Rice Paddies

[OrkyBetta]

I know bettas in the wild live in rice paddies, but how on earth do they get there? and surely rice paddies arent 'wild' theyre man made, right? so this doesnt explain where bettas ive in the 'wild'?

maybe I'm naive but something seems odd here.

 

[alabaster]

I'm not at all knowledgeable about this, but I think rice paddies are just swampy places in Vietnam utilized by people to grow rice. Even if humans didn't exist, there would still be paddies, just without the rice.

 

[Mr Miagi]

If im wrong someone pls correct me, but the way i see it....

Bettas wouldnt live 'exclusively' in rice patties, just the ones that get flushed in when farmers flood their feilds. In the wild there are natural slow flowing rivers and pools bettas inhabit.

 

[VickiPS]

Betta splendens occurs naturally in standing water, "of floodplains, canals, rice paddies and medium to large rivers", according to the IBC SMP species summary.

Rice paddies may periodically flood naturally, as well as being flooded by the release of water through irrigation ditches and canals. Remember also that breeding populations of bettas in contained bodies of water may well have been added to or established over centuries by the release of fish previously captured for fighting, or culled from captive-bred spawns.

 

[OrkyBetta]

ah, that makes a lot more sense. thanks all