Betta Fish Blog

Origin of Betta Colors

Posted by Marcus Song on October 3rd, 2006 — Posted in Learn All About Bettas

The beautiful colors of the Betta that catch our eye were not naturally present when the species was first discovered. Because the Siamese were solely interested in the fighting ability of these fish, breeding practices concentrated on building strength, endurance, and a fierce fighting attitude. Most of the Bettas from that time were short-finned (to give their opponents less to latch on to), and were a greenish-brown color.

Even in 1840, when the King of Siam made his gift to Cantor, colors still ran towards the drab. By the time the fish began showing up in America, some had begun to develop longer fins and rounded tails, and specks of bright colors could occasionally be found.

There are several basic color genes present or missing in Bettas. Yellow is the base color followed by black, red and blue. There are sub colors as well. For example, the blue gene can be represented by metallic blue, royal blue, or blue-green. The popular royal blue is actually a mixture of the other blues.