Curious question (not a health concern question). I'm a first time betta owner. Is it normal for their color and pattern to change?? I got George Jan 31st and he was quite healthy from what I could see. Mostly white fins with blue/turqouise body. He is now almost completely blue with hues of turqouise and only the white on edges of fins. His food has color enhancement in it, but I find it hard to believe it would cause the white to change to blue. How common of this type of change?? (Pics attached assuming I did it right)
Drastic color changes in Bettas? Getting more vibrant?
- Thread starter Blue_Jay
- Start date
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Yes it's normal (he quiet beautiful I might add). The breaders seperate the males whe their quite young so the won't shred each other's fins...or worse. The breeders also need to make money so the send them to the pet shops asap. In other words, they're usually juveniles. So as they mature, there colors and patterns also continue to develop. Your little fella is just growing up...that's all. He's fine.
Angellove78
Aquarium Advice Addict
Lol! Yup, congrats, he's a teenager now. My they grow fast. Sometimes it also depends on the set up on the tank and how much light. But, 9 out of 10 times they are just growing up. He's very pretty!
Coralocean
Aquarium Advice Freak
That's kind of a wait and see answer. I mentioned before that bettas are usually juveniles when you 1st get them, so how they mature is unknown until it happens.
One thing that I forgot to comment on was the color enhancement food. The color enhancement products are mostly beta carotene. This will do most enhancement to yellow, orange, and red colors...not so much with blue...but it's still healthy.
Coralocean
Aquarium Advice Freak
That's so true! I read an article on enhancing blue fish it says what is needed is "phycocyanin instead of astaxanthin. Turns out blue green algae (and spirulina) are very rich in phycocyanin. Just need a spirulina based food to enhance the blue coloration."
Krill, being one of the main ingredients in most fish foods is high in phycocyanin. The author suggests that this will do nothing for yellow colors.
"On a side note, to enhance yellow coloration, you need Xanthophylls (as opposed to phycocyanin or astaxanthin). Xanthophylls is readily available in Marigold Flower Petals, corn gluten meal, and dried egg, and Chanterelle mushroom."
Just thought it was interesting enough to share.
