Smallest Betta I Have Ever Seen, And Purchased! With Pictures!

[keithp]

I had to buy this betta, it has to be the smallest betta I have ever seen sold, no doubt about it! She is so small I thought she was a young guppy when I first saw her, I was going to say to the store what type of joke are they pulling! She is special and as far as I can tell is an adult, though she needs some good food and clean water now. I could only find a 2 gallon plastic tank with a cover for her when I wanted a glass tank, but it should be ok as long as I do weekly water changes.

I saw some really nice bettas today, a solid green crowntail male (yes, pure green!), a solid banana-yellow female betta, and a red/white/blue marble female (gorgeous), but this betta won for her size alone!

I measured her in inches and she is about half an inch as far as I can tell, I compared her to my other female betta which is 1 1/2 inches, and I thought she was small, this new betta is half her size!

Can anyone tell me if it's normal to find a betta this small, could she be a dwarf? She isnt a simplex/splendens cross is she?

 

[Mikaila31]

Nope I bet she is just young. she will grow up with time.

 

[Kitty_Nin]

She's quite pretty! What a cutie.

 

[keithp]

Nope I bet she is just young. she will grow up with time.

I'm no expert, but to me she seems like she was sold too early if that is true, she cant even eat a betta pellet, I have to crush it!

 

[keithp]

If she is an older fry, (never raised bettas so not sure what age she is), should I be feeding her more often than an adult? I have been feeding her 1 bloodworm a day since she is so small, any more and her stomach bulges you know.

 

[fry_forever!]

Well, if she is a younger betta, you should probably feed her twice a day, in smaller amounts. (A smaller bloodworm, for example.) I feed my betta fry a couple times a day in small amounts, but then again, they are only a couple days old, so it could be different since your betta is definitely not a newly free-swimming fry.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi keithp

She's a real doll!

I'd agree with multiple feedings too.

 

[loraxchick]

ive rescued 2 bettas from a similar situation. the store has no buisness selling such young bettas. as you said, they cant even manage to eat the pellets they feed them at the store, they are so small.
i agree with the above. feed her 1 bloodworm twice a day. best to feed them lots of protein while they grow. BUT, try to mix in some crushed pellets from time to time. or else you might find that when she IS large enough to eat them whole, she wont want them becasue she's used to eating yummy bloodworms all the time. just a suggestion.
best of luck with your new gal. shes very pretty!
cheers

 

[Forestpisces]

She is a nipper aint she! Got two of mine at roughly that size and i agree with multiple feedings

 

[keithp]

Thanks for the advice, yes I agree way to young to be sold at this age! But got some bad news, I noticed she has some ich and something white and fleshy right under her gills, I started a small treatment with mardel-maracide, and the next day she is looking ill. I'm going to make another thread about it, but I dont want her to die, poor thing was so stressed from shipment I bet she got sick!

 

[keithp]

Thanks for the advice, yes I agree way to young to be sold at this age! But got some bad news, I noticed she has some ich and something white and fleshy right under her gills, I started a small treatment with mardel-maracide, and the next day she is looking ill. I'm going to make another thread about it, but I dont want her to die, poor thing was so stressed from shipment I bet she got sick!

She is doing SO much better! Her tail which was missing a small part is already healed and growing back, her color is improving, she eats like a pig, is very active, and not looking sick anymore. She still shows stress stripes, but the tank next to her has a mature female, so mabye that is why? I decided to name her guppy, because that's what I thought she was when I first glanced at her.

 

[betta fish]

Looks like a juvi male to me, still too young to tell for sure, glad he/she is on the mend

 

[keithp]

How long will I have to wait until he/she is fully grown? The female in the tank next to him/her never displays breeding bars, but would a female display these to a immature male? I'm sure she knows if it's a he/she.

 

[betta fish]

How long will I have to wait until he/she is fully grown? The female in the tank next to him/her never displays breeding bars, but would a female display these to a immature male? I'm sure she knows if it's a he/she.

No he is not mature enough to entice a female to display breeding bars, she will most likely see him as food than anything else!

I would say as long as he/she is kept seperate from other bettas with regular water changes in a fairly large space with regular feeding growth should be fairly rapid, from about 3 to 4 months from now the fish should be fully grown.

 

[keithp]

How long will I have to wait until he/she is fully grown? The female in the tank next to him/her never displays breeding bars, but would a female display these to a immature male? I'm sure she knows if it's a he/she.

No he is not mature enough to entice a female to display breeding bars, she will most likely see him as food than anything else!

I would say as long as he/she is kept seperate from other bettas with regular water changes in a fairly large space with regular feeding growth should be fairly rapid, from about 3 to 4 months from now the fish should be fully grown.

Ok sounds good! Yeah i bet partly why he/she was so sick in the pet store was from lack of regular feedings and not to mention they pellets they used were too big for the betta to eat, it would have starved for sure! It's eating good now though I feed it twice a day.