Male Marble Crowntail with red wash
Bettas come in almost all the basic colors and even the secondary colors, there are slight variations on hue and contrast on some strains. This article will discuss about the different colors that are available in the market today.
Wild Type
Male Wild Caught Betta
Male Fighter Plakat
Female Wild Caught Betta
Female Fighter Plakat
The wild type colored fish is basically a brownish or black headed fish with red and blue or red and green iridescent fins, this is mostly found on wild caught betta splendens and imbellis, as well as Real Fighters. These fish are the base for all the different color mutations of today, while some others were achieve through crossbreeding with betta imbellis.
Red
Red Halfmoon Plakat, Brian Santos Line
Red Halfmoon Plakat
Female Red Halfmoon Plakat
This color in particular attractive, it can range from the hue of Maroon Red to the quite light orangy red and somewhere in between the two is the Blood red. These are not strain names, only color description. The quality of red depends mainly on bloodline and water quality while the fry were growing up. Too much stress or illness could cause this color to fade into a brownish red or grey. This as my teacher, Brian Santos once said, is the hardest color to maintain when it comes to breeding. Careful selection is needed to maintain a good red blood line, constant inbreeding and outcrossing must be done inorder to maintain the redness of the scales, fins and the head.
Red Dragon Traditional Plakat Sarawut Line
Red Salamander of Brian Santos
Male Red Salamander Halfmoon Plakat
Male Red Dragon Halfmoon Plakat of Banleang Bettas
Now a days Reds also come in a lot of varieties, mostly having bright irridescence on their fins or their bodies like the Dragons and Salamanders. Desireable traits now a days when it comes to red is the extended red characteristic, having red pectoral fins and head with little or no iridescence on the scales and fins.
Blue
This color is divided into three hues and is related to the Turqouise Green, the three variations are Blue, Royal Blue and the Steel. These colors can appear in any of the given three if mated, these are some of the magnificent looking colors of bettas because of its iridescence. Blues come in mask form and black head form, masks have iridescence even on the face.
