# Normal for bettas to change color?



## Psylk87 (Apr 18, 2012)

I am new to bettas and when I first got my boy he was the the blue in my avatar. Well he is still blue but his head and front half of his body has darkened up A LOT like his head is almost black and then its kind of a gradient from there. 

Is it normal for Bettas to change color? Should I be concerned? Is he just maturing? The board seemed to think he was fairly young... 

Help? lol


----------



## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

It's fairly common for them to change color - especially if you just got him. In the petshop they are stressed out and cold but once they get into a nice warm tank most usually color up. I had one girl i picked because she had no color and was still very young. I kept her in her cup on my dresser while i tried to figure out where to put her and when i went to put her in a tank like 20 minutes later she was blood red in color :shock:. 

There is also something called the marble gene which causes bettas to literally change color. Normally its white bettas that get darker but dark bettas can also turn lighter

Is your guy acting normal - still eating and isn't lethargic? he is probably just happy but keep an eye on him just in case


----------



## ravenwinds (Feb 5, 2012)

Very true....I've read many stories on this site alone about bettas drastically changing color. One of my bettas turned from a pale white/skin color to a dark blue butterfly Delta Tail...also changed from a female plakat to a male DeT....the marble gene sometimes will drastically change color.

It sounds like your boy is darkening due to maturity....they reach sexual maturity long before they are full grown...a very common blue is what you are describing with the nearly black head and dark blue the rest of body...too bad because I really like the blue of your avatar!


----------



## Foisair (Aug 3, 2011)

My delta tail boy Beast ended up being a marble. He started out with a little more white than my avatar and now he's completely dark blue with a black head. It's really neat to watch them change but I kind of miss the white.


----------



## Domino (Dec 29, 2011)

When I first got Logan, he was a sickly pale yellow, but after swimming around in a 5 gallon tank for a while, he turned deep orange.


----------



## True Indigo (Mar 22, 2012)

It's definitely possible. When I got my betta (pictured), he was primarily red with a little tiny bit of aqua-blue on his top fin. Now half his body is aqua-blue and some of his fins have blue edges to them. He has even more blue now than you see in the picture.


----------



## Bethydan (Mar 22, 2012)

I love that name, True Indigo. :-D You should get an orange betta now and name it Magikarp.


----------



## True Indigo (Mar 22, 2012)

Hahaha, thanks. It made more sense when I got him. He was very feisty and would thrash around whenever I got near. He was more red than he is now and it reminded me of the Red Gyarados from the game. Hahaha.

Maybe I'll get an orange plakat and name it Magikarp. Haha. XD Glad you like the name though!


----------



## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

Armand is a lot darker blue in the body now than he was in my avatar. He's a beautiful royal blue now, it's still a bit marbled. His head is still pale and his fins haven't changed. 

He was spawned last December, so I am guessing he will continue to change colour as he matures. I'm not sure what age they mature at, but he's still pretty small.


----------



## Sivan (Aug 30, 2010)

Young bettas generally develop their colors as they get older, which changes what they look like in terms of color. If they are in poor conditions they turn pale, which is a cause for concern. If your betta pales it is important to find out why.


----------



## ShermanTheBetta (Jan 28, 2015)

When I got my betta (about two weeks ago) he was a pale blue now his head is black and he has shimmery green and blue fins! Oh and I named him last week his name is Sherman


----------



## Twstdtink (Apr 12, 2016)

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. Our betta, Sunny, changed color in the last 9 days and I was concerned. It was nice to find this thread and see that this is a common occurrence. In the picture, you can see Sunny was a shimmery turquoise with red accents on the 8th (when we got him from Petco). Now he's a pretty royal blue with red accents. Since he's still quite young, I'm excited to see where his coloring ends up. Anyone else want to share photos of their Betta transformations?


----------

