Betta changed colors

First, I'm so glad to see the forum is back!

Now on to the issue. My roommate got a female betta a few months ago, with a sort of a pale buttery white body and pink fins. The food the fish eats is TetraMin Tropical granules, and after a couple months the betta's body is a now a dark orangey-yellow and her fins are dark red, with some blue iridescence (she's also grown a ton). My roommate loves the fish regardless of color, don't get me wrong, but she really liked when the betta was cream/pink colored rather than this weird dark orange and red. And aside from that, this betta looks absolutely healthy and robust. Is there any way to tone down the colors through diet? Or is this just her natural healthy coloring, compared to the anemic state they tend to be in at the pet store?

Hi Katsa,

I would say this is most likely to be their natural colouring coming through. When young Betta can often look a lot different to their adult colouration. If she was very small when she bought her then she may have been showing her juvenile colouration and since growing her adult colours have come through. From you description she sounds like a cambodian red betta.

The food may be playing a small role in the colour but this would only enhance the red that was present rather than give the betta a red colour.

Any chance of pics?

Sam

Hmm, that's kinda what I thought. Thanks, though!

I tried to take some pictures but she wasn't too fond of the camera xD
This is the only one that sort of came out. The light sort of bleached it out, but the tail area is most close to her real colors.

Good to see you back

I didn't realise that their colours could change so dramatically once they matured! Depending on conditions in the shop where she was bought, she could have been pale through stress, bad water, etc. ?
She is absolutely stunning now

The change is quite impressive. In my recent spawn I was only dealing with reds and oranges so the change wasn't do dramatic but this male went from this:

To this:


He's now the biggest non-giant male betta I've ever seen.

Katsa, can you upload some more pics of this betta? I have a feeling it could be male but without more pics it's hard to tell.

Sam

Wow, he's a stunner Sam!

I too was wondering if the betta posted could be male. Very long ventral fins for a female?

Oops, sorry I disappeared for a little bit, got busy with some things.

But WOW! Sam, that change is amazing. What a beautiful fish!

I tried to take some pictures of her(?) today, since I had her floating in a cup after her water change and she couldn't run away from me >: )

Except I only got a couple blurry ones before the camera died! So I gotta wait for that to charge, but I did get a half decent photo that more shows her true colors (actually, I think she might have gone even more orange since the last time I posted, but this was also before I turned the lights on for the day so maybe she is just darker from that)




Now, she dwarfs my other female betta and has such robust fins and colors, but I think she is a she? You can't really see it in the photo, but she does have a little white egg spot on her belly, I've never seen her flare, and sometimes she has vertical stripes, which I'm guessing together leans towards female? Maybe she's just a tom-boy, though xD

My guess would be male, but Sam will have a much better idea I'm sure beautiful either way!