The Longest Hunt, by Michael Lo

Borneo Field Trip Diaries - Part III
The Longest Hunt

by Michael Lo
of Sarawak, Malaysia
From his website: http://www.ibanorum.netfirms.com
Aquarticles

(Collection period: 1st May 2004 - 29th May 2004)

Besides finding information about the licorice gourami through the Internet, I also found an article posted by somebody who was here in Sarawak collecting Betta brownorum and Betta taeniata. Later, I found out he is someone I admire, and I call him "the fish expert" because he knows a lot about species of fish in Sarawak and the regional area.

May 1st, Labour Day
....I began my journey to Serian to find these two species of betta. When I reached Serian town, I started to search the swamp in the surrounding area. I found a lot of roads that I had never explored, and stopped at a few locations where the river (mostly clearwater) flowed under the roads. I found two species of Borneo sucker (Gastromyzon sp.) that I had never collected before, but thought this was not the habitat of Betta taeniata, so I decided to leave after spending an hour there with my friend, James. (Later I found out that is the river that Betta taeniata inhabits!!).

I found two species of Borneo sucker in this small river.

CLICK ON THUMBNAILS FOR ENLARGEMENTS, THEN GO "BACK."

The next collection point was the lowland swamp forest not far from Serian. The water is a bit black coloured. I couldn't find anything interesting except the common Betta ibanorum and the croaking gourami (Trichopsis vittata). I searched around the whole area but failed to find any peat swamp forest. I left disappointed.

A pair of Betta ibanorum found in the lowland swamp forest.

A beautiful male Betta ibanorum found in a small drain near Gedong.

May 9th.
One week later I decided to go to Pantu area to search for Betta brownorum. There are a few peat swamp forests over there. I was alone at that time. I found a beautiful peat swamp forest but I couldn't find any betta....only the common Rasbora kalochroma. After spending one and half hours inside the swamp, I finally "surrendered" as I was totally exhausted! Again, I went home disappointed.

This is the river where I found red-tailed rasbora and other common fish.

A beautiful peat swamp forest near Pantu.

May 15th.
I finally got information from the fish expert Mr Tan, about the name of the river where I could find Betta taeniata. The name of the village is very similar to a village near the Serian town, so I went to the wrong collection point and found nothing interesting. Then I went to another collection point described by Allan Brown in the Sarawak Museum Journal (1987 issue) in Tebedu area. However, I failed to find anything except an underground river (flooded cave)....somewhere near the road to the Indonesia border. This time I really wanted to give up. In all the streams and rivers that I went to, there were no fish called betta!!

May 23rd.
After confirming with the fish expert for the second time, I realised that the river where I had found two species of Borneo sucker is the river where he had found Betta taeniata. This time I was 100% confident that I would find the fish.

I went to the upper part of the river where there are a lot of plants growing near the stream and I pushed my net very hard. At last I found a male Betta taeniata!! Words cannot describe how I felt at that moment. After so many years growing up in Sarawak, this was the first time that I had seen such a beautiful wild betta !!!! The anal fin is bluish mixed with green. Isn't it a great creation of God?!! So perfect and beautiful!

A male Betta taeniata

Hey man, I am not peeing but busy collecting fish! This is where I found Betta taeniata.

May 29th.
This time Mr Tan asked me to be a guide for three new friends (Benjamin, Benny & Zhou Hang)* coming from Singapore. They were here to collect some wild betta and other species of fish. In the early morning, after taking them to eat the famous Sarawak laksa, we headed to a peat swamp forest not far away from the city.

*Editors note: Benny Ng wrote a comprehensive account of this trip with lots of excellent photographs. It is linked at the end of this series of articles. Or go directly to Sarawak Adventure, by Benny Ng)

When I went into the swamp I saw the stream was very shallow and believed we would not find anything inside that muddy swamp. But about 15 minutes later, Benjamin found the first Betta brownorum! Gosh! I never really expected the shallow water along the jungle trail would be home to such a beautiful red betta fish! If I had not brought them there, I would have never have tried that area to find this betta! My Singaporean friends explained to me that Betta brownorum belongs to the Betta coccina group. This group of bettas inhabit shallow and slow flowing streams.

The red arrow points to the leaf litter under which Betta brownorum was hiding.

I thought Betta brownorum was as big as the Siamese fighting fish, but in fact it is a small species!

A beautiful male Betta brownorum.

I not only found this beautiful betta but I also found three new friends who were willing to teach me how to breed fish, and share knowledge about fish keeping and taking good photos. After a month of "hunting" I felt this collection period had been my most fruitful one!