Wild Betta Fish. The betta fishes are uniquely beautiful fish, and they are found in unique environments, where other fish species are unlikely to survive.
They are very colorful and beautiful fish, and you can find them on pet tanks at home.
Betta fish care is usually easy, which is why people prefer them as pets especially for their kids.
They are very territorial especially with their species as they prefer to be on their own.
The betta fish is unique fish, and they can breathe on water and out of the water with a unique organ called the labyrinth.
This particular organ has enabled them to survive harsh conditions as they can come to the surface and take in oxygen that will be enough for them.
Most fish species cannot survive in the harsh environment you will find the betta fish, due to the reduced oxygen content, especially in the muddy water.
The betta fish is very beautiful with radiant color that makes them stands out and looks attractive.
They are carnivores in nature and eat small animals like plankton, mosquitoes, worms and other smaller species of animal.
The wide betta fishes are much more different than the regular betta.
Betta fish are mostly found in a warm climate, and they are predominantly found in the Asian region.
You can find betta fish in rice paddle, streams and water channels.
These environments are warm and not too big for the betta fish as they are small and cannot easily compete with big species of fish in bigger water space.
The wild betta fish is usually much duller in color than most betta fish species.
The wild betta fish are typically brownish, and this can be attributed to their ability to camouflage in muddy environments away from bigger prey.
This is one of their protective abilities that make it harder for them to be sorted out in these muddy environments.
This does make it a little difficult in trying to catch them in the wild.
The wild betta fish also have smaller fins than the regular betta fish which also enable them to stay safe in the wild.
With the smaller fins, they cannot easily be detected, and they can swim easily through the rough water and don’t get trapped.
For a smaller animal, they can take care of themselves very well.
The male and female are very different, and you can easily distinguish them from one another.
The female wild betta fish is smaller in size and have smaller fins than the male betta fish.
The male betta fish are very protective of their territory that they often chase away their female after laying eggs.
This is why two pet betta fishes in a tank usually fight each other often.
It is important to feed the betta fish regularly and keep them from eating their fins.
When they are hungry, they usually eat their fins, which is not healthy for the fish.
Eating their fins can lead to diseases as the betta fish becomes prone to infection.
How Does Wild Betta Fish Survive
For those that are not usually familiar with the betta fish, you may be wondering how the betta fish survive in a warmer climate and their habitat such as the rice paddle.
The rice paddles usually go dry seasonally, so how does this betta fish survive these changes.
The betta fish developed the ability to breathe underwater and in the air. And we said this is made possible through the special organ they call labyrinth.
They can breathe the oxygen present in water or will swim to the air to breath whenever the oxygen in the water reduces.
This gives them an advantage in the normal habitat where you can find them as the water is usually muddy.
The betta fish can also survive for a while in a dried up area.
This is because of the organ they possess to breathe oxygen in the air.
The small fins of the wild betta fish do make it difficult to be seen or noticed along with its muddy color brown.
This character does make it also difficult for us to capture these wild betta fish.
So why do people catch betta fish?
Betta fishes are usually captured for their beauty and are mostly kept as a pet. In the earlier years, the king of Thailand usually uses them as a sport.
They are used to stage fight because of their fighting abilities especially when two males are kept in a tank.
And though they are not mostly kept for sports purposes nowadays, they are more being kept as a pet.
Catching a Wild Betta Fish beta fishing
If you want to catch a wild betta fish, you have to understand more about the fish.
You have to understand its habitat to know where you are going to go fishing for them.
You will also have to know about their body structure, so you do not harm them in any way when you capture the or during transporting them.
You will need a kind of hand net or basket to catch a wild betta fish and probably a small container filled with water to store them before you transport them.
You will not go to a freshwater environment if you are looking for a wild beta fish.
That is why you will need to understand more about the environment. As we said earlier, you can find these kinds of fish in the Asian regions or warm water environments.
So let’s look at the ways you can catch a wild betta fish!!!
The wild betta fishes are very defensive and evasive more than the normal betta fish.
You cannot easily spot them in the muddy water due to their brownish color.
