Meet the Mama Betta: Miss Lizzy. Here she is enjoying her new habitat, just after giving birth to 30 some offspring. She bounced back quickly! Mr Darcy took a nip at her tail in their courtship, and she’s still on the mend. So far, Mr. Darcy and Mrs. Elizabeth have remained apart after the
initial mating. We still haven’t made a final choice about their final
living arrangements once the babies are done with the big tank. Her new quarters are kept up nicely by Madame Cheng…the golden snail that my kids named after a famous pirate.The glass is pretty wavy in the top photo, but you can tell that Miss Lizzy is mostly bright blue, with a black face. Now, we were told by the guy at the pet store that the Male Betta fish are much prettier than the females. While their fins are much showier in many cases, we think Miss LIzzy is really lovely in her own right.And what’s really cool is that she can show you how she feels! In the first photo, she’s happily swimming around in her home. This next photo was taken on the Friday morning after she came to live with us. Mr. Darcy had created his bubble nest, and was letting her know that he was interested.
initial mating. We still haven’t made a final choice about their final
living arrangements once the babies are done with the big tank. Her new quarters are kept up nicely by Madame Cheng…the golden snail that my kids named after a famous pirate.The glass is pretty wavy in the top photo, but you can tell that Miss Lizzy is mostly bright blue, with a black face. Now, we were told by the guy at the pet store that the Male Betta fish are much prettier than the females. While their fins are much showier in many cases, we think Miss LIzzy is really lovely in her own right.And what’s really cool is that she can show you how she feels! In the first photo, she’s happily swimming around in her home. This next photo was taken on the Friday morning after she came to live with us. Mr. Darcy had created his bubble nest, and was letting her know that he was interested.
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See the red coloration and brighter colors here? And the really cool thing is that she showing vertical stripes to let Mr. Darcy know that she, too, is willing to dance.One of the other aspects of Betta fish that we’ve enjoyed a lot is how social they are. I’ve been around a good number of aquariums, and fish are generally not interested in the presence of humans. Bettas seem to be different. In the photo below, she swam right up to my camera lens and was looking out at me.
Notice the horizontal stripes going down her sides? My daughter had
just moved the tank in by the window to take these photos, and Miss
Lizzy was rather nervous about this. Horizontal stripes tell you that
she’s stressed. Pretty cool, huh? She calmed down quickly after investigating the camera and swimming a few laps around her bowl.Lizzy also has two little pointy fins that point straight down as a way to balance herself, or fold up under her. We’ve noticed that these seem to change color from a dark grey to red. It’s fun to observe her behavior and coloring signals as we learn all about our beautiful new pets!I wish I could offer a Betta baby to my readers…they are SO fun and easy to care for. If you live locally, let me know if you’d like to adopt one!
just moved the tank in by the window to take these photos, and Miss
Lizzy was rather nervous about this. Horizontal stripes tell you that
she’s stressed. Pretty cool, huh? She calmed down quickly after investigating the camera and swimming a few laps around her bowl.Lizzy also has two little pointy fins that point straight down as a way to balance herself, or fold up under her. We’ve noticed that these seem to change color from a dark grey to red. It’s fun to observe her behavior and coloring signals as we learn all about our beautiful new pets!I wish I could offer a Betta baby to my readers…they are SO fun and easy to care for. If you live locally, let me know if you’d like to adopt one!
Another reason not to trust anything pet store employees say..
Females can be just as brightly colored as males, they can match them perfectly for color, hue, spots and other markings. People who don’t know anything about Betta fish will say the females are dull in color, or, not as brightly colored or as active or pretty. They are the same as males, in fact, they are more active than males (aside from the Plakat types) because they have those lovely shorter fins and can zip through the water much faster. Since males have long flowing fins they have a lot of drag though the water and this can tire them out and slow them down much faster than the females.
Great to know, Nicole! We’ve found some empolyees that are pretty passionate about fish as their hobby, but that’s the best you can expect from a big box pet store. 🙂 We did a lot of online reading from breeders here in the US an in Japan after the betas mated.