# Color enhancing pellets... for platinum white betta?



## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

Hello all, I am new here and very new to betta and fish keeping in general. Im expecting a platinum white HM male to arrive at my door any day now, I bought it on aquabid and its being shipped from Thailand.  I already have his purely black-and-white themed tank set up and everything is ready.

All thats left is the food, and im at a loss at what to get. Almost every commercial betta food has "color enhancer" stamped on it, but I don't want any kind of colors on my pure white betta. It would ruin the whole black and white zen theme I have going. 

My real question is though, will "color enhancing" betta pellets bring out colors other than white on my platinum white betta? What are safe pellets to get that wont change my bettas color? Thanks to all that reply!


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

Pellets won't change a fish's color. They just give them the proper nutrients to shine. I personally use New Life Spectrum Small Fish Formula. Teeny pellets. 

I do think your fish may color up either way. Getting a pure white fish is pretty rare.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

+1 to haveyouhadyourteayet, can you post a pic of your fish so we can let you know if he'll change or not?


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## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

I use Omega One. IMO it's a better size than the Small Fish for an adult male betta.


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## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

I don't have him yet, but here is his picture from the auction I got him from, he is gorgeous:










I hope he will keep his shiny white color! How can you tell if he might not?
I saw the omega one pellets over at petco, but I wrote them off as not good because I saw that it had artificial coloring. Is this not a bad thing for bettas?


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

Oh wow that's a white fish!! 

A lot of people get a fish like this:
http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mNR-yVrDzcvDy4h6q9A8uiA.jpg
And think it's a white betta. The fish in the link will turn blue eventually. 

Yours might actually stay white...


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

It's a platinum white, so it will stay white for the rest of its life. 

I would just go with a high quality pellet like new life spectrum or omega one (though, due to the high salmon content, omega one *may* bring out a pink tinge).


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

+1 to Matt


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## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

I'll definitely go out and look for those two when I get it! My little guy is being delivered today! 
I just ran into a problem however... I thought that by now my water quality would be fine, I've had his tank set up for at least two weeks now, but the PH is really high. I've been adding water conditioner, aquasafe/easybalance, doing water changes, but it doesn't seem to be working for the PH. I don't want to put him in and have him instantly die, what do I do?


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## JDragon (Jan 28, 2014)

A constant ph, high or not, is better than fluctuating with chemicals or anything of the like. Just acclimate properly and you should be fine.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

+1 to J, just acclimate him for at least an hour if not more. You can test the pH of the water coming in but he should be fine as long as you acclimate well and long. I particularly like Drip Acclimation, if you haven't heard of it; google it and you'll see how easy it is to do


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## mart (Dec 18, 2013)

Matt is right, it is a Platinum. I have one also. He was only 3.5 months when I got him, and you could see his veins in his tail, but after he got older they went away.
Actually I ordered a Snow White, but the guy sent me the wrong one. Then he said I could send it back, but wasn't going to put Gideon through that.
I just feed mine the NLS for small fish.


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## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

My betta arrived... however I am very disappointed because he arrived dead... When I unpackaged him, the bag and water he was in was a pure brown/yellow color. The betta himself also had a yellow tinge to him that I didn't see in his pictures. When I opened the bag to see if there was any chance of him still being alive, it smelled so foul I almost threw up... He must have been dead for days. One other thing I noted is that he was shipped with a heating pad, and everything inside was hot to the touch.

I'm so crushed I don't think I even want to try again.  I've emailed both the seller and the transhipper the details, and also attached pictures of the unopened bag plus the fish out of the bag. I'm not confident that they'll do anything about it though because I went priority.


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

They should either replace or refund him  
I'm so sorry to hear that, it's always a gamble with imports. 
I believe there are some reputable sellers in the states, which makes things a little less risky.


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## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

Well good news, the seller responded pretty quickly and they will send me a replacement.Im just awaiting pictures of the new fish now.

I'm hoping that they'll take extra precautions this time. I could have sworn that it stated on the transhippers website that they will rebag the fish if the water looks dirty, but I guess who knows how long it really took for the water to get like that... Any suggestions?


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

Well if a fish dies in water it gets hella gross really fast. Like within hours I think. 

Sadly it's rare to get a equally quality fish as a replacement...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, it only takes a few hours for the water to get fouled like that. Sorry about the boy but they do generally send one of equal value since you did pay for the fish and the death was not your fault! What transshipper are you using?


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## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

I'm using Jess from Miami, FL as my transhipper. Don't know if you guys are familiar with them. They seem to be easy to work with and so far I'm fairly satisfied, as I am with the seller arnatbetta for their willingness to send a replacement even though I went priority.

The water getting foul within hours is something I didn't know, now I feel bad for nearly blaming the transhipper for not changing it. I'm thinking of going express mail this time to ensure this doesnt happen again... But gosh I'm spending so much money on this little betta. So far its been around $50 including the shipping, and its about to be more for the second go around.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Sorry for the DOA, first of all. Opening the box to a dead fish is never fun. 

The transhipper may or may not have changed it, however I can guarantee you that the water was much cleaner before the fish died- like others have said decomposition begins immediately after death and the water gets nasty quickly. 

You may want to consider express next time, it's more expensive but worth it in my opinion.


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## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

Yeah, like I said, im considering going express after that.

Another thing im considering is starting over and getting a whole new tank. I was originally going to use just a little 2G, and he would be the only fish. Now im thinking of going 5G or 10G and adding some others that would go with the black and white theme. Would I be able to add in a couple of mollies and platies later on, or should I add them before the betta (if they can even go together?) 

I've heard that male bettas can in fact live together with a few other fish, just not entirely clear on what. I've also heard that the general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon, could I get some clarification?

I have until May 12th at least to get everything set up, but im going on a trip and coming back on the 30th of this month, so I should have some time to establish a new bigger aquarium before my new betta arrives, right?


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## MantisFTW (Apr 17, 2014)

I went ahead and made a new thread since this one is pretty off-topic now, and I'd like to get more input on the new tank situation.  New thread: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=384746


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