The species gets its green and blue colors due to refraction and interference of light that results from hexagonal crystals that are less than 0.5 micrometres.

[3] Betta smaragdina lives in still or sluggish bodies of water, including rice paddies, swamps, roadside ditches, streams and ponds.

These bodies of water are usually shaded by vegetation and have a substrate composed of leaf litter, mud, or sand.

In captivity, it is typically fed live or frozen food like Daphnia, Artemia or bloodworms.

What makes them differ from the normal B. smaragdina are their guitar like markings on the dorsal and caudal fin.