Sir David Attenborough on the history of the Siamese Fighting Fish

[Byron]

I came across this video in which Sir David Attenborough describes the history of the Siamese Fighting Fish, Betta splendens. I posted it in this forum as those other than Betta keepers may find it interesting. Thanks to my friend Heiko Bleher, who posted this video on his FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2420433534849752

 

[Roden]

I watched this earlier and it is very interesting indeed!

I do find the fact that he says they typically only live a year a bit odd. The ones in home aquaria when properly kept should love several years, perhaps he was speaking of the wild specimens, but he’s using bred bettas throughout the whole video...

Thanks for sharing, this would be a nice video to present to new betta keepers and those who believe they live in small puddles. Quite not the case!

 

[Jeremy180]

Saw an aging study that referred to 40 months as "extreme old age" in male Bettas.
Granted, it was an old study, I think sixties or seventies, which was the time of "old water" (IE: water changes just north of never) Fishkeeping, If I'm not mistaken.

For comparison purposes, while the max recorded human lifespan is around 120 years, I think most would consider 80-90 a long life.

EDIT: thought he would mention that betta splendens nests tend to be spaced about a meter in rice paddies, which means that a wild male betta will defend a territory about two meters in diameter.

Keep in mind that this is a fish that doesn't always get over 65mm, that's about 90 times the fish's length!!

From this base they were then bred for even more fighting ability and aggression for many generations before the more recent trend toward ornamental forms.

It's really no wonder at all why the males often try to kill each other on sight now!