Charlie changed colors... is he okay?

[FishyFamily]

Housing
What size is your tank? 10 gallon with divider
What temperature is your tank? 78 degrees
Does your tank have a filter? no
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? no
Is your tank heated? yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? a baby betta who is doing fine

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Aqua culture betta pellet food
How often do you feed your betta fish? every day about 6 pellets

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once a week
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50% but the 10 gallon is new I just switched over from the little tanks where I was doing full water change
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? water conditioner...

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters? no we don't have a test kit yet

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:
Hardness:
Alkalinity:

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? He is getting more red in his color
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? he's a little startled he even flared up when I came over to the aquarium
When did you start noticing the symptoms? today
Have you started treating your fish? If so, how? no
Does your fish have any history of being ill? no
How old is your fish (approximately)? a year maybe a year and change

Before picture of Charlie


Charlie now...


I was feeding him and he was aggravated at the baby trying to get at his food through the divider... but notice the red in his fins... it wasn't there before.

[MollyJean]

How long have you had him and how long has he been beside the baby betta? He might be more aggressive because there is another fish around.

Males who are poised to fight or poised to breed color up a lot. It's probably just his colors coming through because of the baby or something you've changed outside the tank recently. Flaring isn't really a bad thing, it's fine to show them a mirror or a pencil eraser to flare at from time to time.

[callistra]

I think his colors are fine but he is one big boy. I think I'm am counting 8 pellets floating on his side? You are overfeeding him.. I would feed one pellet at time and try cutting it back to 4 a day, split up into two smaller feedings. Make sure if any fall you fish them out. All bettas regardless of what you feed need one fast day a week.

Also since this is a new tank you will be cycling it.. I would not use your baby betta in that tank to cycle. They are more sensitive and he might get very sick. I'd put him in something smaller that you are doing more frequent and 100% water changes to keep his ammonia levels at 0

You must if you decide to cycle any tank and not do 100% weekly changes invest in a good drops kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. A lot of people use this kit: http://www.amazon.com/API-Freshwater...aster+test+kit Test daily for ammonia and nitrites. Any time you see ammonia or nitrites get to .25ppm you do a water change. In addition to this you do a weekly 50%+ water change. At first you will see an ammonia spike. After that ammonia will go to zero and you will see a nitrite spike. Eventually you will start seeing some nitrates and then eventually both ammonia and nitrites will be zero and you will be left with only nitrates. Those can be removed by weekly water changes. Cycling will take up to 2 months. http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=47838

Once you put them together again in the fully established tank you might look into an opaque divider so they can't see each other so much and maybe put some plants up against it.

[FishyFamily]

That was his first day beside the baby betta :/ he was not too happy about it but has calmed down since then. I think I will try planting some plants around the divider. And yes you are right my husband had just fed him in that picture my husband doesn't understand that when it says 6 pellets he thinks feeds him once a day so he has to put extra in. :) We will cut back. So buy a test kit and cycle the water but not with the baby in it :/ feel bad sticking the baby back in the smaller tank... but maybe it's for everyone's best right now. Thanks for the information.

[Starfish1]

sometimes they do change colors a little bit, i've had a blue betta who was all blue who eventually got some red in his coloring and also a turquoise betta who had the same. they both looked like yours does.
i would look closely though to make extra sure its just red coloring and not bloody streaks. only you can probably tell because you can see him in person.
there are also marble bettas and those can really change color! yours doesn't look like a marble but i once had a blue marble betta and he started out blue white and orange and then turned all blue, and then one day i came home and his whole tail had turned white! i was so freaked out until i read that marbles can change colors and look completely different.