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What to look for when choosing a new Betta

3K views 25 replies 7 participants last post by  ChoclateBetta 
#1 ·
I couldn't find this in other threads.

What should you look for when choosing a new Betta?

Activity level?
Color?
Size?
Type/style?
 
#3 ·
What should you look for when choosing a new Betta? answers in green are JMHO

Activity level?Yes. Even if they are just resting, they should be active when you pick up the cup. I would hesitate to buy an inactive betta laying on its side or all clamped up (unless I was going to rescue it and rehab it.)

Color?Color is secondary to health but still a big part of my choosing. I like unique! Elephant ears, dragon scales, marbles, now with Stumpy I just went for his bizarre-ness :lol:

Size?Matters not to me. Altho I would love a king/giant betta with pretty colors someday.

Type/style?I ended up with a variety of tails and types but this wasn't as important as health and color.

HTH!
 
#4 · (Edited)
I -always- go for activity, in that they respond, like Choclate said. It's the only time I appreciate getting flared at ;-)
Also, choose a color you like, and a fin-type you like. I'm not partial to those double-tailed ones - they creep me out, so obviously I wouldn't love it like my loves.
But on top of that, make sure they're not deformed! This is -really- important of pet-store bettas, and fish in general.
Size is not really important, but they should be well-proportioned. Some have big heads and short bodies, others have outrageous fins and bodies too small to really hold them up.
Curled fins won't ever straighten out, so choose whether or not to accept those, and oftentimes, they'll have mismatched "arm-fins" (I forgot the proper name like 12 seconds ago!).
Check for kinked spines and funny eyes (I've seen some weird things with fishes' eyes in pet shops) and anything else you can think of, then make a rational decision, 'cause there's nothing worse than having them die in a week, or never really perk up to having their own home.
 
#6 ·
Totally. I bought a "silver" (he was grey, really) who turned a brilliant shade of lavender/rose... Unfortunately, he jumped his bowl, going after flies, I think. I thought that the plants in it would discourage that, and honestly, I had never had a jumper before him, so didn't really put too much paranoia into it. But then, he was plakat, and I usually keep half-moons. I suppose it's easier to jump without those huge fins dragging you down...?
 
#8 ·
:oops: I know that now. I have learned my lesson, I assure you. Although, I don't use lids, per se, I actually have mesh or cloth over them.
And it wasn't a small bowl, at all. Admittedly, I was looking for something bigger (I did point out that he was a rescue, along with my brown "HM") but -none- of my bettas spend more than the requisite 15-20 minutes in those ridiculous cups, and nobody gets less than 2 gallons, ever. That plakat was being temporarily housed in a shallowish 2.5 gallon container, because I immediately found out that he was going to scare the HM to death through the divider.
I did end up moving the brown into a smaller bowl (covered!) though, as he didn't seem very comfortable in the tank. I have a female that did the same thing... They just sat cowering in a corner and barely eating. Now they're both in 2 gallons (apprx) and happy as clams.
 
#14 ·
I really want a Delta, but even though I've seen them labelled as Deltas, I've never actually seen one that was really a Delta.
And, actually, that's ever been a problem with these local pet stores! The way they just toss names out is ridiculous, especially when they charge differently by fin type!
 
#10 ·
Well, I'm a newbie about this, but I looked for:

Color first: Because I like color. So I only looked at brightly colored fish, and the more blue they had, the better. :-D

Health/Activity level second: Once I narrowed the assortment down to blue, I looked for something that was healthy looking.

Size and type/style was last.

But as I said, I'm a newbie. If you ask some of the others, they'll probably be able to tell you more about conformation, body shape and size, etc.
 
#15 ·
Well, I'm a newbie about this, but I looked for:

Color first: Because I like color. So I only looked at brightly colored fish, and the more blue they had, the better. :-D

Health/Activity level second: Once I narrowed the assortment down to blue, I looked for something that was healthy looking.
I'm a bit of a blue girl myself. :tongue:

I have a male royal blue/melano/lace, a female turquoise "wild type" and a female steel (?)
My very first was a walmart royal blue VT, way back when we first got a walmart
 
#17 ·
well, before i go in the store i have a general idea of what i'd like to find, and reasonable parameters for how much i'd be willing to vary on that desire. for instance, if i'm looking for a mustard gas HMPK, i'll also be checking out any HMPK's that are either blue OR yellow, rather than the MG combination, as well as looking for MG's in other tail types.

after i've found one that's who i'm looking for in terms of finnage and color, i try to gauge their general health. i look to see if he's active, swimming straight-and-true, any visible fin or scale damage, fungus etc.

if he checks out as a healthy fish, i get an idea of his personality. will he follow my finger around the cup? does he swim towards me or away from me when i look at him? does he generally seem like the kind of fish who'd be something of a companion, rather than just a little scaly dude who lives in a watery box in my apartment?

if he's good on all three, i beg my fiance to let me set up another tank. once she accedes to me, i have a new fishy friend.
 
#18 ·
Some at our pet store are on there side when you pick the cup up they act normal. Home see you got a new avatar no offense but I liked your old one better.
 
#21 ·
i think the point was, a hybrid between a domesticated and a wild splendens, or a splendens to imbellis hybridisation (sometimes used to increase metallic tones in domesticated splendens.)
 
#24 ·
Not all humans only 4 percent of the Eurasian genome comes from neodrpthals. Cows, pigs, and Guppies are not hybrids although cows were crossed with different subspecies so I am not being technical.
 
#25 ·
When I pick out a betta I look for one that appears to be healthy and actively swimming around. All of my bettas I got who were in desperate need of help. I feel that when you are a true betta person you dont pick your betta the betta picks you. With all of my bettas they were ones that I was drawn to out of everyone there I saw them. They looked at me with those eyes and I knew that they chose me to take them home. I firmly believe that you know when that is the betta that you are meant to have.
 
#26 ·
When I visit the pet store all are the perfect choice every ounce and a while a few sick ones but most active, diverse in colors, diverse in fin types, and healthy/respond well. When I bought Carter he was already perked up.
 
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