Believe it or not, but a betta can survive outside the water for a period of time as long as they remain wet. If you have a betta as a pet you will see that they come to the surface often to suck air from outside the water. This genetic evolutionary trait allows the species to live in water that contains very little oxygen. After tiring from battle, one betta will retreat signaling victory to other.īecause the betta’s natural environment in the wild would change so often, they developed the ability to intake oxygen from both the water and the air. This explains why bets were placed on the bravery of each fish back in the 1800’s rather than who would survive the other. Typical fights between bettas last only a few minutes before one decides to retreat or dies.

The King would keep his victors close and became so engrossed in the sport that he later sanctioned regular events, taxes, and bets were even placed on the fights.ĭespite many believing that bettas fight to the death, that’s not always the case. Natives would collect and breed them specifically for fighting matches and this caught the attention of the King for sport. Back in the mid to late 1800’s, the King of Thailand took an interest in the betta because of the species’ territorial nature and fighting instinct. Let’s explore more of the history of the betta and why everyone knows them for fighting their own kind. With proper care bettas can live anywhere from 2 to 4 years, with some owners having noted lifespans that extended into their teens. Females are much smaller in size and fin length. Males and females look drastically different from each other, with males exhibiting the longer beautiful flowing fins. The ones you see in pet stores are quite different too in both color and size, with wild betta fish having much smaller fins and being predominantly colored in a dull green or brown appearance.They’re a wonderful first pet to teach children the responsibility of caring for something, and are inexpensive to purchase and maintain. In the wild, native to areas like Cambodia and Thailand, the betta inhabits rice paddies and still watered canals. The Betta fish, Siamese fighting fish, or betta as it’s known by its genus, is an elegant tropical freshwater fish that is popular as a pet and often housed in eclectic home aquariums.

Wild betta fish