Well, pretty much the same reasons as everyone else... Besides loving animals in general, I love their quirky personalities. Almost like an aquatic, scaley puppy.
And, of course, all the different colors and tail types. I looove multis.
There are definitely some beautiful solids out there, but I love all sorts of colors in one fish. I like the ones that are "just pretty mutts."
I only have one betta right now, Miikka, but some day when I have more stable living arrangements I may get a few more and hopefully try to breed a pair or two.
Miikka is staring at me right now wondering why I'm not entertaining him.
Edit: Ha, I didn't read the previous post before posting this. Seems a good lot of us have noticed the dog connection.