The type specimens were collected from the area of Bertam south of Jambi City, Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia and it may also occur on Pulau Bangka (Bangka island). Bangka lies just of the east coast of Sumatra and fish collected there have appeared in the aquarium hobby as Betta sp. ‘Bangka’. Betta cracens is a species of gourami endemic to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is an inhabitant of freshwater swamp forest. This species grows to a length of 5.7 cm (2.2 in),[2] typically inhabits blackwaters that have very soft and very acidic water and is a bubble nest brooder.[3] The Latin term cracens means "slender" or "elegant" and is so named because of the fish's slender body.[3] It was first described in 1996 by Heok Hui Tan and Peter K. L. Ng in The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.[4]
