# Marble "jumping" gene



## pasoindy (Feb 19, 2012)

I have a question about color, and I thought the breeding forum would be the best place to ask. I bought a Betta from PetCo. He was solid turquoise. The Bettas at my PetCo are actually kept in clean water and fed so their colors were all very sharp. My turqy (ha) was neighbors with a few royal blues, and there were a few other turquoise ones on the shelf. I guess my point is that there were clear color differences between the blues and the turquoise fish.

After about a week in his new digs, Mr. Fish n Chips turned a gorgeous dark teal. You can see it in my avatar pic. His head started to turn black. Now, a week later, he is royal blue with a black head - pretty much like the blue ones at PetCo.
I can add pictures tomorrow to show how he has no turquoise left except a little bit where his tail meets his body.

I found the bettasplendens.com article about the marble gene and the pictorial showing the solid turquoise Betta turning royal blue and then into a red and white marble. So my question is, is this what is happening to my fish? Will he eventually turn red and white or is the end color based on what the parents were? It's really fascinating!


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## spazoid (Feb 23, 2012)

hmm, this sounds like my ct, he is turning black on me and i just got him 4 days ago. trying to figure out whats going on!

do you have a direct link to the article? i went to the site but i only see breeding and names.


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## pasoindy (Feb 19, 2012)

spazoid said:


> hmm, this sounds like my ct, he is turning black on me and i just got him 4 days ago. trying to figure out whats going on!
> 
> do you have a direct link to the article? i went to the site but i only see breeding and names.


Yep!

http://bettysplendens.com/articles/page.imp?articleid=1114


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## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

Marble can change colors, and just because your betta followed a similar initial marbling pattern, doesn't mean it will follow what someone elses betta did. Some bettas marble and stay that way, some bettas marble throughout their lives. 

It sounds more likely that your betta just darkened its color as it got comfortable in it's home. Marbling bettas tend to have scales change color over time and it is very obvious. I got an orange betta that is not covered in teal, black, and white scales, for instance. 

Especially since the fish it shipped with, likely it's siblings, were dark blue, it could have just been maturing into its color or changed when it got healthier. Sick or stressed bettas have paler colors. That said, your betta could marble more, but probably not to red and white, that's pretty unusual. Another thing is that bettas can appear teal in one light, and royal blue in another, because of the layers of iridescence on the scales. I bet if you shine a light on your betta from the side, he will look more teal/green, and if you hold the light right above him, he will look more blue. I hope this is helpful!

If your ct is turning black, spaz, what color was it before? Oftentimes clear or whitish looking betta can turn black once they are in clean, warm water. With blacks especially, stress and cold can almost completely drain them of color.


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## pasoindy (Feb 19, 2012)

GreenTea said:


> Marble can change colors, and just because your betta followed a similar initial marbling pattern, doesn't mean it will follow what someone elses betta did. Some bettas marble and stay that way, some bettas marble throughout their lives.
> 
> It sounds more likely that your betta just darkened its color as it got comfortable in it's home. Marbling bettas tend to have scales change color over time and it is very obvious. I got an orange betta that is not covered in teal, black, and white scales, for instance.
> 
> ...


Originally I thought it might be the light, but he's been under the same light until last Thursday when my husband put a big LED light on top of his tank temporarily. But he'd already turned blue before that. I have pics from the first day and he's light teal, then a few days later dark teal and his head started darkening. He started turning blue a week ago and is now solid blue with a black head. With the big light kit on, he's definitely royal blue now. I did shine a bright light on him when I noticed him turning, and he was almost entirely blue except for his tail. Now the turquoise on his tail is almost gone.

So maybe he was supposed to be blue, but it's pretty cool to watch him change. I've never had a fish actually change color before other than the washed out color of a sick fish.
None of the Bettas were washed out in the store, and it was hard to pick. I originally picked up one of the blue ones to take home, but when I saw the little turquoise guy, I thought he was prettier. He was also more responsive to me and stared at me instead of trying to hide at the far side of his cup.


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## pasoindy (Feb 19, 2012)

Ok, here are three pics of him taken over the course of this month.

This one is a couple days after I got him:









A few days later:









And today:









Neat!!


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## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

Yeah he's pretty. I think his color deepened and changed as he grew in a healthier environment. His ventrals are still red which is what makes me think he is not a marble. You'll just have to watch and see if he changes more!


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## Tisia (Mar 15, 2011)

yeah, you can see in the 2 newer pics how much more he's spreading his fins than in the first. he might have been getting good care before, but who doesn't appreciate the chance to stretch out and have room after being stuck in a small space for a while, lol. great job on taking care of your little guy 

and just a note, if those are live plants which is what they look like, a couple of them aren't fully aquatic. not sure what the other plant is but I know the bamboo and ribbon plant aren't, so you'll need to watch for them starting to rot.


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## pasoindy (Feb 19, 2012)

Tisia said:


> yeah, you can see in the 2 newer pics how much more he's spreading his fins than in the first. he might have been getting good care before, but who doesn't appreciate the chance to stretch out and have room after being stuck in a small space for a while, lol. great job on taking care of your little guy
> 
> and just a note, if those are live plants which is what they look like, a couple of them aren't fully aquatic. not sure what the other plant is but I know the bamboo and ribbon plant aren't, so you'll need to watch for them starting to rot.


Yeah, those plants are gone. PetCo and Petsmart are awful about selling those. Unfortunately, they were bundled with 2 plants I wanted that they didn't have separate. At least they were on sale.
I put them in so he'd have something to sleep on until I got some better plants online. He really liked that stupid green and white one - Dracaena, I think.

Thanks for the compliments. He's a cute little bugger.

Here he is in his condo. It has a temporary light kit from our bigger tank on it because my Hygrophila wasn't doing well with just the Edge light kit.


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## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

Nice looking tank!


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## pasoindy (Feb 19, 2012)

GreenTea said:


> Nice looking tank!


Thanks, I like my Toucan addition best. He seems to like it.


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## spazoid (Feb 23, 2012)

thanks for the link pasoindy!



GreenTea said:


> If your ct is turning black, spaz, what color was it before? Oftentimes clear or whitish looking betta can turn black once they are in clean, warm water. With blacks especially, stress and cold can almost completely drain them of color.


he looked like pasoindy's, more light blue than teal in the store, different lightning im sure. his head was gray at first and has turned black. he is very active and has healthy eating habits. he is my first betta so i was a little over paranoid but helpful people here told me he's normal :0) my cam on my phone isn't all that great but eh, it works. even today he is a little deeper blue than the last pic.

2/22 - first day in his new home - http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/542/img20120222200308.jpg/
2/26 - http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/842/img20120225190623.jpg/


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