What type of betta fish?

Answer 1

Betta fish is one of several genera in the Family Osphronemidae. The most famous Betta is the Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens). The word Betta comes from a local Siamese name for Siamese Fighting fish, "Ikan Bettah". The contemporary Thai name for this fish is Pla-kad. They were originally called the Macropodus Pugnax by Dr. Theodor Cantor who was given a Siamese Fighting Fish By The King Of Siam in the 19th Century. The name was changed in the 20th century after Dr. Tate Ragen developed a fascination with them and changed their name from Macropodus Pugnax to Betta Splendens.

In South East Asia Betta splendens is traditionally kept as a fighting fish. The Bettas kept in Asia as fighting fishes were brown with a tinge of green and their fins were much smaller than the fins that we can see on the aquarium kept Bettas of today. If you keep a Betta fish in order to make the fight other Bettas, you will naturally have no incitements to breed fancy Betta fish with long and flowing fins that can easily be injured. Betta fighting is still popular in many parts of Asia and those Bettas can look very different from the forms that we find in aquariums. Male Betta splendens are highly territorial, and when put together in the same container they will fight until one of them dies. In the wild, a weaker male can always choose to leave the territory before he becomes deadly injured, but this is naturally impossible in a small fish bowl or aquarium.