Is it normal for your fish to change colors?

[Penguinlove1013]

Okay. I will check it out. His fins have always looked like that. He doesn't have any tank mates, so if it is nipping can he do that to himself?

[DragonFish]

Oh yes, he most certainly can. Its very easily for a longer-finned male to turn around and take some good chunks out of their own tail, and its very common in males with big heavy fins like Halfmoons and Doubletails(which your guy is). The big longs fins are actually not natural, they're a selectively bred trait created in captivity for looks and showing purposes.....and some fish with bigger tails just REALLY don't like the weight, so they 'trim' their own tails. This can be anything from a couple of small nips once or twice, to bad chronic biting.

If he was like that when you got him its likely that he took some chunks out of his tail in the pet store cup, which is not at all uncommon since its such a small space. Its nothing really to be overly concerned about, just keep an eye on it and make sure his water is nice and warm and clean. If he doesn't continue to bite, you should start to see some clear re-growth soon. :)

[Dragonlady]

If your betta carries marble genetics, it is very normal for them to change colors. Bettas also change color to communicate with one another by displaying vertical or horizontal stripes. As long as your betta is behaving normally, I would not worry about it too much.

[LeoTheLakerBetta]

He is pretty too! Tailbiting is a nuisance but when my veiltail got into I just did 100% water changes each week and it slopwly started to grow back. Some people suggest you move the furniture around in the tank so he will be subjected to a "new" environment to preoccupy him. I don't have that much furniture in my tanks so what I do is rotate each fish from tank to tank. I have a 10 gallon divided and a 2.5 gallon downstairs so I make each guy take turns in the opposite sides in the 10 gallon and move one down to the 2.5. Then i keep doing this every week. This seems to have been working because my VT tail is growing back :)

[ChoclateBetta]

When you first get a Betta there color commonly changes.

[Penguinlove1013]

Thank you everyone for all of your advice and great ideas! I truly appreciate it. I will make sure to keep his tank warm and clean, watch out for nipping and switch things up a bit. :)

[ChoclateBetta]

He might be stressed.