Betta has been famous as an ornamental fish worldwide for a long time, and it can be bred in cups and glass containers and it’s a beautiful appearance. Originally native to Thailand, it had a body color such as plain brown instead of flashy color.
However, with repeated breeding, a wide variety of colors and types of rare betta fish were born. Betta is written in many countries as “fighting fish” and was previously kept to enjoy fighting males with solid territorial consciousness. But, that culture has gradually disappeared, and now there are competitions for beauty rather than strength.
Whatever, when you hear that the fish is big enough to hold a fair, you might think it’s expensive. But it’s actually sold at pet stores, online platforms, and home improvement stores, and you can even buy one for a few dollars.
Understand aggressive behavior of betta fish:
Betta fish are described as aggressive and combative animals, although individual differences are also noted. However, this description may also be a consequence of the focus in both research pieces. Aquarists are mostly one-sided in their fighting behavior and their aggressiveness. Wild animals tend to be reluctant to fight because of the risk of injuries, which can be fata.
Therefore, this work was based on the assumption that domesticated or farmed fish, like many wild animals, only fight in selected situations. This reluctance is a remnant of an adapted reproductive strategy. In various steps and situations, you examined the reaction of the males to rivals.
Why Do Male Bettas Fight with Female Bettas?
As earlier mentioned, Betta is famous as an attractive aquarium fish in which males fight fiercely. If you put multiple males in the same aquarium, they will fight until one of them dies. Therefore, males will need to breed individually one by one.
Indeed, male’s betta fish also threaten female betta fish, so you need to keep them separately except during breeding. Females can swim together, but skirmishes are held, so a large amount of shelter, such as aquatic plants, is required. Males have a gentle personality to other fish species so that they can swim with solid and gentle fish of the same size.
Defending space of betta fish:
Aggressive behavior often has to do with the use of space. If an individual claims the space for himself with a certain degree of aggressiveness, this can drive the other to flight. Specific areas can also be defended more vehemently, such as territories or nesting sites.
The next step in this investigation was to get to the bottom of the connection between combative behavior and territorial defence. Male fighting fish build nests that they defend. The author of the study made the following assumption:
If individuals establish themselves in a place and defend it, combative behavior ultimately leads to stable social societies. The males reacted to the presence of a rival in three ways: they were less active, stayed longer near the nest, and increased their nest-building activity. Another experiment showed that the male fighting fish preferred.
