Betta fish colorWild and domesticated beta fish color, the differences, how they came about.Wild Betta fish coloration ...... is drab, but it's from this plain, wild variety that the pet store beta fish has been bred. Both the wild and the pet store varieties belong to the genus betta, species B. splendens. They are diffrent varieties of the same species.
In Betta fish of the wild ...... the colors of both male and female are pretty much the same, a grayish brown with some dark stripes. There are, however, vague hints of color beneath the surface and they come out more clearly during mating.Even during breeding time, the colors of the wild beta fish are nowhere near the flamboyant colors of the pet store variety. The wild beta's colors are always obscured beneath that "topcoat" of grayish brown.
The wild beta fish *muted* hues ...... are apparent in the dorsal fin as a metallic green. Those of the anal fin are blue or red. The tail fin is usually close in color to the anal fin. Mostly though, the wild beta is dark to produce a good camoflouge in it's native habitat of murky water.Beta fish Genetics 101A brief explanation of artificial selection as it applies to Beta fish colorHow'd they get those beautiful colors? In case you've been out of school as long as I have and your biology is a little rusty, here's the lowdown.Even the dull wild betas will parent a few offspring that develop more of one color than another. With anywhere from 200 to 500 offspring to a spawning, it isn't hard to imagine a few of exceptional coloration. If the fish of best color are taken out and bred together, Mendel's Law will prevail, and the offspring will gravitate toward the color of their parents. Wild Siamese fighting fish will produce a few colorful offspring ...... and those colorful offspring will also produce some plain offspring. These "plain" fish are "culled", or removed from the breeding stock.It's after several generations of picking out the most colorful fish and breeding them, that the resulting offspring will finally be pretty much fixed in color. The plain fish are always "culled", and the breeding continues with the best of the best. This is "artificial selection" as it applies to the domesticated betta fish. End of Biology 101, artificial selection.
Colors of the domesticated Beta fish are ...... marvelously varied. There's black, piebald (black and white), emerald green with a metallic lustre, blue, red, yellow to dark green, dark blue, dark red, violet, maroon and even white. Then, there are combinations of these color to the nth degree.There's also a variety in which the body is cream-colored, while the fins may be any combination of other colors. Though it's called "Cambodia", this is still the B. splendens species and the name is only in reference to the color. Technically, it would be a Cambodia B. splendens. In the domesticated betta, the females, though shorter finned, also have good coloration. All the domesticated Siamese fighting fish colors are ...... based on a root color in the wild variety, undeveloped and dormant. It's "natural selection" (as opposed to the "artificial selection" described above) that keeps the wild beta plain.Can you imagine how quickly a brightly colored wild beta would attract a predator? Brightly colored betas in the wild are doomed to a short life and the chances of one reaching the breeding stage are slim to none. Their plainer brethren, on the other hand, will most likely escape the hungry jaws of fish eaters and live to produce more plain spawn like themselves. Natural selection at work. Some beta fish colors and combinations ...... in the domesticated betas are inherited and remain stable from generation to generation. Others must be continually crossed to be perpetuated.The optimum color development is around 5 months of age.
Siamese fighting fish will live ...... at room temperature, but the best color is maintained at 80 degrees farenheit (27 degrees celsius). Another factor in maintaining color is live food, the more, the better.Beta fish can add spectacular color to a community aquarium, but only one male betta to a tank!
Deepening of color ...... can be seen in the domesticated beta fish as it may flush deeply on several different occassions, when attracting a mate, when fighting and, I've heard, when eating live mesquito larvae.In all these cases, the domesticated Betta will also flare his fins, which is what we'll talk about on the next page ... - or you can - Leave Betta fish color page and return to betta fish homepage. |
| Website proudly maintened by Online Casino - Top Deutsch online casino tests |