http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPZ5Yu2NvD4

Short vid of wild betta--looks more like a female! And see how the water is obviously dirty--see in the background the sort of environment they come from.

Here's a female:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpwkP4cwq7M...feature=related

Yeah, wild male bettas don't have all the long, fancy fins that we're so used to seeing.

lol wow..the male does look like a female lol. I liek fancy betta better of course lol. But it's still pretty awesoem to see a wild betta!

I think fish are a lot hardier than people give them credit for, especially wild ones. I think as long as their are not high levels of ammonia and nitrites in the water, they can survive pretty dang well!

lol, yeah, wild ones live in muddy puddles no bigger than 2-3 gallons at most! they're not always as fragile as the pretty longfinned ones..

actually... the fish in the video isn't even the same species as our commercially-available bettas. It's identified in the video as Betta ideii. What we usually in pet shops and mail-order show bettas are Betta splendens and B. imbellis

O.k. You all knew I am gonna have to get on my soapbox now, didn't ya? Just cause the betta in the video is a wild type and just because the water in the video is dirty does not mean that a betta does not deserve pristine water and good living conditions. Most of the bettas bred here and in overseas are bred and do not come from a wild enviorment and should have good clean wate. o.k. Now I will get down off the soap box. There are many types of wild type bettas. I will look around for you and see if I can post pics some pics of the different types. there are also the betta imbelis wild types

well I tried posting pics but the site here is hiccuping. I will try again later

actually, now that I think of it, the water in the bag probably isn't as dirty as you guys think. It's probably just murky from the dissolved tannins and humic acid that is characteristic of the swamps wild bettas live (and thrive) in.

Lol Most wild fish are much hardier than fish or fancy fish we keep, but like someone above said, lol I notice that they have same Genus name but different species name. Maybethe water just look dirty but it might not as dirty as people think, I just did a little background research on betta and for the first time I didnt know that Betta is actually a Genus name HAHA There are many species of Betta. Really interesting. I wonder if they are all aggressive the same! There are so many kind, Betta pallifina, Betta chini,Betta ibanorum etc. so many kind! I never know this before!