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Betta fish in the wild
This article is all about the Betta fish.
What makes these interesting creatures so unique and how did they went from fishes that lived in the wilderness hundreds of year ago to fishes that people watch nowadays in their aquariums.
What exactly were the Betta fishes doing in the wilderness, where do they come from and a lot more interesting facts about them can be found here.
The species known as Betta fish actually have a different name.
Their official name is Siamese fighting fish. As the name predicts, they were used for fighting contests back in the 1800s in Siam.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_fighting_fish
The popular fishes were so popular with these fighting contests in Thailand that the former King of Siam had these type of events regulated and taxed.
People earned a lot of money thanks to this sport and that’s the reason why.
Most of them earned money by breeding these fishes to let them fight.
Source: http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2009/06/life-and-death-in-a-cup/
They can attack and fight each other for various things such as food, territory or just because they can see each other in the same place and their injuries could be fatal.
The species can be as long as 6.5 cm. Interesting note about the original specimens is that they didn’t use to have such vibrant colours. In fact, most of them were said to be just in grey or green colours.
Most likely that’s because of the water and the places that they inhabited.
Their colours are not natural at all. With time passing by, more breeders started to work in this business so that they can have more species with different colours.
The Bettas nowadays have all sorts of colours.
From radiant blue, red and yellow to multicoloured and fully decorated, there are fishes in all colours.
You can only imagine how much of the species has been produced for the past 150 years, especially now that they are one of the most common types of fishes people want to have.
The origin of the Betta fishes is Asia, as this is the first place where they were found.
The records show that places such as Cambodia and Thailand, among other part of South Asia, were the first to have the species.
Back in the day, the Betta fishes used to live in the shallow waters of various paddles and ponds.
It’s in their nature to attack each other mostly over territory, however, that wasn’t the case before.
Since they used to live in larger places they didn’t bump into each other and that means that they didn’t have to fight over anything like that.
The Betta fishes have something very specific. They have a lot of truly incredible abilities to survive.
That is something that has started years ago from the first species in the wild.
Some of the abilities are breathing oxygen, jumping and living in drastic atmosphere.
Source: https://bettafishworld.com/betta-fish-anatomy/
They have the strange, yet super powerful ability to breathe oxygen in dire situations.
This was their way of survival many years ago and it still continues to work for the current generation of Betta fishes.
Back in the wilderness, there were no humans to take care of them.
Imagine a paddle in the dessert slowly fading away. You would expect the Siamese fishes to die in that case, however, they taught themselves a very bizarre way to survive.
Not only they were able to breathe air, and live outside of anything that includes water, but they also covered themselves with mud. The mud is the closest thing they could have when there is no more water around, and that is something that could keep them alive.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/10/betta-fish-pet-stores-care-mistreatment-news/
Their way of survival doesn’t stop with the lack of water and learning to breathe air.
Slowly, the generations of the Siamese fighting fish also started to develop new body parts that helped them. Since they had to rely on themselves to find a way to survive in extremely rough and seriously dangerous situations, the Siamese fighting fish also learned how to live in?unclean water.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/fish.html
Not only unclean but with a different temperature. The main reason for that is the fact that the water in the rice paddles, ponds or rivers tends to be very low on dissolved oxygen.
This is how they taught themselves not just to breathe air but to live in water that’s with an unusual temperature.
People have studied this and found out that the species can live between 56 to up to 95 degrees.
Since there are different seasons, the water tends to change from lukewarm to cold.
This is how they learned to adapt to it. Things such as breathing has helped them the most. In the shallow waters they had to find food by themselves as well.
There was no one else who could possibly take care of them and they had to find a way. The water that they lived in was not anything special. Another thing that they learned that most likely helped them survive is to be able to jump on the surface just like most of the fishes.
Those are just some many qualities and behavioral symptoms that the specimens have had ever since they first appeared.
One thing is certain now, and that is that the preferred temperature that they can live in should be between 76 to 84 degrees.
Not just the temperature of the water but other things such as filter and heat are a must when the Betta fishes are kept in an aquarium or a fish tank.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pets/fish.html
If the water is less than the above-mentioned degrees, it is highly likely that the Betta fish can become infected with a disease, and unfortunately, that can infect other fishes as well.
Science shows that the little places are not good for them but people still tend to buy and sell them.
Another important thing that has to be mentioned is that if the owner has females, they can be kept together. The same thing doesn’t work for males as they are much more aggressive.
Males should be around other fishes as it’s less likely that they will attack each other
Source: https://bettafishworld.com/can-betta-fish-be-with-other-fish/
