New Fish!

With my sister moving out of my room last weekend I have the whole room to myself. I decided what better way to celebrate then with a new fish. So I drove down to pet land and decided to buy a red scissortail Siamese Fighting Fish, commonly called a “scissortail betta,”. It is one of the most popular species of freshwater aquarium fish. They are known for there brilliant coloration, and long flowing fins. They can grow up to three inches and live for two to three years. In nature Bettas eat insects and insect larvae. They are built with an upturned mouth that is well suited to snatching any insect that might fall into the water. Internally their digestive system is geared for meat, having a much shorter alimentary track than vegetarian fish. For this reason, live foods are the ideal diet for the betta, however they adapt to eating flake foods and frozen and freeze dried foods. What I found interesting about the Betta when reading a fact sheet that they had at the pet store is that Bettas have a special respiratory organ that allows them to breath air directly from the surface. In fact they inherently must do so. In experiments where the labyrinth organ was removed, the fish died from suffocation even though the water was saturated with oxygen. For this reason, Bettas must have access to the water surface to breath air directly from the atmosphere. Ive had the fish for two days now and he seems to be doing well. I haven’t decided a name yet but I will keep you posted!