WHY?

Why chose me over other fish? Well for one thing, we don't NEED a filter to live (but it would be nice to have one) because of our labyrinth organ. It lets us take air directly from the surface and we like to take air that way. People at stores sell us in small containers and people sell small containers for us because we can live in harsh conditions. But that doesn't mean we enjoy it, and we prefer larger spaces.

Maybe I'm going into it too fast. Lets start from the beginning.

LONG ago, the first bacteria appeared on earth. Too far? Ok Ok! We'll start at the beginning of the betta.

History on bettas

Bettas were first discovered in Siam, about 150 years ago. The Siamese discovered us in little slow streams, ponds, ditches and rice patties. Now you might think "Why would you fight such a pretty fish?". Well, we weren't always as pretty as we are now. We used to be a brownish dark greenish and had fins only big enough so we could swim. People began fighting us, and the craze started. People started to trade everything they owned for bettas! Even the king of Siam wanted us and collected us and made us fight.

The king gave Dr. Theodor Cantor, a doctor with the Bengal medical service, a few of his prized bettas and 9 years later, he named us Macropodus Pugnax. In 1909 our names were changed because Mr. Tate Regan told him that that name was already taken. So we were renamed Betta Splendens. That is when the name "Betta" was born!

"Betta" sounds like an odd name, and people think that there was a warrior tribe that was called "Bettah". So we were named betta Splendens.

So, like I said, bettas weren't always beautiful, but when did the color come in? In 1927. A man named Mr. Frank Locke had a shipment of bettas and we were colorful! He probably thought that this was a new species of us, and named us Betta Cambodia. All this color is just a new mutation. After years and years of breeding bettas, people have created many strains of color.

To think we went from ugly, ragged fighting fish to beautiful, brightly colored fish! We've come a long way! Even now, in the wild, we still look greenish brown and have short fins, but they are wild and have not mutated.