Another fish for your aquarium!

The water world is full of exciting and interesting creatures. There are a lot of varieties, shapes, sizes, colours, and species to explore and when it comes to aquatic life I cannot stop myself from discussing the unique betta fish!

I am pretty much sure that after reading about this species, fish lovers would surely keep them in their aquarium tanks!

The Siamese fighting fish is commonly called the betta. Their unique tails and bright colours just enhance their amazing look and make them more elegant.

But do you guys know, in addition to their natural colours like grey, brown and green, the fish are selectively bred in captivity and are available in many colours and different tail types? ( Rosetails are my favourite, they look gorgeous.) Have a look at the red rosetail betta fish above.

So, after knowing about their variety in colours let's find out the reason behind their bright colours:

The diverse colours of betta fish are because of distinct layers of pigmentation within their body (or inside their skin). The layers are of red, black, yellow, blue and green colours. Different combinations of these layers lead to a variety of colourful bettas.

Betta fish are globally popular as pets. But not just their look, few more reasons account for their popularity as pets.

Let's check out some of them, here;

There are about 73 species of their genus! Native to Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, the bettas are the most famed aquarium fish because of their variety of bright colours, flowing fins and tail designs. Another reason for being mostly chosen is, this freshwater fish needs low maintenance as compared to other species.

They are the national aquatic animal of Thailand. Bettas for the aquarium market all over the world are primarily bred and exported from here only.

Betta fish can tolerate a variety of toxic and harsh environments and that's why being highly adaptable and durable they are popular pets.

What's fascinating to note about them is that the wild bettas are known to change their colours when they get angry! Wild bettas choose to live in water bodies filled with aquatic plants like water lilies or fallen leaves. The plants provide them protection from predators and also to the females during spawning.

Don't you think they are unique and would surely enhance the look of your fish tank?

Here's time to discuss something about their diet:

So, the betta fish are generally carnivorous and feed upon small crustaceans, zooplankton and the larvae of mosquitoes or any other aquatic insects present inside the water bodies. 

While as pets they can be fed flakes, pellets and frozen foods like bloodworms, brine shrimp and many more. But it's advised to provide them with a proper diet that is full of animal protein as being carnivores they are unable to digest carbohydrates like wheat or corn which is generally found in commercial fish foods.

Overfeeding too can cause problems like constipation, swim bladder disease and other health issues. So it's good to feed them once in a day and whatever amount they feed upon in 3–5 minutes and rest should be removed.

It's also found that bettas also undergo a 'fast' for a day or more to digest the food properly! 

Final thoughts

The colourful and popular betta fish comes under the list of unique aquarium fish found all over the world. However wild bettas are likely to become endangered in near future without being conserved. The primary causes are pollution and habitat destruction.

I think we should prefer to keep those animals as pets which are in danger of being endangered or extinct in the coming days. After all, these creatures are an essential part of this beautiful nature and it would be a great deed if we could do something to secure the beauty of nature!

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