Fish breeding
Betta fish are among the most popular and beautiful pet fish in the world, but that wasn't always so. The genus Betta contains more than 73 recognized species, but the fish most people are familiar with is Betta splendens, or Siamese Fighting Fish. Wild betta fish are a dull greyish-green with short fins; nothing like the spectacularly colored, long-finned beauties of today! Through selective breeding, a wide range of colors and fin types have been developed, including: veil, delta, halfmoon, crowntail, double tail and many more. Betta keeping began in Thailand (formerly Siam) over 150 years ago. Children collected these territorial fish in rice paddies and would place them together to watch them spar, hence the name Siamese Fighting Fish. Soon, betting on these contests became commonplace. The King of Siam recognized their popularity and decided to regulate and tax them. In 1840, the King gave some fish to a man who, in turn, gave them to Danish physician, Dr. Theodore Cantor. T...