Common name / Origin
Betta Fish, Betta Splendens, Siamese Fighting Fish, Beta Fish, Beta Fighting Fish.
Size
Bettas will grow to an average size of 2 1/2 - 3 inches.
Temperament
Betta fish are a tempermental fish that portrays an awesome personality to behold in the home aquarium. The male betta fish along with the female betta fish will both flare out or display their gill plates towards other fish in an act to show hostility, spawinging activites, or when it feels threatened.
This cool display is natural and is used to intimidate other fish. If you hold a mirror up to your beta fish you will see a cool show that can actually last a very long time. This act is very similiar to that of a turkey or a peacock displaying their colors when they are about to fight or duing breeding to attract mates. Both the male and female betta fish can be aggressive towards other fish. Males especially will fight and nip fins of other male beta fish.
With the more popular Betta Splendens and other selectively bred varieties distinguishing between male and females is rather easy. The male betta will have large, beautiful flowing fins. Males will be more colorful and have a more narrow body. Female betta fish are usually a bit shorter, have a thicker belly, and less finnage. Females can still portray beautiful coloration but most are less vibrant than the males.
The topic of tank size is one that many disagree on regarding keeping Betta fish. I prefer to keep Siamese Fighting Fish in an aquarium simply due to the ease of maintenance. Many people choose to keep their bettas in small glass or plastic containers known as betta fish bowls. Whatever you decide, you must remember a few key items. Siamese fight fish do not need strong flowing water. The long fins can not manuver through the strong current. So tank filters should be turned down on low. Bettas need a consistent water temperature. Temperatues between 75-81°F are ideal.
pH: 6.5-8.0
Temperature 75-81 °F
Feeding
In the wild, betta fish will eat small organisms especially insect larvae. Feed your betta fish once per day ensuring you do not overfeed.Tankmates
The discussion on what type of tankmates you can keep with betta fish comes up often. First, you can not keep more than one male betta fish in the same tank. These fish will fight until one eventually dies. It is strongly suggested to keep one male and one female per tank. One can keep multiple female betta fish in the same tank as long as they are kept in a group of more than two. They will fight some, but not to the extent it harms or kills another.
Now, what other type of fish can you keep with a beta fish? This will depend on your individual fish. Like humans, they all have different personalities. But, most have success with the smaller, more peaceful fish such as black skirt tetras, neon or cardinal tetras, swordtails, mollies, hatchetfish, corydoras catfish, white clouds, and you can try guppies. On occasions, bettas may nip at the guppy's tail but it will all depend on you individual betta.
Betta fish are not hard to breed. The male will form a bubble nest against one of the sides of your aquarium. The female betta wll lay her eggs, the male will pick them up and deposit them into the bubble nest. Fry will begin to hatch after 3-4 days. Most remove the female after breeding to prevent fighting and fry from being eaten.
Breeders have developed several different finnage and scale variations:
- Veiltail (extended finnage length and non-symmetrical tail; caudal fin rays usually only split once)
- Crowntail (fin rays are extended well beyond the membrane and consequently the tail can take on the appearence of a crown; also called fringetail)
- Combtail (less extended version of the crown tail, derived from breeding crown and another finnage type)
- Half-moon (caudal fin that forms a 180-degree spread; larger spreads are dubbed over half-moon)
- Short-finned fighting style (sometimes called "plakat")
- Double-tail (the tail fin is duplicated into two lobes and the dorsal fin is significantly elongated; the two tails can show different levels of bifurcation depending on the individual)
- Delta tail (tail spread less than that of a half-moon with sharp edges)
- Halfsun (Combtail with caudal fin going 180 degrees, like a halfmoon)
- Rosetail (halfmoon variation with so much finnage that it overlaps and looks like a rose)
- Dragon Scale (scales which are solid rich color; colors tend to be mostly white)
Betta Types
Halfmoon
Crowntail
Halfmoon Plakat ( HMPK )
Wild
Giant
PlakatLEARN BETTA FISH BREEDING OR MATING
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