Can Betta Fish Jump?
If you came here asking the question “Can betta fish jump?” because you are thinking about entering your fishy in the next pet Olympics, then… you have to invite me if he/she qualifies. But I’m going to guess that it’s not visions of gold medal grandeur that you are really curious about. None the less, jumping betta is a thing. And as you can see from the video above, that may be something you want. In fact, there is even a kit available dedicated at showing you how to teach your betta to do tricks. Most likely though, having your betta fish jumping out of its tank is not something you want.
So to get right to the point, yes betta fish can jump. Bettas can definitely clear the edge of an open topped aquarium if the water level is high enough. Now, I did say that betta fish can jump, not that they will if the opportunity presents itself. Different, individual betta fish behave in individually different ways.
There are some bettas that seem to enjoy the “high” life more so than others. I meant that in the “high” up in the air sense of the word… not the “it’s for my glaucoma” sense. We are talking about fish. Jumping betta fish. Anyway… In general though, betta fish tend to jump as a way to try and escape an aquarium that has poor water quality and/or temperatures that are too warm. Using a decent aquarium thermometer to check on your aquarium’s temperature is a good way to prevent soaring betta fish. Regular water changes are necessary as a part of good betta tank maintenance, but in this case will also keep your betta from feeling the need to vault out.
Now, this is something I have not seen any real experimentation on, nor am I suggesting you do any of your own on, but theoretically speaking, betta fish can live out of water longer than the average fish can. This is because of their labyrinth organ that allows them to breathe atmospheric oxygen straight from the air. I’m putting this information in here so that if you ever have a situation where your betta has skipped the fence, you don’t worry as much. You still have great cause to worry, but maybe just a little less.
Betta’s little fish bodies need water. That really is a no-brainer. Specifically though, their gills need to be kept wet. Yes, they can breathe oxygen right from the same air as you do, but betta’s will run into big problems quickly if their gills dry out.
How high can betta fish jump?
Two to three inches from the surface of the water is the average lift a betta fish can reach
There are betta owners out there that have taken the time to carefully measure how high up their betta fish can jump. This is actually really helpful information for other betta keepers as it will help us best protect our betta fish from themselves. That, and now we know the upper limits of the average betta’s jump so we can train our athletic bettas to beat it. Betta Olympics will happen one day, I am sure of it.
Two to three inches from the surface of the water is the average lift a betta fish can reach. There is a rumor that someone measured a 5 inch jump from their betta. I would actually suspect that a 5 inch clearance from a betta is very achievable. When you consider that 5 inches isn’t too much longer than the total length of a betta, and you must have seen how fast they can swim, I’d bet that betta fish are more than likely capable of higher heights than even 5 inches.
Another interesting thing to learn is that female betta fish seem to enjoy the air-time more often than the boy betta fish do. Very much more in fact. If you are thinking about keeping a sorority of bettas, you should do more than just “think” about getting a lid on that aquarium. In case you haven’t learned yet, a sorority is what you call a group a girl bettas in an aquarium.
Some people have aquariums with a separator wall inserted to divide the tank. These divided betta aquariums are designed to keep betta fish safe from whatever is on the other side of that separator wall. More often than not, people divide up their tanks like this to be able to house more than one male betta fish in an aquarium. Sometimes these tanks are divided for betta breeding reasons. Whatever the reason, if the aquarium is an open air design, betta fish may be able to hop the fence.
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Credit : Nice Betta Thailand
