Beloved Betta Fish and Their Behavior

Betta fish are very pretty and easy to take care of. That's why they are a favorite fish pet choice. Male Bettas have long, velvety and colorful fins. In contrast, the female betta has shorter fins and more subdued hues. A lot of people believe betta fish are a more appealing and interesting fish compared to gold fish. After all, who could not resist those attractive red or blue colors and elegant fins?

Betta Fish are well suited for home fish aquariums. While they can easily survive for extended periods of time in small volumes of water, they're much happier and healthier in larger volumes of water, preferably tanks with volumes of 10 to 15 gallons or more. With excellent care, they can live 2-3 years and grow to about 3 inches. .

For all their appeal and popularity, betta fish are also known as Siamese fighting fish. Male Bettas, in particular, tend to naturally lean toward very aggressive behavior. They're famed for their biting, fighting personality displays especially when faced with other males. Males simply can't be kept together because all they'll do is fight until one or both are badly injured. Betta males flare their gill covers, called the opercula, in reaction to certain situations. Flaring is the act of "puffing-out" the fins and gill covers as to appear more impressive, either to frighten other fish (particularly rival males) or as an act of romancing. It may be amusing to observe but all you'll do is stress your fish and decrease its lifetime.

In fact, male betta may sooner or later turn on the female and kill her. Believe it or not, it happens. A male and female living together without fighting is practically unknown. In romance, seems the male betta initially approaches the female too vigorously with his amorous actions. Still, just like people, mature betta may not want to mate or s/he could even be just too young to breed. So, a plausible solution in protecting the female betta is to keep them separated using a divider. The partition should remain in place for at least a few days to about 2 weeks. After the initial warming up period, you can easily keep one male and multiple female Bettas together. Just don't commingle them with any aggressive species or you could have a real battle on your hands!

Betta females, however, can be kept together and usually get along with out a divider. And because they are less assertive than their male counterparts, females can cohabit peaceably given lots of hiding spots of soft, non-plastic plants. It's a good idea to have 4-6 females. With only two there can not be the all important secure, dependable pecking order.

Seems both the male betta and the female betta fish each have their own inherent, behavioral issues.