I was wondering if it is normal for a betta to change color. My female Cher was a stunning dark midnight blue, solid. She seems to be getting lighter and I'm detecting a hint of red coming in.

Yes, their colours often change as they get older.

Exactly. She might carry a marble geno type that's now presenting it self becoming pheno type.

EDIT: Spelling.

What's really interesting,is to see them start from the beginning! I can't begin to tell you how many changes the babies have gone through,and their differences in color's with each other.As they are growing older,they're constantly changing.

Thats really intresting, devs what color are they now? and what
color were the parents again?

Thanks. That's good to know that it is normal. Cher is such a sweet betta. She never aggravates the other fish. She loves to eat, almost like a goldfish and will race to the top for me to feed her. Sonny my male, on the other hand has that bettatude thing going on big time.

That's very interesting . My new betta has been changing colors lately and he looks great. To think, I bought him because he was so dull I didn'tn think anyone else would!

This may be kinda a silly question but I was curious to know that if you had your betta's in a sunny spot of the house that would change their color quicker or not?.....or maybe is it just one of those things that nature takes over?
I know with GF that sunlight helps their color become more vibrant so I thought maybe it was kinda the same with other fish also??
Trying to learn new things here....

I'm not sure about that froggydella. My betta is not in a sunny spot at all. She's in a 10 gal. and the hood lights are those low watt blue bulbs. So she does not get a bright light at all.

My fish isn't in the sunlight at all either, he's on a bookshelf with no lighting for his bowl. I've heard that sunlight and bettas don't mix, so I would assume that the color changes are purely genetic. ....just a guess there

i would think so. spmetimes you can get them with homologous genes, these are 2 identical *pairs* of genes, so baisically you get a mixed colour. like in cows. if you have one gene telling it to be white, and another telling it to be red, and neither of the genes is dominant or recessive, then i comes out as the roan colour!

lol, tinkerbell! That example with the roan cows was in my biology text book last year. Co-dominance, right? I love biology

*whew* I'm glad I stumbled on this topic LoL. I was beginning to wonder about my poor male He was the most beautiful dark royal blue with little splashes of purple but over the last week I've noticed, mostly his fins, changing to a much lighter shade of purple. I was beginning to wonder about it and know at least that's not a big issue now *sniff* Poor thing is sick though and I don't know what's wrong with him, but I'll post another topic about that....

Yeah, this topic is right on time for me, too. My Montgomery used to be such brilliant shiny colours of blue, red, green, aquamarine. Now his tails are so light red, they're transparent! Even his dark body is paling out.

He doesn't look so good anymore, but I know he's kind of old now. I've had him for almost two years, and he was full-grown when I got him.

He's been missing a lot of his tail since November. It just won't grow back. Poor fishy seems to be getting old.

page,
I have an old betta who is losing his colour, too. He started out a brilliant red and now he is quite a dull, pale reddish colour. He, too, has short fins now instead of his glorious crowntail. Oh well, he is still eating and healthy, although he is thinner than he was.

So, how long to bettas live?

The average is 2 - 3 years, but I have heard of some going 4 - 5. When you purchase them in the store they are at least six months old.