Originally posted on July 4, 2020 @ 8:25 pm
Last Updated on 7 months by admin
Female Betta fish
The main focus on this article is the Betta fish and mainly the females.
In the article you can also find information about the Betta fish such as what is their history, where do they get their name, what is the common behaviour that was noticed among both the male and female fishes and more.
Betta is the other name of the Siamese fighting fish.
It is one of the most popular species of fishes that are watched in an aquarium by humans.
The Betta was first discovered in Southeast Asia and they got their name from a famous group of warriors that were called the same way (Bettah).
The name was derived from the warriors because their nature is very aggressive and they fight a lot. In fact, there was a sport that was all about the fighting fish.
Back in the 1800s the sport was very popular, especially in Thailand.
The former King of Siam had it regulated and taxed mainly because it was a huge success.
The lifespan of the species is between 3 to 5 years.
They are very rare and there’s something exceptional in them that helps them living.
They are able to absorb oxygen from the air as well as through their grills while they are in the water.
That is one of the reasons why the Betta fishes don’t necessarily need any type of water filters of aerators as they have a higher tolerance for poor quality water.
That doesn’t mean that the water should be left dirty as they still need to be treated right and taken care of.
The Bettas are part of the gourami family and they are highly territorial, especially the males.
The males are known to attack each other when placed in the same aquarium, mainly because of the territory.
The same thing can be said about the female Bettas as well if housed in a too-small aquarium can attack each other. That is also another reason why both sexes shouldn’t be placed together.
The picture above shows betta fish ready to fight with flared gills.
The only time that is appropriate for both a male and a female Betta to be in the same aquarium together is if it’s for breeding purposes.
That should be done with a lot of caution.
Otherwise, it will most likely be a bad idea again due to the nature of these fishes to put them together and let them stay in the same place permanently.
The Betta species should be watched in the temperature of around 75-82 degrees, but a lot of sources have shown that they could survive in a water temperature of 56 degrees or even up to 95 degrees.
The Betta species exist in different colours such as Super Red, Super Yellow, Super Blue, Galaxy Nemo and many others.
One of the most interesting qualities about the Betta species is that both sexes flare or in other words puff out their gill clover (the opercula) so that they could appear more impressive.
That way they could look more intimidating to their rival.
This puff out could also be because there is a movement around them that startle them or when their environment is changed (moved from one aquarium to another).
As already mentioned, the species could be very aggressive and that’s something that they are known for.
There are studies that have focused on females and they could be as aggressive as the male Betta fishes.
However, this sort of behaviours is not the same as males.
Females can be a lot more peaceful. In one group that’s full of Siamese fighting fishes, there was an observation to see how they will act for about two weeks.
The behaviours that were recorded were attacking, displays and fighting over random things such as food. The results showed that when the females are housed together in a small group they can live peacefully but before that, there needs to be a dominance order.
The picture above shows that female betta fish sorority living peacefully.
There is the dominant female Betta fish and there are the other females in the group. Apparently, the most aggressive is the most dominant one as that was the way she proved her dominance over the small group.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2441580/
Among that, there was also a lot of other interesting behaviour noticed between the small group.
For example, if there are a few male Betta fishes put together in a small housing, aggression and dominance will be much different as they are way more different from females.
Source:
The females are mostly made of solid colour and the males have more elaborate colours and different decorations.
They are very unique not just on the outside but on the inside as well. The males have much larger fins in comparison with the females as shown in the picture below.
The males and females should be put together only temporary for breeding purposes.
Once the couple is paired they should be separated as females like to be alone from time to time.
In order for them to have some space, it’s good to have some plants or any other aquarium decorations that will serve as the resting place of the fish.
Speaking of the differences between the male and female fishes, it is very interesting to point out how you can find out the sex of the fish.
The females have an “egg spot” which looks like a small grain of saltant that usually differentiates them.
The picture above is from home.adelphi.edu respectively.
That is the place where they will lay out their eggs. The baby Bettas are usually very small.
They are able to get out after three days as the hatching lasts that long.
After they are out, they will be able to take care of themselves and neither of their parents should take care of them.
Sources:
https://www.petsit.com/facts-about-betta-fish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_fighting_fish
https://home.adelphi.edu/~ve21375/Female Betta Fish.html
https://www.petmd.com/fish/care/evr_fi_how-to-take-care-of-betta-fish