Japanese Fighting Fish

Japanese Fighting Fish Ready to Fight

If you are looking for Japanese fighting fish in action, then you have come to right place. Watch the male betta fish as he readies himself to defend his territory.

How do you know when the male rumble fish is ready to fight? Here are five quick signals that the male fighting fish is going to rumble.

1) Agitated Swim Pattern: The male betta fish is naturally a curious animal. He is often as fascinated with you as you are with him. He will normally move around his tank in an elegant manner. When his territory is challenged however, his swimming patterns will become more erratic but at the same time purposeful.

2) Puffed Up Gills: The most common signal that the Japanese fighting fish is ready to rumble, is that he will puff up his gills. The reason for this is simple: he is trying to intimidate his fighting foe.

Betta fish will even puff up its gills when it sees itself in a mirror. This is a clever way of seeing this phenomenon without endangering your betta. Do not however put a mirror in you betta fish tank permanently. This will stress out your fighting fish!

3) Changing Stripes: If a betta fish has stripes, this can tell you a lot about what is going on inside its mind. If its stripes are vertical, it is actually ready to mate. If however, its stripes are horizontal, look out, it is ready to fight!

4) Circling the Bubble Nest: After the male has fertilized the betta fish eggs, they are his responsibility to protect them in the bubble nest. Oddly enough, the most dangerous predator for the eggs is the betta female! She is often hungry after the mating process and will try to eat her own eggs! The male Japanese fighting fish will circle the nest and attack the female if necessary.

5) No Signal at All: Unfortunately, sometimes the male fighting fish will attack with no warning at all. This is bad when you are trying to breed betta fish. The male can attack the female with no warning signals to you or the unsuspecting female.

Why do Betta Fish Fight?

In the wild, the ancestors of the betta fish are native to the rice paddies of Cambodia and Thailand and Cambodia. In these close quarters, they defend what they deem to be their territory.

Now in captivity, they still have kept that instinct to fight all comers. Even with all of the breeding techniques to make them pretty, they still have the temperament of a killer!