Posted by Marcus Song on October 14th, 2006 — Posted in Learn All About Bettas
Here are the top 5 things you may not know about our favorite tropical fish:
1. It’s a Betta Fish, not a Beta Fish
Beta is the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet. Betta is the beautiful Siamese Fighting Fish swimming gloriously in your 10-gallon (minimum) aquarium. “Beta” is pronounced “bay-tuh.” “Betta” is pronounced “Bet-Tuh.”
Got it? Good. 
2. Bettas are gentle and not fighters.
In the wild, Bettas don’t kill each other unless they’re in an area that’s too small. Normally the loser swims away after the winner flares at him. If there’s nipping involved, the loser gets nipped once and then escapes. It’s never a fight to the death.
3. Bettas are way different than their wild ancestors.
The original Bettas were not fancy and colorful as they are now. Those traits were bred in over the years as Betta made their way from being warrior fish to prized aquarium tropical fish-bettas. (Today in fact Bettas are becoming less aggressive as breeders favor their ornamental qualities — colors and finnage — to fighting ability.)
4. Bettas can breathe air.
Betta fish are known as anabantids because they have the ability to breathe atmospheric air thanks to a unique organ called the labyrinth. This accounts for their ability to thrive in low-oxygen water conditions that would kill most other fish. Bettas also prefer shallow water that allows them to easily come up for air.
5. Bettas do not prefer confined areas.
The saddest thing I see is Bettas being kept in tiny cups at pet stores.
There is evidence to indicate that the male Betta prefers a confined area when breeding, but other than that he appears to be perfectly happy to swim in larger tanks, as long as he has small places in the tank to stake out his territory and hide. So there is no hard and fast requirement to keep your Betta in a small area, contrary to popular belief.
If you notice your Betta swimming in circles a lot, rubbing against the glass, and other sorts of odd behavior that says “Get me outta here!”, it indicates he wants to be in a larger tank.
You see, Bettas do like to have room to swim around. They like clean water that’s filtered well. The males like to display their toughness to one another — i .e., to see other Bettas on occasion and flare (puff out their gills and fins) at them. It makes them happy and stimulated.
And it’s beautiful the way a Betta’s fins flow when they’re given lots of room to sprint around their tank. Basically the bottom line is this… Bettas have a lot of personality. So as a rule, you should give each Betta enough room to display their individuality. Ten gallons is a good rule for minimum tank size for your Bettas to be happy.
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Posted by Marcus Song on October 12th, 2006 — Posted in Betta Care
Tank size is a controversial issue. On a purely physical level, Bettas have an efficient digestive system that doesn’t produce much waste, plus they breathe air, so they don’t absolutely need a larger space. In the wild they basicall y live in small, stagnant sections of rice patties and other pools of still water and mud holes.
On an emotional level, however, things are different. How happy would you be if you had to spend your whole life in a tiny apartment? Probably the most convincing argument for me though is the fact that Bettas will always use the full tank space you give them.
One Betta I got, Charlie, was sad and lifeless in the little vase he lived in when I got him. He was sickly and lethargic.
Then I moved him into a 10-gallon tank and today he’s in hog heaven. He spends his days racing and frolicking through his water, exploring pathways through his plants, and flinging around his gravel. He enjoys life and doesn’t have to sit crammed into a vase anymore. Vases are for flowers, not Bettas.
So, even though your Betta would be okay living in a gallon-or-so sized jar, there is no reason to consign him to a life of confinement. Bettas will thrive in a goldfish-sized bowl, a small aquarium, or even a larger aquarium under certain conditions.
If you decide to keep your Betta in a small container, remember this:
Although Bettas are used to living in shallow mud holes, rice paddies and swamps, these habitats are part of a natural ecosystem. This means that the water receives nutrients regularly, fresh water constantly flows in and bacteria is flushed out and destroyed by the natural water purification process. And the typical rice paddy is enormous — about the size of a large pond.
None of this happens in an artificial environment, and the smaller your Betta’s habitat is, the more danger they are in due to the quicker formation of adverse environmental conditions.
Overall, your Betta will be happier in a small tank than he will be in a plastic cup or vase.
For your little ones to not only survive but to start to be happy, give each Betta a bare minimum of 2 gallons of water.
And really I’ve found (and so have the other breeders I’ve interviewed) that no Betta — male or female — will ever get upset with too much room. There’s no real upper limit to how big your Betta’s tank can be, except for the practical fact that larger tanks are that much more difficult to heat and keep the wat er clean. So consider the maximum (and ideal) per Betta to be about 10 gallons for each fish.
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Posted by Marcus Song on October 10th, 2006 — Posted in Learn All About Bettas
Spend much time with serious Betta fanciers and you’ll hear terms like “veil tail,” “delta tail,” “crowntail,” and “half moon”… and quickly become confused. So I’m going to give you a pain-free introduction to the various lines of the glorious Betta Splendens. In a nutshell, the only real difference among the types of Bettas has to do with the tail. I explain as follows…
Veil Tail - Over 80% of fish sold by pet stores are VT males. They’re characterized by bottom fin rays being longer than the top rays. (Rays are the “spines” you see in fins.) With fins flared out, VTs look rectangular or diamond-shaped. Most breeders and Betta show enthusiasts look down on the VT as inferior. I think they’re mistaken because I think the VT’s multiple colors and wavy fins are one of the true miracles of nature.
Round Tail - The tail appears round, hence the name. The circular shape comes from the middle ray of the tail being the longest, and then the rays becoming progressively shorter away from the middle.
Delta Tail - The tail has a triangular shape, which comes from the outermost rays on the tail being the same length as the middle. In Betta shows the widest-tailed of the Delta Tails are the most sought after.
Half Moons - A Delta Tail’s tail can become so wide that it forms a half circle (or half moon) shape, at which point it becomes known as the Half Moon Betta. Half Moons are the most popular variety among hardcore Betta fanciers.
Double Tails - These little guys have their tail fork into two halves. DTs are genetic rarities you will never find at a pet store.
Crown Tails - The rays of the tail extend well past the webbing, giving the tail a prickly appearance. The Crowntails is most commonly single rayed. Then breeders bred double rayed Crowntails which had tail rays branching off. Since then breeders have developed “double double ray” and “double double double ray” Crowntails, which are the scarcest and costliest Bettas you can buy.
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Posted by Marcus Song on October 3rd, 2006 — Posted in Learn All About Bettas
The beautiful colors of the Betta that catch our eye were not naturally present when the species was first discovered. Because the Siamese were solely interested in the fighting ability of these fish, breeding practices concentrated on building strength, endurance, and a fierce fighting attitude. Most of the Bettas from that time were short-finned (to give their opponents less to latch on to), and were a greenish-brown color.
Even in 1840, when the King of Siam made his gift to Cantor, colors still ran towards the drab. By the time the fish began showing up in America, some had begun to develop longer fins and rounded tails, and specks of bright colors could occasionally be found.
There are several basic color genes present or missing in Bettas. Yellow is the base color followed by black, red and blue. There are sub colors as well. For example, the blue gene can be represented by metallic blue, royal blue, or blue-green. The popular royal blue is actually a mixture of the other blues.
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