The Betta fish, Siamese fighting fish, or betta as its known by its genus, is an elegant tropical freshwater fish that is popular as a pet and often housed in eclectic home aquariums. In the wild, native to areas like Cambodia and Thailand, the betta inhabits rice paddies and still watered canals.The ones you see in pet stores are quite different too in both color and size, with wild betta fish having much smaller fins and being predominantly colored in a dull green or brown appearance.Theyre a wonderful first pet to teach children the responsibility of caring for something, and are inexpensive to purchase and maintain.Males and females look drastically different from each other, with males exhibiting the longer beautiful flowing fins. Females are much smaller in size and fin length. With proper care bettas can live anywhere from 2 to 4 years, with some owners having noted lifespans that extended into their teens. Pretty neat huh?