at that time. In southern Sarawak, there are a lot of rivers infested with man-eating crocodiles. It was not an interesting news to me.
Few hours later, we arrived at a small town near the river. From that small town, we asked the local people to fetch us using his old car to a remote area very near to the Brunei border. One of them wanted to go back to his longhouse and willing to bring us to our destination by paying him some money.
We asked the local driver to drop us at a longhouse near the border. By using the old topography map & compass, we decided to explore a small river near the longhouse where it is quite near to the border. We’re not certain that’s the right river to explore or not since the guy who gave me the information does not know the name of the river or the nearby village where he found Betta macrostoma. From my experience, most of the wild fighting fishes are found in the water head. After a short discussion, my friends and I decided to give it a try by walking along the river to the upper part of it.
It is a sandy and shallow river about 5 metres wide.The water is flowing slowly and the sand is very soft. At some spots, we’re “swallowed” by the soft sandy substrate until as deep as our knee but luckily, we managed to get out. There, I caught Betta akarensis, Rasbora tubbi and forest halfbeak (Hemirhamphodon kuekenthali) near the river bank. Hard lipped barb (Osteochilus sp.), Puntius banksi, Puntius johorensis and Rasbora sumatrana were spotted swimming in the river.
About an hour later, we came at an open spaced. There is an abandoned old logging road. After reading the map, we decided to hike to the foothill by using this dirt road. It was an unpleasant journey to walk under the blazing sun.
One hour later, we reached the first waterfall. The water temperature is a bit cold & the water PH is around 5.5. The water is crystal clear and running fast. Up here, the sandy substrate is replaced by rocky substrate and big sandstone can be seen along the river. I saw two species of Osteochilus (probably Osteochilus hasseltii & Osteochilus waandersii) grazing on the algae growing on a submerged tree log. Rasbora tubbi is found abundantly here! I never seen this species in central & southern Sarawak before. However, it is very common species in northern Sarawak.
We did not find any Betta macrostoma at the first waterfall. Han & I decided to climb the hill to look for the fish in the up river. Tan decided to rest at the first waterfall as he was totally exhausted. He did not join us to hunt for fish in the up river.
There are a lot of waterfalls in the up river. Some parts of the river banks are quite steep. In order to get to the other side of the river to find the jungle trail, we had to climb & crawl across the slippery rocks at the waterfall area. This is the most dangerous fish collecting trip I ever experienced in my life. We could kill ourselves if we were careless & fell to the waterfall below. The jungle near the border is quite thick even though that place was used to be a logging site.
By the time we reached the 5th waterfall, I was totally exhausted. We failed to catch any fighting fish up there. I only managed to catch a small snakehead which I thought it was Channa baramensis but later found out it's Channa gachua. Channa gachua is the smallest snakehead in Borneo.
After spending half an hour scooping around in a pool near the waterfall and still failed to find any Betta macrostoma, we decided to turn back as it was getting late.
On the way back, I saw a patch of submerged leaves litter near the river bank at the 3rd waterfall. It looks like a perfect hiding spot for wild fighting fish. I gave it a try by scooping up all those leaves litter. I was shocked to see a deep orange colored fish jumping on my net. Yahooooo!!! That was Betta macrostoma!!!! I screamed as loud as I could and then asked Han to hold the net for me in order to grab my camera to photograph my first Betta macrostoma.
It was one of my toughest fish collecting trips in my life. The moment when I caught this fish, I think all the pain & sweat are worth to pay for.
Below: My first Betta macrostoma in my fish tank.
Betta macrostoma in my net.
The female. (in my fish tank)
Below: the juvenile of Betta macrostoma in the natural habitat.
I'm hunting for wild Betta. ( Photo taken by Tan)
Me & my first Betta macrostoma !!! ( Photo taken by Tan)
The habitat of Betta macrostoma.
