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What is a Betta???

A Betta (also called Siamese fighting fish) are those fish you might have noticed sitting in a bunch of jars in your local pet store. If this doesn't jog your memory, here goes with a rather dry description.

The name betta comes from the scientific name Betta splendens The name betta itself is said to be Javan (or something) in origen.There are other members of the genus Betta but I don't usually mess with them as they tend to require more acid water conditions than I can adequately provide. They do, however, have many devotees. Anyway Bettas belong to a group of fish called Anabantoides. They have an acessory breathing organ called a labyrinth. They use it to breath in air. That's why they can live in those tiny jars.(although it's not recommended to keep them in such quarters for long periods of time).

Bettas come in many shapes and colors. Here is a table rundown of many of the colors bettas can be found in.
Red Blue Green Yellow Orange Black White
Red is by far the commonest color. I'm not particularly taken with it in Bettas. Blue is one of my favorites. Blues are of two types. The lovely silvery steel blue is surprisingly rare in most pet shops I've been in. There is also the 'Cornflower' blue which is quite common and is just a 'basic blue' Getting a blue betta with little to no red can be next to impossible at least in the pet store. Cornflower blues with an even coating of red pigment appear purple. Green is a slightly less common color but still fairly easy to get a hold of. Green in bettas is more of an iridecent sea-green rather than a forest green. Breeding green bettas to green bettas will give green fry. Yellow is very difficult to come by in the pet stores. I have found only 4 in my years of searching. They are becoming more available. Yellow can vary from nearly off-white to almost orange. Orange is a new color in bettas. I haven't seen one yet but I know for sure that they exist. Black is a really coll color in bettas. As with all bettas the color changes with the mood of the fish. Black females have a sterility problem. Thus non-black females must be used to carry on the line. White comes from the 'opaque' lines. I don't know a whole lot about the trait but I have seen pictures of some really nice white bettas so they can be obtained through breeders.

Color Patterns in Bettas

Cambodian	Butterfly	Marble
Cambodian refers to a whitish body color with colored fins. I have had a ton of these over the years and they are not difficult to come by.	Butterfly bettas are those with 2 colors in the fins that are evenly divided into two bands from the body to the fin edges. This trait may be a variation on marble. It seems to have become much more common in petstores recently	Marbles display thier coloration in patches rather than in the mixed sorts of patterns found in normal bettas. The trait behaves rather strangely as a marble cross will often produce quite a number of marbles in the first generation. Mixed color marbled bettas are often fairly easy to come by in the petstore.

Back to the Bettas page Last Modified November 16,1997
Page designed and maintained by Sarah Kinder

Red	Blue	Green	Yellow	Orange	Black	White
Red is by far the commonest color. I'm not particularly taken with it in Bettas.	Blue is one of my favorites. Blues are of two types. The lovely silvery steel blue is surprisingly rare in most pet shops I've been in. There is also the 'Cornflower' blue which is quite common and is just a 'basic blue' Getting a blue betta with little to no red can be next to impossible at least in the pet store. Cornflower blues with an even coating of red pigment appear purple.	Green is a slightly less common color but still fairly easy to get a hold of. Green in bettas is more of an iridecent sea-green rather than a forest green. Breeding green bettas to green bettas will give green fry.	Yellow is very difficult to come by in the pet stores. I have found only 4 in my years of searching. They are becoming more available. Yellow can vary from nearly off-white to almost orange.	Orange is a new color in bettas. I haven't seen one yet but I know for sure that they exist.	Black is a really coll color in bettas. As with all bettas the color changes with the mood of the fish. Black females have a sterility problem. Thus non-black females must be used to carry on the line.	White comes from the 'opaque' lines. I don't know a whole lot about the trait but I have seen pictures of some really nice white bettas so they can be obtained through breeders.