So you say bettas live in puddles in the wild?

Question

Please tell me, how exactly does a betta get into a puddle?

Answer 1

The fact is that bettas live in a wide variety of habitats in the wild. Yes, they are in huge rice paddies, lakes, ponds, etc, but they are also commonly found in small slow moving streams that are near villages and filled with human waste. So nasty you smell it way before you see it. They are also in fact found in seasonal "puddles" and in rice paddies that are drained (some are, some aren't) As to how they get in those bodies of water, you can thank wading birds for that, they eggs or baby fish get stuck to the birds feathers or feet in one body of water and transported to another. People move them too, happens all the time.
Check a few old back issues of FAMA magazine from the mid to late 80's and you will find a few articles with photos by the staff and writers that found them in all these places. It has been reported many, many times before and after of course, but this is one series I do recall.
The fact is bettas are very hardy and adaptable fish, they live in a wide variety of conditions, temperatures and different bodies of water in the wild and in captivity.

To completely understand this you need only look at the fish. Not the bettas we keep, but the wild betta or plaket. It has non of the long finnage we are used to on bettas and while pretty, does not have the bright solid colors we are used to. Our bettas are so different as to need completely different environments than wild caught bettas.

Lets look at the wild betta (Image link provided below): It has a round tail. Typical of fishes from slow moving waters that use a very short but fast burst of speed to capture prey items. It has porpotionately large and very flexible pectoral fins. Fins of this nature are used for tight turns in lotic, or still waters. Ditto to the large centered flexible dorsal fin. The biggest pointer perhaps is it's labyrinth organ. That was developed due to a lack of available oxygen in it's water pointing to small, shallow, hot and still or very slow moving bodies of water. Seems the original developed in slow streams and marshes according to it's physical characteristics.

So both are correct and wrong at the same time, but that's just nature for you.

Answer 2

The magic puddle fairy?

If you have lived in a tropical wet area water levels are very inconsistant. If you don't get rain for a few days/weeks/months the water level can go down drastically. Somewhere in the middle of this came the concept of Bettas living in puddles. In fact bettas can survive in puddles. Surviving and living are 2 different things. A betta can "survive" in a cup like you could survive in a hall closet. Someone would have to drop a pellet on your head and suck out your poop and do a daily environment cleaning for you to make it through the week. You can get a betta to "survive" in a small betta bowl but anyone who has moved their fish from a betta bowl to a small planted tank can attest the survivial thing isn't all that. i would much rather watch my bettas swim around than sit in the bottom of a bowl.

The myth of the betta is a hard one. seems everyone has an opinion even if they never even had a betta. I was just at the local pet store and they had a special on bettas -- you could get a male, a female, and one of those tiny little divided display things for something like 8 bucks. If pet shops are going to do this nonsense it is going to keep the myth going.

Answer 3

Actually, the ponds and rice paddies are thousands of gallons, and rarely do they dry up. The idea is that a betta COULD survive for a short while in a puddle. Though its not likely to happen to many wild bettas and in most cases they would die if the water did happen to dry up into a puddle.
Most people get this wrong though, it became an urban myth about bettas in puddles, and its very hard to teach people the truth when they believe an urban myth.

Answer 4

Welllll the idea is that when there are droughts or a dry season, the large expanses of water they normally live in dry up, leaving only puddles for the bettas to live in. - This is more or less true, I mean, they can survive this way for a little while, but it is hardly their normal, healthy environment.
Not to mention, how do they go about finding mates? Betta puddle jumping? ;)

Answer 5

Fish can survive for a considerable amount of time out of water, anabantoids such as Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) have an organ known as a Labyrinth which enables them to breathe atmospheric air for a short period. There are a few factors which will influence the time the fish can survive out of water, if a fish landed on an area exposed to direct sunlight then it will dry out within an hour or so. However if the fish landed on a cool, shaded area of moist grass then it could survive for a considerable amount of time. Whenever a fish jumps out of a tank it is important to find the cause of the problem and rectify it. The reason why your fish jumped is probably poor water quality, which would be stemming from being kept in an unfiltered bowl. Poor water conditions cause stress which will in turn cause the fish to jump.

Answer 6

I am not sure what they mean by puddles, but in many places in the world including the US, any small pond is classified a Puddle. or a billy bog.

Answer 7

Ther is a lot of rain where they come from. and yes they live in muddy puddles. i suggest you go to the library or look on-line to find information on betta's-It is a good question.

Answer 8

Thanks everyone for all the answers