Breeding Bettas of different colors is not as difficult as most people think. While some aquarists will insist that you need to breed together specific varieties to get a particular color, the truth is much simpler. The secret is that all you need to know about breeding different colors of betta food fish is that their coloring has nothing to do with their genes. Instead, it’s all down to their environment and the circumstances they are kept in. To understand why this is and how you can breed different colors of Betta fish at home, read on…
What determines the color of a Betta fish?
Betta fish are naturally white or creamy. However, when they are kept in water that is warm and clean with a good supply of oxygen, their colors will change. This is because Betta fish don’t produce their colors – they are leaching them from their environment. This means that the colors you see on your Betta fish are just the pigmentation of the water they are kept in. The colors they leach depend on the temperature of the water they are kept in.
For example, if you keep your Betta fish in water that is around 20 degrees Celsius, they will be white. If you keep them in water that is around 26 degrees Celsius, they will be yellow. If you keep them in water that is around 32 degrees Celsius, they will be orange. If you keep them in water that is around 38 degrees Celsius, they will be red. If you keep them in water that is over 38 degrees Celsius, they will start to go dark again and will become black.
The importance of temperature
As you can see from the above, the color of your Betta fish is directly related to the temperature of their environment. This is because the pigmentation on a Betta fish’s scales comes from their blood. When the water around them is warm, the Betta fish’s blood will be rich in red pigmentation. This is what gives them their orange and red coloring. When the water around them is cooler, the Betta fish’s blood will be rich in biliverdin pigmentation. This is what gives them their yellow coloring. And when the water is cooler still, their blood will be rich in melanin pigmentation. This is what gives them their red and black coloring.
How do you get different colors of Betta fish?
To breed different colors of Betta fish, you need to keep the temperature of the water high. The higher the temperature, the more coloration will be in the fish’s bodies. This means that you will have more yellow and red. If you keep the temperature low, you will have less coloration. This means that the Betta fish will be less yellow and red.
The best way to keep the temperature high is to keep an aquarium heater in the water. This is an easy and inexpensive way to increase the temperature in your fish tank. You can also improve the temperature in the tank by adding an aquarium light. The type of light you use will not affect the way the fish look, however. Instead, it will only serve to increase the temperature of the water.
Conclusion
Breeding Betta fish of different colors is not difficult. The secret is to raise the temperature of the water in the tank. If you do this, the fish will have more coloration in their bodies. This means that you can breed Betta fish of different colors. For best results, you should use a heater to keep the water at the right temperature. Remember that the water temperature needs to be at least 26 degrees Celsius. If you keep the water too low, you will struggle to breed Betta fish.
