In the wild, H. boettgeri occurs in shady still water in lowland rainforest. It is a fully aquatic frog, meaning it spends its entire life underwater. Although, like all frogs, it has lungs and must surface to breathe.
Their color varies, generally ranging from brown to greenish, with black spots; with their undersides being lighter. They evolved these colors from their habit of spending most of their time at the bottom of the water body.
In the wild, nature selects for shorter fins enabling faster more agile movement, and duller shades of brown, grey, and green; colors which blend in with the natural surroundings. In Siam (now known as Thailand), bettas were primarily bred for bravery, not show, and while color varieties were selected for, long flowing fins were not. Wild bettas usually only show brighter colors when agitated and/or during mating season, whereas the bettas we see in aquariums today are bred for their long flowing fin shapes and vibrant colorations. Bettas are categorized according to fin types, patterns, and colors.
