Where is a betta fishs natural habitat

Have any more questions about Betta fish in the wild or want to share your own knowledge and experiences with this little fish with a big history? This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Articles Betta fish Betta fish in the wild Where do wild Bettas live? Last Updated May 21, Sharing is caring! Hover over image to pin to Pinterest. Pictured: Betta mahachaiensis, one of the many species in the Betta complex. Caresheet: Zebra Danio Danio rerio January 16, If there is no means of escape for the Betta fish on the losing end of the battle, it will almost always result in the death of the weaker Betta fish.

Due to their highly aggressive nature, these fish were first caught and bred in captivity before the s for the purposes of fish fighting competitions, akin to chicken or dog fighting today. In fact, in , the King of Thailand issued licenses to people who wanted to collect these fish for the purposes of fighting. After many years, in most places these fighting competitions were outlawed, but people still continued to collect the Betta fish due to its beauty and fairly easy maintenance when kept as a domestic pet.

In a French aquarist named Pierre Carbonnier imported the first Betta fish to France, and in the first specimens were brought to Germany. From there, the popularity of Betta fish skyrocketed and they slowly spread around the world as an extremely popular home aquarium fish. Interestingly enough, the Betta fish has also been known to be an invasive species, whether by accident or the intentional release by irresponsible fish owners.

In January of , a large population of Betta fish was found in in the Adelaide River flood plain in a Northern Territory of Australia. Nobody really knows how they got there, most likely due to being released by owners and reproducing, but they have become a threat to native Australian fish, frogs, and plant life too. When an egg-bearing female betta comes sniffing around the nest, the male will wrap himself around her and squeeze out the eggs.

He then fertilizes them and keeps them safely in the bubble nest as he patrols his territory. In the wild, the female hightails it out of there right after mating. In a fish tank, there's nowhere to run. Bettas are territorial, which is why they have a reputation for being "fighting fish. Michelle A. Rivera is the author of many books and articles. She is the executive director of her own nonprofit, Animals , Inc. Rivera is an animal-assisted therapist, humane educator, former shelter manager, rescue volunteer coordinator, dog trainer and veterinary technician.

Thank you Jennifer! A nice addition for bettas and to seed new tanks, some floating plants. I find tossing in a bunch of hornwort looks stunning, and grows feathery vines all over the top for bettas to rest and play in, while keeping the below area free for swim space. A good idea in smaller tanks 5g and under. Happy betta keeping! You should add to your article that if you are getting plants, to look for low light ones, the ones you mentioned are perfect. Bettas prefer low light due to the brackish colored water they live in.

Just make sure the surface has a hole where food can drop and they can use their labyrinth organ. Also for the. I am a bit of a planted tank nut also. To tie some readers over, good hardy, low light plants include: anubais, javafern, javamoss all of these can be tied to wood, rock or ornaments to grow , floating plants like hornwort, duckweed and watersprite, or hardy ones requiring a substrate which have lots of stems and leaves for bettas to hide and play in such as moneywort, hygrophyllia, ambulia moderate lighting is good here, and some liquid ferts , or big leaved Amazon sword swords are better for larger tanks, they can get huge but can be pruned back to live in 15G.

That said, a dimly lit tank with some tannin staining from indian almond leaf or driftwood can look very natural and effective. Thanks for the comment! Lea, I agree that keeping bettas for sale in cups is a horrible idea. I have also noticed that some retailers add something blue to the water and I have been told that it is to keep the bettas from being able to see each other and stressing out. So what you are left with are a bunch of sad bettas whose colors and personalities are unviewable.

But I have yet to hear someone with a viable alternative for retailers to utilize. I know that at least some of these people love fish and would rather not have to display the bettas in this manner, but as people want variety, how to stock and keep several bettas affordably is a problem.

It would probably raise the cost per fish somewhat, but I would be more than willing to pay a few extra dollars for a happy, healthy fish.

Do you have some better ideas for retailers? Hi Jacquie — Yes i certainly do, and have recommended them to several stores. There are several viable ideas as far as i can see, the underlying theme being that the bettas should be housed in the fish wall as part of the rest system, so they can enjoy the cycled, heated, and filtered water like the rest of the fish. I believe the best way to do this, which is also easy and cheap, is to use DIY mesh dividers in the aquariums used to house aquatic plants and keep a single male in each section.

I think a standard tank divided into 4 would be enough for display and space for the betta. The cover will be appreciated in terms of stress reduction and stimulation, and will also make both the plants and betta look more attractive as a display! Alternatively, betta barracks could be used in other aquariums, but i dislike these as they are cruel in terms of swimming space and no access to cover to limit stress.

I think any of these options are actually rather cheap to create, and cheaper in the long term as less cleaning is required as all are hooked up to the central filtration unit, less illness and death, and more sales as bettas are in better health. Regarding the blue solutions you mention, that is methylene blue. It does not stop bettas from seeing each other they have far better eyes than that! Stores add this to prevent ich and finrot from breaking out in their betta tanks, but it only works as a preventative and will not stop fish from succumbing to illness from ammonia poisoning and stress..

