# Elephant Ears: Coloring?



## jewelqueen17 (Dec 18, 2014)

IDK if this is really the right section, but I don't think there's really anywhere else, plus it feels kind of chatty and I'm just curious about it. 

So: why do all the elephant ear betta fish I've seen have the exact same (ok, similar) coloring? (Purpley-grey with white-ish- or something like that- finnage?) Like sometimes I'll see variations like a leakage of color into the fins or a piebald style head or something, but they all look kinda the same? Do they come from a certain strain that can't be bred to have another color pattern show up without losing the EE trait or something? How does it work? 

I'm not very familiar with EEs or any of the more exotic/rare/awesome betta kinds  Like I said, just curious. Sorry if this is a dumb question or something, like the kind everybody but me the noob knows.


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

Most EE/Dumbo/Big Ears seem to be "lavender" or "salamander" (Blue/Purple on red), but I have seen light mustard gasses and a gorgeous royal blue boy owned by someone on the forum. 

I think it's because of the original parents of the trait had those genes. Then they keep getting passed down and it's tricky to breed in new colours and keep the big pecs. But I'm no expert. I'll wait to hear what the more experienced breeders have to say.


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## cousiniguana (Apr 3, 2014)

This guy is blue/yellow:

Dumbo


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

That blue and yellow is definitely interesting. My EE is actually teal/sky blue and white. I've seen another betta or two in this color as well. But I was wondering the same thing at first since those are the colors most commonly seen in them.


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## jewelqueen17 (Dec 18, 2014)

Agreed, the blue/yellow is really cool- I wonder how they got that color. Tress- that was really what I was thinking, about the parents having those genes and not being able to breed in new colors. 

Your EE is a teal/blue? Lucky! I wish I had an EE, but..


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

My guess is that EE is an extremely new mutation (its not really a tail type but whatever). It's very possible that breeders are working with a select group of bettas that all just happen to be lavender/blueish. 

My EE is purple (he's the one in my user photo) but I actually really wanted a purple betta and an EE so it worked out perfectly. I have started to see some variety in the EE betta. I've started seeing some gorgeous white and yellow ones. I'm sure with time we'll start to see some other colors. 

When betta splendens first came on to the market, all we had was blue and red veiltails and now look at all the varieties.


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

jewelqueen17 said:


> Agreed, the blue/yellow is really cool- I wonder how they got that color. Tress- that was really what I was thinking, about the parents having those genes and not being able to breed in new colors.
> 
> Your EE is a teal/blue? Lucky! I wish I had an EE, but..


I totally feel lucky to have him. His color combo is my dream. I can't believe I found him in a Petco.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

I have a steel marble EE with white fins








http://bettapack.tumblr.com/post/107189286523/hell-of-a-mislabeled-find-at-petco-ee-marble
http://bettapack.tumblr.com/post/107189374508/more-of-the-new-guy
My thinking is that the mutation probably surfaced in the "salamander" coloration first, and then siblings of that spawn were spawned to try to get the mutation to surface more (hence the problems that some petstore EEs exhibit. I had one with a malformed dorsal, ventral and anal fins.) The coloration was also probably quite striking when it first was produced, so breeders mass-produced it, thus flooding the market with salamanders. Then as they(the salamanders) became super common, more colors are now being strived for to create "the next big ticket thing."


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## Remi (Nov 16, 2014)

If you browse AquaBid you'll see a few more colors for the elephant ears.
I want all of them.


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