The Shrinking Bettas

[GuppyDude]

Bettas have long been bred for size, particularly the large variety, but it appears that lfs are now selling minature bettas. while they are not being sold under that name, they do appear to be about half teh size of an average betta fish. im am thinking of purchaseing one of these fish to see if they are accually minature, or just very young. the males had the full finage of an adult, and some even have curls on the ends of their tail fins which iv heard means that the betta is over a year old and a full grown adult. has anyone else seen fish like these, or noticed a drop in the avergae size of adult betta fish?

 

[OrkyBetta]

I've seen them. Haven't seen a mini vt, but I saw a whole bunch of mini delta tails, even bought one. Unfortunately they don't seem to live long, and I belive he is what brought some strange disease to my divided tank. It kinda looked like he outgrew his body internally.

 

[RandomWiktor]

I've seen some pretty small bettas out there as well; I'm not sure if they are being intentionally bred to better fit in small containers, or if they are undersized due to poor nutrition by the types of breeders who are willing to sell and breed VTs. I saw a female in a store yesterday who had full fins, a prominent oviduct, and looked ready to give eggs, and she couldn't have been even an inch long; her size reminded me of the neons in the store. I also used to have a very tiny male, though he was odd in that his fins were ridiculously huge; think about 3/4 the size of a normal betta with about 1 and 3/4 the fins. He had a lot of trouble swimming from it; couldn't have ANY current.

 

[GuppyDude]

bettas were not built to have large fins to begin with, even full sized bettas with larger fins have troubel swimming, just dont have the right body structure, i cant imagine a betta with big fins and a small body being able to survive

 

[afireinside]

Mini Bettas? Sounds cool!

 

[GuppyDude]

it would be cool, but it sunds like its not being done right, the fish dont appear to live long. maybe if a professional breeder was able to take on such a project it would work.

 

[riogal_11]

I got a new DT and delta this week and noted in a previous thread that they appeared very young. So, now I am not so sure that they are young, maybe they are just smaller. their fins aren't abormally large compared to their bodies, so that's why I assumed they were just youngins. So I guess we will see how much bigger(if at all) that they get.

 

[lljdma06]

it would be cool, but it sunds like its not being done right, the fish dont appear to live long. maybe if a professional breeder was able to take on such a project it would work.

[snapback]891945[/snapback]​

Perhaps if these smaller bettas were bred to have plakat fins, it would work better, as they would have less to carry around. My HMs are on the smallish end, but their fins are proportionate, so I think they're just on the small end and not miniature. I don't know about making bettas any smaller, though, I like my bettas big!

Next thing you know they'll breed a betta that likes to swim in schools.

 

[wwestar2000]

Next thing you know they'll breed a betta that likes to swim in schools.

[snapback]891952[/snapback]​

A school of male bettas would be maybe one of the most buetiful things in this world in my eyes. Imagine it.

 

[GuppyDude]

now that i think about it, maybe these fish arnt being bred to be smaller, they just arnt getting the right nutrition while their young, this would caus ethem to be stunted and live short lives.

and a school of male bettas would be nice, but bettas have long been bred for aggression as well as size, that anti-solcial attitude is ingrained pretty deep in them, could probably make it so that can live together, but schooling is a stretch

 

[Synirr]

They're probably just young... curling at the ends of the fins can be caused by poor water quality as well as age. My little Yura was very small when I got him but already had full finnage (he has since grown to full size,) and the new DT I got is only about an inch long not counting the fins.

 

[GuppyDude]

but teh places that sell bettas used to sell them alot bigger, i have reason to belive that the fish arnt changing in age but are just not being cared for as they should be by breeders, maybe just being mass prouduced for profit...

 

[Synirr]

PetSmart usually sells bettas a lot bigger too, but I still got Yura there. Veiltails are definitely just being mass produced for profit, but I think the change in size/age probably has to do with the supplier wanting to move fish as quickly as possible, or the store ordering fish when the supplier is lacking in older bettas.

 

[SRC]

The curls are propbably from bad water conditions.

The size is probably from being kept in too small of a grow out tank.

Remember Kelly talking about the fry need a large tank to grow out in because they produce hormones (might have been another word she used, but I'm too lazy to go look and find it right now lol...still eating breakfast hehe) into the water, which stunt the growth of the siblings..which is caused by each fry trying to be the biggest and survive.

 

[OohFeeshy]

The word was pheremones SRC

It might be a good idea to ask the shop about them, maybe mention the curling caused by bad water quality.