If it's true that Beta fish are fighting fish and can't put them into same tank because they will kill each other. Then how come they don't kill each other all off in the wild and become extinct?

Yes it’s true. Though they don’t actually fight (expect for maybe a little biting), they psych each other out till one dies. They are territorial. If a beta goes into another area they’ll “fight”. The have small territories though, it’s not like the pond is gonna fishes whole territory but a little tank isn’t going to be enough space for two.

@petthepothead- How do Beta fish manage to co-exist in the wild without killing themselves off. (Is that better?) :-)

Maybe being in those tiny cups just pisses them off to the point where they’ll kill the next thing they see that they can kill. Even if it’s their own kind.

You actually can put them together in the same tank but only when the female has her egg sac ready.Once they mate however they must be separated or they will kill each other. Like simone said its a territory thing. There are many animals that are like this yet are doing quite fine. Mantis shrimp , Comets and Triggers to name a few. They get together mate and then go off on their solitary lives.

All I know is my roommate used to have a beta, and if you held a mirror up to the tank, he would puff himself up and try to fight himself. It was really funny. She called him “Rambo”.

@la chica gomela thats really bad for the fish. It stresses them out pretty badly. Its just like making a puffer puff up for the hell of it.

What, do work a fish store or something?!

@simone54 yurp…. i blame this all on you for giving me that first tank.

I used to frequent a particular bar in the East Village that had these really nifty light fixtures that hung from the ceiling and each one was a big globe at the bottom with a beta in it. They were really pretty, honestly, but I felt so bad for the poor fish, between the light and the noise of the music and people tapping them, that I stopped going to that bar. Which sucked, because I loved that place.

Bettas in the wild live in flood plains and other sites that are effectively “puddles” (http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2008/03/betta-habitat.html). The males stake out their own territories and attempt to attract females to mate with. It is because of the dearth of ideal territories that bettas have become so fierce – when they find a habitat that will support them and possibly allow them to breed, they defend it to the death. There are even stories of males and females jumping from isolated pools of water to others in the search for mates. They’ve developed to tolerate a wide range of water quality, temperature, and pH and so are able to survive the (usually atrocious) conditions under which they are kept.

@poof: In the ‘70’s there was a restaurant on Oahu that had lamps made out of these

Don’t know it is still there or not.

@poofandmook, thats not as bad as those high-heel shoes with the goldfish in the heel. Those are terrible, the poor goldfish gets hit on the ground everytime the person takes a step. They probably only last 30 min of walking in one of thoses shoes.

wowowowwowowow i think its true

One of the reasons that bettas are so aggressive is that they have been bred to be that way. Just like pit bulls and fighting roosters, bettas have been bred over many generations to fight each other. The wild fish are territorial, but not given to piscicide.

What’s you’re source?

@crisw id like a source as well, cause im calling shenanigans.

<Pictures a dark room with high class business men standing around a well let fishbowl placing high wager bets on the outcome of the fight…....>

Ha. That’s a great image uber.