The hottest fish in hip eateries isn't anything that appears on the menu. It's part of the décor.
Mosey on up to the bar at Spuntini in Toronto's Yorkville and you can go nose to nose with the restaurant mascot, a bright yellow betta splendens, or Siamese fighting fish, living in the perfect betta home -- a little bowl.
"It's serenity," owner Fernando Esteves says. "You're having a cocktail, you look at the little fish."
Patrons and waiters alike love looking at it -- and "everybody wants to feed it," Esteves says of his pal, which he carefully moves to a cozy back-room office on chilly days.
Over at Sassafraz on Cumberland, Bill, Dion, Franklin, Georgina and Mark are swimming around in separate -- they don't call them fighting fish for nothing -- little cones attached to the walls in the piano bar.
People don't notice them at first, marketing manager Mark Cuff says of the fish chosen for their red-burgundy colours to match the décor. Then they look again, and say, "Wow! It's a fish."
At Tantra on Church Street, there's a betta named Henry, which lives in a vase with plants at the entrance.
"It's our good luck charm," says co-owner Marco Marchese, who bought another betta for the kitchen to keep the chef entertained.
And it's not just restaurants getting in on the betta wave.
"It's the fastest-moving fish we have," says Elliot Pearl at Pets Wonderful on Church Street, where bettas typically retail for about $7 apiece. "We can't keep them in stock."
What's the attraction? Partly, it's low maintenance. Since they can live in virtual puddles in their natural habitat, they can survive in small, oxygen-deprived environments.
All they require is a small bowl (although it should be larger than the teacup-sized ones they are often sold in), a little gravel, a few silk plants (plastic ones scratch their fins), a daily feeding of carnivorous fish food and a water change about once a week (filtered water is best).
But the appeal is also their iridescent beauty, which has made them prized collector's items in some circles. The males come in bright greens, blues, reds and yellows -- characteristically for the animal world, the females are muddy brown -- and they have been bred so that their formerly short fins and tails now fan out like a shimmering veil.
Critics point out that the fish are being used simply as accessories -- as in the case of one U.S. designer who stuck a live betta in a clear plastic handbag and called it Bubble Gear. In Toronto, the fish have appeared at fashion events and weddings, where they are used to create little living centerpieces.
But most owners regard the bettas with genuine affection. Indeed, Susan Szilasi at Lafontaine Jeunesse cosmetic surgery clinic in Yorkville says the clinic initially bought the fish because it wanted something beautiful in the waiting room. Now, she says, it's about love. "My god! They're gorgeous! When I look at them, it relaxes me. When I come in, it's like a pet. They come to me. They warm up my heart."
Pearl says lawyers and bankers have come in and bought them for everyone in their offices. And once someone has bought one, they often come back for more.
Unlike that goldfish that traumatized you as a child by dying the day you bought it, the bettas typically live up to two years (they can live to 5, according to Pets Wonderful). "They're the perfect pet," says Matt Folliott over at Super Pet on Avenue Road, who has given his fish rapper-style -- some unprintable -- names.
Naturally, a creature this popular has spawned an on-line following: Check out bettatalk.com, bettysplendens.com and bettaforums.com for the latest betta fish tales.