Are pure black bettas a rare find?

[jaimoe]

A couple of weeks ago I was at a Petco and I saw a pure black crowntail betta, which I promptly purchased even though I had no intention of owning another betta.

I was looking through this site which is linked in the sticky above:

http/www.waynesthisandthat.com/mybettas.htm

And according to this guy pure black bettas are among the rarest of bettas.

"Tangerine is the first and only clearly orange betta I've ever seen so this makes me assume that orange is the rarest betta color. I've never seen a pure black betta so it could be argued that they are rarer but this doesn't mean much if none exist."

Does this guy just not know what he is talking about, or did I get myself a real steal in finding a pure black crowntail for only $3.49? B) (the employees at this Petco cannot tell the difference between a veiltail and a crowntail so they sell them at the same price)

 

[rykitten]

I believe BKK has a black CT. I've never seen one before and would assume they are fairly hard to come by. I would love to have one!

Congratulations on your find!

Here's a link to BKK's original thread:
MONGKUT

Okay I just had another look at that thread. Possibly the picture under it is Mongkut too and is very colorful.

I think I'll stop typing now and wait for BKK . . .

 

[jaimoe]

Yup that's looks just like the guy I found. I'll try to get a picture of him when I get home and post it later on. He's in kind of a funny shaped bowl though but I'll see what I can do.

(Mine looks like the first picture, not the second)

 

[rollntider]

I have only seen them in pictures. I have even seen albinos for sale but pure blacks ones usually get the price driven up. I think they are harder to find. They arent none existent but rarer than the other colors.

 

[jaimoe]

Well here are a couple of pics of "Tom". He looks pure black in real life, then when I took pictures of him the flash brought out some other colors in him!

 

[Grams]

wow what a good find, to take a better pic dont use flash and put a light right over the bowl and take non flash pic,

 

[rollntider]

nice fish,

 

[Wisperian]

Pfft! big deal! 60% of my lfs bettas are blacks and none are veils... Just crowns, dubble, rarely deltas and some halfmoons

 

[jaimoe]

I'll try to get a picture without the flash. Trouble is I can't manually set the shutter speed, and when you turn the flash off it automatically goes to a really slow shutter speed, and the pics come out blurry. I'm trying to be patient though. lol

 

[rollntider]

Pfft! big deal! 60% of my lfs bettas are blacks and none are veils... Just crowns, dubble, rarely deltas and some halfmoons

hmm...getting black bettas is hard to do especially after you consider the females are sterile and you usually have to use steel females or a similar color. I doubt if they are pure black at your LFS. Like this one here pictured it has some traces of steel coloring.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Pure black, pure are very rare. Nearly every black female is infertile so pure males usually have to be bred to a steel blue/black female,which brings in the blue shimmer that can be seen on yours.

A member of my betta club works black lines. He recently purchased a fertile pure black female for over $100 at the IBC convention.

Lovely betta by the way

EDIT~ LOL, I was saying the same thing as roll at the same time )

 

[Bettaman]

here is my boy............

 

[rollntider]

Pure black, pure are very rare. Nearly every black female is infertile so pure males usually have to be bred to a steel blue/black female,which brings in the blue shimmer that can be seen on yours.

A member of my betta club works black lines. He recently purchased a fertile pure black female for over $100 at the IBC convention.

Lovely betta by the way

EDIT~ LOL, I was saying the same thing as roll at the same time )

beat ya to the punch, but you explained it better, see some of that research I am doing is paying off Not as nice as your explanation though.

 

[rollntider]

A member of my betta club works black lines. He recently purchased a fertile pure black female for over $100 at the IBC convention.

I didnt know Black females could be bred, that is cool to hear.

 

[jaimoe]

Nice pics, Bettaman!