# My new baby shimmery betta! (lots of pictures)



## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

Hey guys! 

I'm going through a tough time right now.. my boyfriend (who lives with me) of 6 years dumped me... and is still living with me until he finds a new place.. at least I don't have to pay all the rent.. 



On top of all that crud, my rescue Charcoal suddenly died. 


I went out for some retail therapy and came home with this ADORABLE little baby betta. 

I have him/her in a medium heated kritter keeper with a fake plant for now. 

He/she has been eating frozen daphnia like a champ and I have some NLS fry food coming in the mail. 

I'm still working on a name, but I'm thinking I'll name it after an antibiotic! (I'm a microbiologist).

Here are some pictures!! Does anyone have any insight on gender? I wish I got the pretty eyes more in focus, this fish is feisty! 






[URL=http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/rmarkham66/media/DSC_0963_zpscc2842f7.jpg.html]


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## Sabina88 (Aug 24, 2013)

It almost looks like (s)he got dipped in fish glitter lol
So cute


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Absolutely adorable! My vote is on a Blue/Red Wash Male DTPK only because of the shorter anal fin. The eyes say male to me since they are bigger (a small rule of thumb is male eyes are larger than female eyes. Not always true but in most cases it is), but since the anal fin IS so short, it could also be a regular Female DT but I'm still voting Male ^_^ A size comparison would help though to see how far along he/she is and would help the further judge; like if it's older and still has these short of fins, it would probably be female but as of yet, I see no ovaries.


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Absolutely adorable! My vote is on a Blue/Red Wash Male DTPK only because of the shorter anal fin. The eyes say male to me since they are bigger (a small rule of thumb is male eyes are larger than female eyes. Not always true but in most cases it is), but since the anal fin IS so short, it could also be a regular Female DT but I'm still voting Male ^_^ A size comparison would help though to see how far along he/she is and would help the further judge; like if it's older and still has these short of fins, it would probably be female but as of yet, I see no ovaries.




Could you share an example of a red/blue wash? Do you think he'll keep the white body? 

Is this picture enough of a size reference? If not I can take another one!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

If that's a 25W heater in the background, then yes lol. Yes, definitely voting a He DTPK thus far.

His body isn't white actually, it's pale at the moment as all babies are when they are young. The "stress" stripes aren't for stress but in this case they are baby stripes used to camouflage in with his surroundings. The ice blue on him will darken with age and he'll turn to a regular blue boy with the red wash over his fins. I'll see if I can find a picture.

Like this but he'll have the red on all his fins most likely http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ures/displayimage.php?imageid=7542&original=1

The classic blue/red Betta basically, nothing super fancy; http://media.independent.com/img/cr....jpg?6626f76dcd72edc2e28f46812c7026450162bdb2

See how the red looks like it's washed over or laid on top of the blue? That's a "wash" there can also be a yellow wash but only those two because of the way the colors work as far as I'm aware. 

My sole "baby" came like this


And now looks like this...well sort of. He was younger at this point but showing you his colors, his fins have grown muuuuuch more since that pic about a month and a half ago.


My other baby Steve (SIP) started out much like your boy


and turned into this before he passed. May PetCo babies don't make it passed the year, I'm not saying that all babies don't but it's not unusual for them to pass before their year with you. Unless you are luck to have gotten them when the shipment just came in and they didn't spend a week or more in those nasty little cups. But it's a huge trauma for them to be shipped as well.


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> If that's a 25W heater in the background, then yes lol. Yes, definitely voting a He DTPK thus far.
> 
> His body isn't white actually, it's pale at the moment as all babies are when they are young. The "stress" stripes aren't for stress but in this case they are baby stripes used to camouflage in with his surroundings. The ice blue on him will darken with age and he'll turn to a regular blue boy with the red wash over his fins. I'll see if I can find a picture.
> 
> ...



Very interesting!! 

It's actually a 50w heater if that makes any difference. 

I wonder if he'll end up looking like my red/blue boy Meropenem


Mero was a rescue and had a pale blue body at first.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Wow that's a teeny tiny Baby! lol. It's been a while since I've had tiny babies, they've all since grown up haha.

I doubt the baby will be like Mero, Mero is also a Dragonscale but not only is he not Blue, he's a true green! A Turquoise as some call the Betta's who look green without lighting/under flash and blue under normal lights. The baby won't have as defined red fins but just simply a wash over top. Sorry, don't mean to be a debbie downer, I'm sure he's still going to turn out amazing! He's already adorable with his little DT!


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## rmarkham (Oct 4, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Wow that's a teeny tiny Baby! lol. It's been a while since I've had tiny babies, they've all since grown up haha.
> 
> I doubt the baby will be like Mero, Mero is also a Dragonscale but not only is he not Blue, he's a true green! A Turquoise as some call the Betta's who look green without lighting/under flash and blue under normal lights. The baby won't have as defined red fins but just simply a wash over top. Sorry, don't mean to be a debbie downer, I'm sure he's still going to turn out amazing! He's already adorable with his little DT!



Haha okay! I don't care if he's the plainest little fish in the land. I already love him quite a bit  

So do you think he'll end up a plakat? That would be really cool because I haven't had a pleco for quite some time and they are one of my favorite tail types! 

Mero shocked me with how dark he got!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

rmarkham said:


> Haha okay! I don't care if he's the plainest little fish in the land. I already love him quite a bit
> 
> So do you think he'll end up a plakat? That would be really cool because I haven't had a pleco for quite some time and they are one of my favorite tail types!
> 
> Mero shocked me with how dark he got!


Definitely! Their personality makes up for everything! haha. As I said, there is a chance it could end up just a female DT since it is so small at this point and still has a lot of developing to do. But if it is a boy I do think he could end up PK! But, sorry I've been saying a lot of 'buts' lately haha, but he's still has lots of growing to do so he may just surprise you later on and grow out all his fins to be a regular DT lol. Hard to tell at this point, it's all just speculation ^_^


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