Bettas definitely seem smarter then other fish of comparable size. I had a betta in college. He was so cool, I thought about breeding him but never did. I set up a tank full of fake plastic fish to entertain him though. The way the water circulated, made the fake fish "swim" backwards. He studied them intently and taught himself to swim backwards. I'm a bit of a slob, and often I'd be looking everywhere for something then notice that he seemed to be mimicking my movements which freaked me out but encouraged me to try to not be a slob.

I'm sorry you lost so many fry. If you decide to raise them again in the future, you might want to set up a battery backup to protect them in the event of a power failure. Techies use them to protect against data loss, check best buy or tiger direct or something.

Bettas like to eat sea monkeys. I raised them a few times as treats for my betta.