Betta Fish in the Wild

The betta fish we keep are very different from their wild cousins. Hundreds of thousands of generations of bettas have been cultured to have the incredible colors and amazing fins of domesticated bettas. But there are still wild bettas swimming around in rice paddies and ditches in Southeast Asia.

Wild betta fish live in Southeast Asia, an area that used to be known as "Siam", but is now made up of Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand. This is where the betta's other name "siamese fighting fish" comes from. Southeast Asia is quite warm; warm enough that the water in the ditches and puddles and rice paddies where wild bettas live can get up to 90 degrees or higher.

This is why bettas need to be kept warm -- their origins are from water that's nearly 90 degrees sometimes. When water gets that warm, it tends to not hold oxygen as well, so bettas have adapted by being able to live in stagnant, hot water that has very little oxygen. They have evolved a labyrinth organ, a kind of spongy bone-like structure in their heads, that lets them actually breathe air. This is why all bettas, both wild and domesticated, blow bubbles and are frequently seen coming up to the water's surface for a quick breathe before they go back into hiding.

Wild bettas also look a lot different than our domesticated bettas. In fact, you might not even recognize a wild betta at first. They are much less colorful (though they do have streaks of the reds and blues and greens that our bettas have all over their bodies). Their fins are also much shorter, and do not have the "rays" or spikes through the fins that domesticated bettas, particularly crown bettas have.

A wild betta's diet is much more varied than a domestic betta's. In the wild, bettas eat almost any insect that falls into their little "ponds". They will even eat a cricket, but will also go after worms and flies and anything else. Wild bettas also act differently than our bettas -- they are accomplished jumpers, and this is how they get from puddle to puddle sometimes. Though you may have already found out that even domesticated bettas tend to jump, wild bettas make quite a habit of it.

There are many more kinds of betta fish than just the betta splendens that has become so popular around the world. Besides betta splendens, the fighting fish, there is also a Betta Imbelis (known as the Peaceful Betta) and a Betta Smaragdina, which is known as the Emerald Betta. If you want to expand tke kinds of bettas you keep, consider starting with the Emerald Betta. It is the most colorful and the fins are shaped more like exhibition-quality bettas than other wild types. You can get wild bettas from some online retailers, but please be sure the fish hve been captured and transported according to their country's customs and wildlife laws. You do not want to support poaching.

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