A tiny ember with a snakehead’s silhouette, Betta channoides is one of Borneo’s most captivating little fish.

Native to the forest streams of eastern Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo, this species lives where the water runs tea-dark from leaf tannins and the forest canopy keeps the world in dappled shade. In these quiet trickles and leaf-choked pools, it hunts small invertebrates among roots and fallen branches, vanishing against the bronze and russet background.

Its name literally means “snakehead-like,” a nod to the resemblance between this betta and members of the snakehead genus Channa. The likeness is superficial, though: Betta channoides belongs to the gourami family and sports the labyrinth organ, a clever adaptation that lets it gulp air at the surface when oxygen in the water runs low.

In hand-sized worlds of leaf litter, courtship is a delicate dance. The pair embraces in classic betta fashion, and after each embrace the male gathers the eggs to incubate them in his mouth. For roughly a week or two he disappears into the scenery, holding his future brood until they emerge as miniature fish ready to fend for themselves.

It’s a small species—compact, sleek, and made for life in tight cover. Males blaze with warm reds and contrasting dark fin edges, while females wear subtler tones that make them nearly invisible among stained leaves and root tangles.

Betta channoides is often mentioned in the same breath as its close lookalike Betta albimarginata. A handy field clue separates them: albimarginata males show crisp white fin edges, whereas channoides trades that frosting for darker margins, giving it a moodier, ember-in-the-ash aesthetic.

Life at the forest floor’s waterline is precarious, and that’s part of this fish’s story. Its world rises and falls with seasonal rains, and the very habitats it relies on—peat swamps and shaded streams—are among Southeast Asia’s most threatened ecosystems. Protecting those sunless corridors of water preserves not only this betta but a suite of creatures evolved to thrive in the dark.

For all its understated size, Betta channoides is a masterclass in specialization: a mouthbrooding, air-breathing, leaf-litter phantom that turns a sliver of Borneo into a stage for color, stealth, and parental care.