This gives them a camouflage sense of security. And you cannot easily catch them with a line because of their sizes.
One of the ways you can catch a wild betta fish is to use a small hand net.
The wild betta fish are very small so that the hand net will be very tiny, so the betta fish does not escape out of the net.
Also, a smaller net will ensure that you do not hurt the fish especially when their fragile fun gets stuck.
Using Hand net to Catch Betta Fish
The wild betta fish are not easy to see in the muddy water as they can easily camouflage with their brownish or muddy color.
So what you should do with the hand netball to comb the area in a tangent. Since they are located in shallow water, you can move over the water body with your boot as you use your hand net to comb the area.
Now, when you insert your net in the water, you raise it up and watch as the water sips out and if they are wild beta fish, they will be stuck in the net.
So what you will do is to inspect the net and picked out any wild betta fish you found caught on the net.
You will have to transfer the betta fish you find from the net to a water container you carry along with you.
Wild betta fish can stay away from water for some time as they can take oxygen from the air.
But you will have to put them in the water as you may have to transport them for a long distance.
You should be careful when you picked the wild betta fish from the net and transported them to the water jar.
They are very fragile and can easily slip for your hand back to the water.
You should be very observant when searching the hand fishing net as these fishes might be hiding behind leaves or small muddy stones and you will have to throw them back to the water.
You have to do this in tangent to be able to comb the entire water body. It can be a long and enduring task as you go around the water body.
Catching Wild Betta Fish in Dried Land
You can find wild betta fish in dried up warm environment as they can still breathe outside water with their labyrinth organ.
They can easily jump back to the water body. Thus you have to be fast if you want to catch them.
You can look out for wild beta fish as the rice puddle begins to dry up and they stick around for awhile before moving on to the water body.
You can grab them with your hands easily since they cannot swim fast when in the drier environment.
You can still miss because they usually not as obvious when they camouflage like the mud.
They can be very obvious except when they jump.
So they are more difficult to catch on dry land than when they are in the water.
You can still carry your hand net along to help you trapped them especially when they are jumping around.
You can throw your net to cover the area you saw them jumped into and try and sort them out with your hands.
You should be very careful in picking out the wild betta fish from dry land as they are very vulnerable when they are on dry land.
Spreading Net over a Considerable Length
You can spread a large net over a considerable length over a rice paddle farm and leave it for awhile.
When you come back, you can start picking out the wild betta fish caught in the net. T
hey usually got caught in the net as they move around the water body looking for food.
You should also understand that the wild betta fish usually comes to the surface to take in oxygen as the muddy water usually lacks enough oxygen.
As they move up and down, they will get caught in the net, and since the water body is not much deep, it will be easy to trap these wild betta fish.
This is a much easier way to catch the wild betta fish, and you can do this best when the water body is high and not dried up.
With casting the net over a larger area, you can catch more wild betta fishes than using any other method to catch this fish.
Why Do We Catch Wild Betta Fishes
Wild betta fish have become more popular in recent times than before, and they have also become scarcer.
You will find most homes with colorful betta fishes on their fish tanks as they are easy to feed and take care of as a pet.
Most parents usually give out betta fish as the first pet to their young ones as a way of getting them to learn how to take care of an animal.
And because of the destruction of their habitation by man action and other factors, the breeding of wild betta fishes are being encouraged to keep the species from going extinct.
Most preservationists are worried that if we leave them in their natural habitat, they may be destroyed along with their habitat environment being destroyed.
So what is being done is that they are being caught and breed in fish tanks and this will help to keep the species non-extinct.
It has become a business for some as they catch these wild betta fish and breed them in a tank and sell them when they start reproducing. So it has become a bigger business selling these exotic fishes to those who want them in their homes.
The wild betta fish does thrive in particular environmental conditions; they dwell better in a warm water environment
. They do not thrive at all in cold environment, and you should try as much as possible to keep them warm especially when you have them in tanks.
One of the most advantageous things of having a wild betta fish as a pet is that they can survive alone in the tank and as well as with other species of animal.
They usually have a problem with their specie and will fight with another wild betta fish when placed in the same tank.