A Betta Fish Quiz

Answer: Malaysia

Wild bettas are native to Southeast Asia, specifically the Mekong basin of Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. While the fish in pet stores are flashy and colourful, wild specimens are usually a drab green or brown. This helps them camouflage and stay hidden in their natural habitats: shallow rice paddies, stagnant ponds, and slow-moving streams.

Answer: Bubbles

Bettas are "aphrophils", meaning they are bubble-nest builders, like gouramis and synbranchid eels. The male gulps air at the surface and blows bubbles coated in a special mucus to keep them from popping. After the female releases her eggs, the male carefully catches them in his mouth, places them into the bubbles, and stays to guard them from predators until the fry (baby fish) can swim on their own.

Answer: True

In their native habitats, the dry season can cause water levels to drop significantly. Since bettas can breathe actual air and also have powerful muscular bodies, they have been observed jumping, leaping, or even wriggling across damp land to find a deeper pool of water. This survival instinct is why betta owners must always keep a lid on their tanks!

Answer: Eyes

Since visibility in a muddy rice paddy or a stagnant pool is often near zero, bettas rely on a highly developed sense of taste. They have chemoreceptors (taste buds) on their lips, in their mouths, and even on their fin-tips. This allows them to sample the water around them to detect prey or nearby rivals even when they cannot see them.

Answer: False

Flaring, meaning the act of pushing out the gill covers and fully extending every fin, is often a display of dominance and territorial aggression. It is designed to make the fish look as large and intimidating as possible to a rival. If a betta were truly intimidated or scared, it would clamp its fins tight against its body to try and swim away quickly.

Male bettas will also flare their fins as a courtship ritual. Often, this flaring is accompanied by a dance of sorts. He will also show off the size of his "beard" (his opercular membrane, a body part, not a euphemism for anything). And if this doesn't impress a female betta, then nothing will.

Answer: Hierarchical - the dominant female dictates the dynamics

Unlike many schooling fish, female bettas establish a strict pecking order. This hierarchy is maintained through subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) displays of dominance. There is always one dominant alpha female who dictates the dynamics of the tank; any new addition must find her place within that social ladder. If there is a betta that is seen as weaker, the more dominant females will "bully" her.

However, if she is able to break the alpha's focus by darting behind a piece of driftwood or a plant, the alpha will lose her concentration and go off to do something else.

Indeed, bettas seem to have a very short memory for aggression.

Answer: Respiration

The "beard" is actually the opercular membrane located just below the gill covers. When a betta flares, this membrane is pushed forward. Because flaring and fighting require a lot of energy, this action helps the fish maximize its oxygen intake through its gills during a high-stress confrontation.

Answer: Go pale

Chromatophores are pigment-containing cells. When a betta feels threatened, ill, or extremely stressed, it can rapidly shift these pigments. This often results in the fish "washing out" or turning pale, and frequently reveals horizontal dark lines known as "stress stripes".

It is a biological (and visually obvious) signal that the fish does not feel safe. This is especially true if a betta sees itself in a mirror, as it does not self-recognize and will feel threatened by the image of themselves.

Answer: Warrior

The name was inspired by the "Bettah", an ancient clan of legendary Asian warriors. In the 1800s, the King of Siam (modern-day Thailand) became so fascinated by the fish's bravery and fighting spirit that he began collecting them, leading to the first officially recognized fish-fight matches.

This is why they are sometimes called "Siamese fighting fish". In Thailand, they are actually called "pla-kad", which literally means "biting fish", again, due to their aggressive nature.

Answer: Labyrinth organ

The labyrinth organ (which is technically called the suprabranchial organ) is a highly vascularized structure located above the gills. It allows bettas to gulp air at the surface and absorb oxygen directly into their bloodstream. This is a vital evolutionary adaptation for surviving in stagnant, tropical waters that are naturally very low in dissolved oxygen.