Bettas: The Fish Full of Personality

Betta, Betta splendens, or Siamese Fighting Fish--call them what you like--hail from Southeast Asia. The water they live in is hot, stagnant, and has a low oxygen content.

Because of this, bettas have a breathing organ called a labyrinth, which assists bettas with oxygen storage. Bettas rise to the surface to breath in oxygen and store it.

The branchiostegal membrane is the gill-like structure the males often flare. They flare the membrane in courting and fighting to exhibit dominance.

Male bettas are fighters. They cannot be kept in the same tank as they will fight to the death by ripping one another's fins to shreds.

The male bettas are beautiful, colorful, and are adorned with long flowing fins. Female bettas are not near as colorful and have a shorter stubby fins.

Female bettas make nice community fish in larger aquariums. They are more docile and do not usually fight among themselves.

A single male betta can also live in a community as they rarely fight out of their species. However, their long flowing fins are attractive to other fish and may end up torn because they look like food.