The History Of The Betta Splendens, Siamese Fighting Fish

Back then, children would collect Bettas from the rice paddies where the Betta lived and make the fish fight to see who would be victorious. Normally the winner would obviously be the biggest  fish they had caught, they would then let the fish have time to heal and then pit it again against newly captured challengers. As time went on and new ways of farming were discovered such as machinery and chemicals, the rice paddies were not habitable for the Siamese Fighting Fish but luckily they could still be found in other places such as water filled ditches and stagnant ponds, this gives the wrong impression of Bettas though with people thinking they are hardy fish that can live in small amounts of stagnant water which is why people tend to keep them in small aquariums thinking that they can survive in this way, but remember, stagnant ponds and watery ditches still have a high volume of water in them with plants etc so Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates are not a problem whereas in a tiny aquarium keeping the water chemisty viable is a very hard task, besides would you like to live in a room the size of a cupboard ?  No, me either.

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The fish are also known as Plakat in their native country meaning tearing or biting fish.  The fights between the men of Siam's fighting fish normally didnt last long with wild caught specimens but this became a huge sport and this is when serious breeding started to create the biggest strongest Siamese Fighting Fish, these fights could last for hours with these newly bred specimens.  The winners of these Betta Splendens fights were not determind by the amount of damage inflicted but more on the willingness of the fish to carry on fighting no matter how injured, the loser being the fish that gave up and swam away.  Lives were ruined by this pastime with men losing their money, houses and even betting their families on these fights.

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These fish them became licenced by the King of Siam when he saw how popular the fights had become and started to collect them himself.  He gave some of his prized Bettas to a friend in 1840 who them gave them to a Dr Theodor Cantor.  He was a medical scientist from Bangor and he studied these fish and 9 years later he wrote an article on them giving them the name Macropodus Pugnax.  It was then 60 years later that they were renamed Betta Splendens by a Mr Tate Regan because there was already a species with the name that Dr Cantor gave them.  The name originates from a warrior tribe called the Bettah which is a fitting name.

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So as you can see the history of the betta splendens, siamese fighting fish is a brutal one and believe it or not it still goes on today with fighting bred specimens out selling the ornament bettas in those countries, i think i prefer to just have them in an aquarium and give them a peacfull life as im sure you would agree, i think they have been through enough.

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By Simon Ellis

17th November 2018

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