I gotta agree with you. My male went from a beautiful multi to almost now solid blue with a green iridescence. He's still pretty, but he was so unique looking before and now he looks pretty common. He's still just as quirky/grumpy, though.
I kind of felt that way when I discovered that my fish that was supposed to be a dragonscale male was probably a plakat female. But now that I know she's a girl, I don't feel so bad about her dull coloring (except when you shine a flashlight on her, then she's absolutely gorgeous with her purples and reds). She also has the most incredible personality, so that definitely makes up for her lack of fancy coloring.
When I got my new male, I was worried that I would like him better because he's flashy and fancy, but he is seriously lacking in the personality department, so my girl is still my favorite. Don't get me wrong, he still gets excited when he sees me and swims over to say hi and get fed, but he doesn't seem quite as intelligent as her, and he's certainly not as feisty as she is.
I love the look of marbles when they are predominately white or cellophane with a smattering of colour over the top.
Therefore, I always fall in love with these types of fish, and then cry to myself when they inevitably marble out. A
I don't really like owning ugly animals. Call me vain but I have a thing about balance and symmetry. It's why I stopped purchasing HMs. Could not stand it when their fins got damaged or they got older and stopped being able to carry their finnage as well.
Another of my pet hates, is having to deal with sickness in fish for any period of time. I am having difficulty getting rid of velvet in a couple of my tanks and it is getting to the point I just want to cull the infected stock and start afresh.
Of course that then makes me feel like a murderer if I went ahead with it.
I actually find it fascinating to see my Bettas change colors. My VT was a pale pink, opalescent when I bought him & now he's really darkened & changed more to a burgundy. He hasn't slowed down, I enjoy watching him swimming around with his flowing fins. My CT isn't nearly as active but I still enjoy watching him, his coloring isn't as bright but to me he's still beautiful. Not sure how my newest 2 males will change but I'm excited to the changes.
What a wonderful accepting attitude, even adventurous. I bought my fish because they looked the way I wanted. When they unexpectedly changed to something else, well.....
I would not have chosen either of my HMs had they looked like they do now. So now I'm "stuck" with them. And this thread has, for the first time, allowed me to say that out loud, err....in print.
In fact, out of the 5 Betta that I currently keep, I only really, really like one---and he's terminally ill.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
