Betta Smaragdina

[Elisabeth83]

I bought a pair of Betta smaragdinas today. In the shop the male looked pretty nice kind of green and pink. At home though both male and female are like sand color. Yikes I hope they color up.

I'm just wondering if there are different types of Smaragdinas?? I've googled them and looked on websites and some are stunning in color ..blues, greens, reds etc and then others are more like the pair I got.

heres a shot of a bright stunning Smaragdina

and heres more what my male looks like

I'll try and get some pics of my pair tomorrow if they have colored up. I took some tonight of them but because they are not settled in and dont have their color they look nothing like smaragdinas )

 

[BettasRFriends]

I dont know much about wild bettas but here's my opinion. The first picture seems as if the male is building a nest. That might be his spawning coloration while your picture is not a spawning.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

if you'll notice, that second male's ventrals are a lot smaller too. maybe they color up as they grow older.

 

[50000_tears]

he looks like a she..there is a egg spot!

 

[slamster17]

he is a she. she also has breeding stripes

 

[OrkyBetta]

I thnk the 'she' is just a reference of the color of Elizabeth's betta, and not what the gender is. If you look closely it sais it is not a picture.

 

[slamster17]

excellent point orky but the pic is of a she.
and those photographers usually take the photos when their fish is at its best which would be why the male is so brightly colored. he could be displaying. thas when i try to photograph my fish.

 

[Synirr]

I hate to break it to you, but they're not going to look like that first pic most of the time. Those are spawning colours. My imbellis pair were usually sandy tones when relaxing, but when spawning they look amazing. You'll be surprised how dramatically they can change colour during spawning... my male went from pale and sandy with only a few spots of colour to almost completely black with dark, dark green all over.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I hate to break it to you, but they're not going to look like that first pic most of the time. Those are spawning colours. My imbellis pair were usually sandy tones when relaxing, but when spawning they look amazing. You'll be surprised how dramatically they can change colour during spawning... my male went from pale and sandy with only a few spots of colour to almost completely black with dark, dark green all over.

Nope neither of those pictures are of my pair. I didn't even notice that in the second picture the betta was a she ) I was just using it for for color reference like Orkybetta said

Synirr- I guess at least now I know why the male doesn't look like most of the males in pictures. Too bad they wont look like that most of the time though What do you keep your breeding pairs in? Like a 5-10 gallon with heater and filter??

 

[Synirr]

Well my female managed to jump through a 1/2 inch wide hole where the filter met the tank, so I don't have a pair anymore . I am going to try to find a new female though. Their home is a 10 gallon with a HOB filter with the current killed, a heater, some driftwood, and live plants.