Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
I see that you decide to be arrogant about your experience, it doesn't change the fact that you are wrong about many things.
Betta fish cannot "thrive" in oxygen depleted water, they just can't.
Labyrinth fish are not born with functional labyrinth organs. The development of the organ is gradual and most labyrinth fish breathe entirely with their gills and develop the labyrinth organs when they grow older ( I can provide a citation if you so require it with your "expert" experience)
And you seem to underestimate the size of these rice fields, they are ankle deep most of the year, plus with the rain that falls in those tropical regions there is more than enough air exchange and water replenishment to sustain the fish.
Just because you have seen breeding set ups in Thailand doesn't mean that the fish thrive in those set ups! For the best part the methods used in any kind of battery farming is far from what the animal needs and are usually done so in the cheapest way (no need for fancy equipment if you're being cheap)
Also the fact you say they can thrive in bowls means you're 40 years of experience is questionable to me.
With all due respect, I was not trying to be arrogant at all but to educate you on some the things that you wrote that were questionable as to be factual.
In this case, we are not talking about juvenile fish that have not formed the labrynth so that argument is moot.
As to bowl sizes in a store vs the bowl size the OP was going to use, there is a huge water volume difference.
And to abide by the OP's wishes, I wish to not continue this conversation any further. I've made my points You can agree or disagree, it's your choice