# Can anyone explain to me how Bettas breathe?



## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

How does a Betta breathe anyway? Do they even use gills or is it entirely by gulping air from top?


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

They get most of their oxygen from the surface but do use their gills to some extent as well. A believe a Betta that can't breath from the surface can survive for a while just using it's gills but will eventually die.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

They do have gills but because the low oxygen content in the waters they are from they developed a labrynth organ.The gills are used at an early age until the labrynth organ develops.

You can drown a betta if they are in water without surface air to breathe.Its weird but ive accidentally done it.I think once they mature they use their gills to flare more than breathing.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

It's an incredibly cool thing. Their 'lungs' are their inner ear. The labyrinth structure we hear and balance with has evolved the ability to extract oxygen in Betta splendens - one of the neatest messy solutions to a low oxygen environment imaginable. 
The only consolation is that Corydoras cats inhale through their mouths, and exhale little pearly bubbles out their butts - their intestine has evolved oxygen extracting abilities. I think I know guys who live like that, so maybe it isn't that exotic.
I was reading that paradise fish, also labyrinth fish, are extremely cold tolerant, but their range is stopped where the ice forms - they can't get air even if the cold itself doesn't kill them.


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

evolution is such a neat thing, isnt it?


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