Betta Fish - Easy, Affordable, Beautiful and Intelligent Pets

By Fayeque Mir: May 12, 2025

When you think of pets, fish may not cross your mind as the most fun and interactive.

If you’ve seen fish at the aquarium or elsewhere, its clear that they mostly just seem to swim around, minding their own business, and not reacting to much you do.

But what if you’d found out that there is a fish so widely commercially available, so cheap and easy to take care of, pretty small (about 3 inches in length), and intelligent, interactive, and colorful?

In that case, you’d have probably found out about the dream pet for someone who can’t afford expensive vet bills or vaccines, vacuum 24/7, or spend hours each week walking a pet.

The Betta fish is that dream pet, and this post will walk you through what Betta fish are, their cool qualities and requirements, and how to take care of them.

What is A Betta fish?

A male Betta fish flaring due to excitement or stress.

The Siamese fighting fish, more commonly known as the Betta, is a freshwater fish of south east Asian descent that is as colorful as it is aggressive.

They are kept alone because they are often solitary, and don’t mix well with other Betta fish or fish similar looking to Betta fish, unless in a group environment.

Betta fish come in a variety of colors, and have many different fin types. They can live for up to 5 years in good care and are widely available at pet stores.

Male Betta fish also flare up, as shown in the picture above, when excited or stressed. My Betta usually flares slightly when he sees me, indicating that he’s happy. Male Betta’s also build bubble nests, another sign they are happy and healthy.

Betta’s breathe oxygen from the air directly using a special organ, meaning there is no need to buy a machine that pumps oxygen in to the water for them.

One really cool thing about these fish, besides their beauty, is the fact that they are remarkably intelligent. Betta fish can be trained to perform tricks, recognize their owner’s faces, and possibly their voice, and can remember feeding time very well.

What Are the Advantages and requirements of a Betta Fish?

A Red male Betta fish swimming

Keeping a Siamese fighting fish has a lot of benefits.

First off, they’re great looking fish! And, as mentioned before, are intelligent and interactive.

As opposed to many other common types of pet fish, Betta’s can be trained. I trained one of my Betta fish to follow my finger. In order to train your Betta, simply have them perform the action you want them to do out of curiosity, then give them food after it.

Here’s how it works in practice: Let’s say you want to train your Betta to follow your finger. Open the lid of your tank and put your finger slightly above the water before feeding time. Since Betta’s are intelligent and curious, your fish will swim towards your finger, inspecting it.

Once it comes close, give it food. Keep repeating this process every day and your Betta will relate following your finger to food, which is the ultimate reward for it. Remember to never overfeed your fish or to touch it, if your fish does not come out of curiosity initially, don’t force it to do so.

Another great advantage is that they are extremely affordable.

You’re looking at about a one time fee of roughly CAD$50-70 for the enclosure which comes with a built in filter (and should be at least 5 gallons worth of water large), a one time fee of CAD$6-20 for the fish itself, another one time fee for the CAD$30 water heater, a one time fee of CAD$4 for the gravel and CAD$15 for decorations, about CAD$7 every 2-3 years for food, a couple dollars of electricity and water per month, CAD$40 every year for new filters, and about CAD$18 every 2 years for water conditioners that help Betta fish adjust to tap water.

Betta fish are also really easy to take care of, and only require 3 simple steps.

Feeding every day, a water change every week, and a filter replacement every month. In order to change the water, simply take out a quarter of their tank’s water and replace it with warm tap water which has Betta water conditioner in it. Filter replacements just mean taking out one filter and sliding in a new one. All this maintenance shouldn’t take more than 1 hour per month.

Remember that Betta fish are living beings and should be interacted with in order to prevent boredom or stress.

If you can’t afford expensive pets or don’t have much time, while also wanting a fun pet, the Betta fish really is your best option.

Conclusion

Betta fish are beautiful creatures, and are one of the world’s most popular pets.

But they can be and are often mistreated in pet stores. Your local pet store maybe keeping them in tiny jars with no gravel or decorations.

This is a major problem for Betta fish, as they have no stimulation in these kinds of jars. So if you decide to buy a Betta fish, try finding shelters where you can adopt them from in your area or any other humane form of obtaining a Betta.

Hope you enjoy your new pet!