# What to look for when choosing a new Betta



## Agility4fun (Nov 16, 2012)

I couldn't find this in other threads.

What should you look for when choosing a new Betta?

Activity level?
Color?
Size?
Type/style?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

It should react to you and you should like the look they change color and activity when they are in good tanks.


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

What should you look for when choosing a new Betta? answers in green are JMHO

Activity level?Yes. Even if they are just resting, they should be active when you pick up the cup. I would hesitate to buy an inactive betta laying on its side or all clamped up (unless I was going to rescue it and rehab it.)

Color?Color is secondary to health but still a big part of my choosing. I like unique! Elephant ears, dragon scales, marbles, now with Stumpy I just went for his bizarre-ness :lol:

Size?Matters not to me. Altho I would love a king/giant betta with pretty colors someday.

Type/style?I ended up with a variety of tails and types but this wasn't as important as health and color.

HTH!


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

I -always- go for activity, in that they respond, like Choclate said. It's the only time I appreciate getting flared at ;-)
Also, choose a color you like, and a fin-type you like. I'm not partial to those double-tailed ones - they creep me out, so obviously I wouldn't love it like my loves.
But on top of that, make sure they're not deformed! This is -really- important of pet-store bettas, and fish in general.
Size is not really important, but they should be well-proportioned. Some have big heads and short bodies, others have outrageous fins and bodies too small to really hold them up. 
Curled fins won't ever straighten out, so choose whether or not to accept those, and oftentimes, they'll have mismatched "arm-fins" (I forgot the proper name like 12 seconds ago!). 
Check for kinked spines and funny eyes (I've seen some weird things with fishes' eyes in pet shops) and anything else you can think of, then make a rational decision, 'cause there's nothing worse than having them die in a week, or never really perk up to having their own home.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I just want to point out color can change significantly when bought they really color up.


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> I just want to point out color can change significantly when bought they really color up.


Totally. I bought a "silver" (he was grey, really) who turned a brilliant shade of lavender/rose... Unfortunately, he jumped his bowl, going after flies, I think. I thought that the plants in it would discourage that, and honestly, I had never had a jumper before him, so didn't really put too much paranoia into it. But then, he was plakat, and I usually keep half-moons. I suppose it's easier to jump without those huge fins dragging you down...?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

All bettas should have lids and it sounds like a small bowl.


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> All bettas should have lids and it sounds like a small bowl.


  I know that now. I have learned my lesson, I assure you. Although, I don't use lids, per se, I actually have mesh or cloth over them.
And it wasn't a small bowl, at all. Admittedly, I was looking for something bigger (I did point out that he was a rescue, along with my brown "HM") but -none- of my bettas spend more than the requisite 15-20 minutes in those ridiculous cups, and nobody gets less than 2 gallons, ever. That plakat was being temporarily housed in a shallowish 2.5 gallon container, because I immediately found out that he was going to scare the HM to death through the divider.
I did end up moving the brown into a smaller bowl (covered!) though, as he didn't seem very comfortable in the tank. I have a female that did the same thing... They just sat cowering in a corner and barely eating. Now they're both in 2 gallons (apprx) and happy as clams.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I only have a delta tail.


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## LittleBlueFishlets (Nov 10, 2012)

Well, I'm a newbie about this, but I looked for:

Color first: Because I like color. So I only looked at brightly colored fish, and the more blue they had, the better. :-D

Health/Activity level second: Once I narrowed the assortment down to blue, I looked for something that was healthy looking. 

Size and type/style was last.

But as I said, I'm a newbie. If you ask some of the others, they'll probably be able to tell you more about conformation, body shape and size, etc.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

When I bought Carter I just picked the one I liked.


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## LittleBlueFishlets (Nov 10, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> I just want to point out color can change significantly when bought they really color up.


This is true. I was surprised at how much my female's color brightened up, and at how quickly it happened.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Chocolates seem the same color as they are in a tank as the cups.


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> I only have a delta tail.


I really want a Delta, but even though I've seen them _labelled _as Deltas, I've never actually seen one that was _really_ a Delta.
And, actually, that's ever been a problem with these local pet stores! The way they just toss names out is ridiculous, especially when they charge differently by fin type!


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

LittleBlueFishlets said:


> Well, I'm a newbie about this, but I looked for:
> 
> Color first: Because I like color. So I only looked at brightly colored fish, and the more blue they had, the better. :-D
> 
> Health/Activity level second: Once I narrowed the assortment down to blue, I looked for something that was healthy looking.


I'm a bit of a blue girl myself. :tongue:

I have a male royal blue/melano/lace, a female turquoise "wild type" and a female steel (?)
My very first was a walmart royal blue VT, way back when we first got a walmart


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Are you sure it is wild type or dull?


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

well, before i go in the store i have a general idea of what i'd like to find, and reasonable parameters for how much i'd be willing to vary on that desire. for instance, if i'm looking for a mustard gas HMPK, i'll also be checking out any HMPK's that are either blue OR yellow, rather than the MG combination, as well as looking for MG's in other tail types.

after i've found one that's who i'm looking for in terms of finnage and color, i try to gauge their general health. i look to see if he's active, swimming straight-and-true, any visible fin or scale damage, fungus etc.

if he checks out as a healthy fish, i get an idea of his personality. will he follow my finger around the cup? does he swim towards me or away from me when i look at him? does he generally seem like the kind of fish who'd be something of a companion, rather than just a little scaly dude who lives in a watery box in my apartment?

if he's good on all three, i beg my fiance to let me set up another tank. once she accedes to me, i have a new fishy friend.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Some at our pet store are on there side when you pick the cup up they act normal. Home see you got a new avatar no offense but I liked your old one better.


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> Are you sure it is wild type or dull?


That's why I put it in quotations. I think that she's a hybrid...


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

All domestic bettas are hybrids.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

ChoclateBetta said:


> All domestic bettas are hybrids.


i think the point was, a hybrid between a domesticated and a wild splendens, or a splendens to imbellis hybridisation (sometimes used to increase metallic tones in domesticated splendens.)


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Domestic Bettas are B.Splendens, B.Imbellis, and B.Smarginia.


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## Chuckee (Nov 17, 2012)

homegrown terror said:


> i think the point was, a hybrid between a domesticated and a wild splendens, or a splendens to imbellis hybridisation (sometimes used to increase metallic tones in domesticated splendens.)


I honestly think VT Splendens and Imbellis. I'm not an expert or anything, but what I have observed has led to this tentative conclusion.

@Choclate: Almost every domesticated species (including, IMHO, humans) is a hybrid, and if you wanna get technical, I'm pretty sure that every species, period, is. But for the sake of every day conversation, the simplification of the term is how I use it, because those types of technicalities are literally black holes that have stolen much of my life


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Not all humans only 4 percent of the Eurasian genome comes from neodrpthals. Cows, pigs, and Guppies are not hybrids although cows were crossed with different subspecies so I am not being technical.


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## Rockandrollgirl09 (Oct 22, 2012)

When I pick out a betta I look for one that appears to be healthy and actively swimming around. All of my bettas I got who were in desperate need of help. I feel that when you are a true betta person you dont pick your betta the betta picks you. With all of my bettas they were ones that I was drawn to out of everyone there I saw them. They looked at me with those eyes and I knew that they chose me to take them home. I firmly believe that you know when that is the betta that you are meant to have.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

When I visit the pet store all are the perfect choice every ounce and a while a few sick ones but most active, diverse in colors, diverse in fin types, and healthy/respond well. When I bought Carter he was already perked up.


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