Betta Fish Facts You Should Know
Any enthusiast can stand to learn some new betta facts about this popular and beautiful aquarium fish. No matter how knowledgeable one is concerning this fish, there are always plenty of interesting facts that can be learned about it.
For example, did you know that bettas are closely related to gouramis? Those who’ve kept both fish may very well have noticed that both kinds of fish take occasional dashes to the water’s surface to gulp a little air before returning to the depths of the aquarium. That’s because both kinds of fish are members of the Osphromenidae family, and are known as labyrinth fish thanks to the maze-like mechanism that helps them “breathe” air from time to time. This, of course, helps them survive in their natural environment, whose waters can more often than not be slow, even stagnant, and sometimes deprived of oxygen.
Next, did you know that the gorgeous colors flaunted by male bettas-and even some female bettas-are not at all found in the bettas you find in nature? Wild bettas are more apt to be drably-colored-shades of olive, brown or dull green-and that makes sense given that a brightly-colored betta would be very easy to be spotted by predators and eaten. So you might well be wondering where the gorgeous bettas you see in stores get their coloration. The answer is that they’re as colorful as they are because they’ve been bred by people to be beautiful, just as many dog breeds have distinctive features such as droopy ears, enormous eyes and thick coats. Over the years that bettas have been popular aquarium fish, they’ve been bred to concentrate genetic traits like color, fin design and so on.
A third interesting betta fact: bettas are sturdy and hardy enough to do well in little aquariums or containers that aren’t awfully spacious. Some people’s sensibilities are offended when they see bettas kept in tiny containers with little amounts of water. But being kept in such environments isn’t a death sentence for those fish, not the way it might be for many other fish, given that their crowded, plant-choked natural habitat can also be equally shallow and poor in oxygen content. That said, however, a betta can definitely do better when kept in an environment that is a little larger and better run than just a tiny aquarium-most especially one that has equipment that can keep the water clean.
