[kdlynn (OP)]

i have a betta fish. he's very pretty, and has the longest tail i have ever seen on this type of fish... which got me thinking. can you imagine swimming with a wedding dress on? i can't. how can such a little fish drag such a huge tail around? i'll post a pic of him later. i have to get him to sit still first! lol

[another_someone]

Personally, I would not even imagine myself walking in a wedding dress.

Although I don't know exactly what your Betta fish looks like, but I would guess that a better analogy would be to compare it to the feathers of a bird (whether a pheasant, or even more extravagantly, a peacock).

I assume that the fish do not naturally swim fast anyway, just meander around, so if the fins drag them back a bit probably does not matter (at least a male carrying a large tail around can impress a female with his strength in carrying the tail, much as a peacock does).

One of the interesting things, looking up Wikipedia on Siamese Fighting fish (Betta fish) is that they are both air breathing as well as extracting oxygen from the water, implying that it probably has quite a large energy usage, and so a fair amount of strength to carry around those large fins.

[kdlynn (OP)]

i'm kinda wondering if their tails can get too big... i guess not... but no wonder they are cranky and fight each other. carrying all that around all day would be hard. also, most of them that i have seen do just float around... but not this little guy. he's speedy. lol

[_Stefan_]

Betta splendens are naturally aggressive, however the wild form has quite short fins, and they have been bred for centuries by the Thai people to enhance their aggression and later to develop the range of colors and fin types available today. Please check out www.bettysplendens.com for more information about these beautiful fish. You can also look at my photobucket album (in my signature) for heaps of betta related images/photos.

[kdlynn (OP)]

hey thanks!

[another_someone]

But I still keep reading it as 'betas', and wonder where the 'alphas' and 'gammas' are.

[Seany]

Don't the tails help with the swimming? The side to side motion, just a flipper or something..

Sorry if someone already wrote this above, I just needed to rush this post...

[_Stefan_]

The caudal fin and other fins are used to some extent for swimming, but it seems they are mainly used for display. Most of the actual swimming is done by the body, side to side movements.
In Bettas with heavy finnage, the extra finnage seems to hinder rather than enhance movement. But it wouldn't be hard on the fish, seeing as the fin membrane is only several cells thick.

[kdlynn (OP)]

george the others are hanging out with the omega's. they think they're too good for the bettas. he  he