All the best, lea. Thanks so much for putting out an article that is easy-to-read, informative and correct! I have been keeping bettas for several years and currently have two males, Tuff and Tanis. Very informative site! Thank you for sharing. Luckly for my curiosity as a child even now in my late 20s i always love to do extended research when it comes to my interest, Especially fish. I learned from a young age even before actually searching.

That all animals need a very large yet accommodating environment. We went to petsmart to look for an aquarium for our apartment and she stumbled across the poorly healthed bettas along with the rest of the animals. Some still thriving to survive, others dead or on the verge of dying. So i wrote a letter to the company.

Lets see if we can get more people to act on behalf of these beautiful creatures. He loves his 10gl home full of plants, heat and filtration. He makes plenty of bubble nest and seems to be very happy. I will be getting him a female soon. Thanks for more very useful info, mike. If budget is a concern, try suggesting putting cheap mesh or plastic dividers in the tanks housing the aquarium plants. Then, they could house a male betta in each division easily, keeping them part of the heated and filtered system and also giving more space and loads of plant cover for them.

A 10g plant tank could easily be divided into 4 for temporary betta housing, and each would show off both fish and plants well…. Good luck with your fish, and all the best.

Thanks Lea. I completely agree with what you said. My neons, glowlight and penguin tetras all are schooling all the time unlike earlier when they roamed around freely. I am planning to keep only the half moon and return the other two. As I wrote earlier, the half moon has started showing some aggresion lately.

His target is dwarf gouramis, ramarozi and sometimes the lone platy. Platies are just very colourful, and the betta might see it as a short-finned betta to contest with, so it will likely just keep getting harassed. Keep your eye on it and use your best judgement. Hi Vipin A pleasure — always keep asking those questions! Good luck, they are wonderful fish! Killer is loving every minute of it! He now eats from my finger and know me. I just bought 2 new 15 gal tanks.

I was told that they were peaceful and would work out fine. Is this true??? Also, after reading the comments… it sounds like i might need some more fake plants in there. I only have 2 I thought he would have more room for swimming. Are the Barbs ok to put in the tank or should I put something else in there?? I am thinking of throwing in some ghost shrimp to help with cleaning up the bottom. Have you considered some floating plants?

Things like hornwort, lacefern and even duckweed can look amazing, and they are excellent cover for bettas to nest in, play in, and they absorba lot of wastes which would otherwise cause algae! Your addition of more plants will help create more territories and reduce chances of this.

Your betta may eat them, or he might not be able to catch them. Thank you again!! I need as much info possible on keeping him nice and breeding!!!!!! Please reply!!! Your current tank sounds too small, and a 5g would be far better — or go for hte 10g!

A heater set to 76 to 82F is also critical, as is high quality and varied betta food. Try thawed frozen bloodworms or a very small about of brine shrimp now and then — yummy! Betta breeding, particularly by those without much experience keeping bettas or fish, is very hard, time consuming, and money consuming.

Personally, they are one of the most time consuming, space consuming, and expensive fry to rear. To be a successful breeder, you MUST be totally aware of the nitrogen cycle an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate toxicity in both the parents aquariums and especially the small volumes for raising fry.

You MUST know about infusoria, brine shrimp nauplii and other fry foods, and how to keep these food alive, when to feed, how much to feed, and that water must be changed daily, sometimes twice daily for young fry. You MUST know how to set up a breeding tank with a place for the nest.

You MUST have a separate healthy aquarium to house the female before and after breeding… and possibly a number of these as sometimes betta males reject females. And then, you have the added issue of keeping a betta female sorority, which can be challenging. To be a successful breeder you need a LOT of fry grow out tanks as they will fight beyond a certain age and will all need to be housed separately.

Unless your parents are happy for you to have a whole shelf full of small tanks, ideally plumbed together so that the outlets drain to a central, properly bacteria cycled sump so you can maintain adequate filtration and heating of the brood. This is difficult for newbies to set up and get right. I hope your parents like fiddling with heaters, tubes and filters.

Then, there are betta genetics. Finaly, are you able to sell your offspring? What will you do if you have 30 bettas with no home? Hello, Can a tank be too deep for a betta? I would really like for my betta to be the only inhabitant, and was wondering if it is possible that it is too deep for him? He has been swimming around for about an hour and seems to love exploring the complex root decoration that is currently at the bottom. The filter does seem to affect his ability to swim properly — I have two eheim canisters, one on each side… and plan to run the filters 1x per week for a full day while he hangs out in his old 1.

I am just nervous based on some of the things I have read online which say that Bettas cannot live in large, deep tanks and I do not want to do anything to cause him harm or exhaustion.

Thank you in advance for any advice! On the depth, no not at all. It would be unlikely that it would stress him. You will hear stories about bettas being stressed in large tanks, but this is often as they are sparsely decorated. Bettas native homes are thick to the point of choking with vegetation, and cover seems to be an essential factor in keeping them relaxed as well as stimulated withareas to explore.

To make him feel at home and get the best natural behaviours, go crazy and plant it out with long stemmed plants which bettas love to hang in, like hygro, watersprite, wisteria, camboba, ambulia etc, maybe some floating hornwort a personal favorite , or even drop the water level down half way and put in a bunch of water lillies!

You can even leave them in their pots, and to keep the soil in place put them in a terracotta pot and place filter floss and then decorative stones on top.