When Carolina Diz first decided to get a pet, she pictured herself with a dog.
"I honestly really wanted a dog, but I just didn't have the space or time for one," Diz, a former video editor and producer at The Dodo, told the publication. "So I kind of
just thought, 'What's the next best thing?’"
In 2019, Diz brought home her first betta fish — a freshwater fish known for their brilliant colors and flowing fins. She named him April.
As a first-time fish parent, Diz wasn't initially expecting much beyond a pet to admire from across the room.
"I thought they would be very low-maintenance and kind of like a step up from plants," she said.
Instead, April — and the three bettas who followed him, Scar, Katara and Napoleon — completely transformed the way she thought about fish.
Diz soon found herself deep in the world of betta fish, and stumbled upon something that caught her attention — people were teaching their fish tricks.
“Apparently you can teach them to follow your finger, to weave through a little obstacle course,” she said. “You can teach them how to jump through a hoop. And as soon as I read that, I had a goal.”
She got started with April.
The first lesson was simply teaching him to follow her finger. It was a slow process because bettas only eat a small amount of food once a day, meaning every training session came with just one chance to reward him. "You do something once and you reward them with the pellet," Diz said. "Then you just cross your fingers and hope they remember that for the next day."
Once April had mastered following her finger, Diz introduced a simple hair tie, encouraging him to swim through it underwater. Little by little, she raised the makeshift hoop until it sat above the water's surface.
Eventually, April leapt through it.
Over the years, Diz taught three of her bettas to jump through hoops. But Katara turned out to be her most enthusiastic student.
Diz had brought home Katara during the COVID-19 pandemic. With so much time spent at home, she devoted herself to teaching Katara an impressive repertoire of stunts.
"She could jump through a hoop, she could weave through chopsticks,” Diz said. “She could push a little bottle cap that I painted like a soccer ball, so it looked like she was playing soccer."
"While everyone was making sourdough starter, I was training my fish to jump through a hoop,” she said with a laugh.
Katara was so good at her tricks that she even won the Betta Olympics in 2020, an online competition for pet betta fish to demonstrate their tricks.
But Katara’s intelligence seemed to go beyond learning tricks. Diz became convinced her fish recognized her, too.
“Katara could recognize my face and my hands and would immediately do tricks for me but not for others,” Diz said. "When I was away for a while and came back, she'd literally come to the front of the tank and just wag like a dog — it was so cute. She'd just get really, really excited and wiggle."
As Diz became more invested in her fish, she also discovered the best ways to keep her bettas safe, healthy and happy.
“It's easy to think that you're just trying to keep them alive, but I really wanted to make them thrive,” she said.
After researching their needs, Diz settled on a 10-gallon tank for her betta fish. She also equipped her aquarium with a heater and filter to create the healthiest environment possible. Top Fin's line of aquarium products, available at PetSmart, includes aquarium kits in a variety of sizes, along with heaters, filters and other essentials that can help bettas thrive in a properly maintained habitat.
You can watch Diz set up an aquarium here:
Every other week, Diz changed the water in the aquarium, tested the pH and ammonia levels and conditioned the water. Top Fin also offers water test strips, water conditioner, water clarifier and ammonia neutralizer to help fish parents maintain healthy water quality between cleanings.
"It was mostly just trying to maintain an ecosystem," Diz said. "You're creating this entire world in a tiny place."
Looking back, Diz says the biggest surprise wasn't teaching fish to perform tricks — it was discovering that each fish had a distinct personality.
"April was energetic and really curious," she said. "Then my next fish, I really expected him to be the same way, but Scar ended up being very shy and very sweet — completely different energies. So I just approached them differently. I had different bonds with them."
Today, Diz hopes more people see bettas the way she does — as intelligent, emotional animals capable of forming strong bonds with their human companions.
"I just really want people to know that fish are not only truly mentally intelligent, but they're also emotionally intelligent," Diz said. "You can form real bonds with them, and they each have their own little personalities that make each relationship beautiful and unique."
