New girl betta

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psyche

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Jul 16, 2009
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Mt 10g currently just has bottom dwellers (which I never see due to the planting and wood) and least killifish. So I decided to get this female betta thinking I might be able sneak some other females in later. Based on how she is now behaving (complete queen of the tank) I am now thinking maybe not

blue.jpg

blue.jpg
 

authmal

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Aug 4, 2011
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I've never seen a betta with stripes before. Are you sure it's not a licorice gourami? It may be a male LG, and that may explain the behavior. Of course, it's possible you have a pugnacious striped female betta, as well.
 

jpappy789

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Feb 18, 2007
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I've never seen a betta with stripes before. Are you sure it's not a licorice gourami? It may be a male LG, and that may explain the behavior. Of course, it's possible you have a pugnacious striped female betta, as well.
Female bettas get those lines...people say its usually when stressed which so its pretty common to see upon first introducing them to a tank. I've found that females are every bit as scrappy as their male counterparts.
 

henningc

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May 11, 2013
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I've had way more bettas than I'd like to admit and never had a problem with multiple females in a tank. If you're going to add more do it all at the same time.
 

psyche

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One reason I got her was the striping, I think it might just be some wild type coloring. Over the few days she has been settling in she has become more blue but remained striped
 

jpappy789

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Feb 18, 2007
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I can't say for sure, but everything I read says "stress stripes" or "breeding stripes" (which is likely a stressful time)...who knows. I had a group of 5 females in a 30g at one point and sometimes I'd notice them on the subordinates if the dominant decided to strut her stuff, and they were more prominent when first introduced but faded away with time as they colored up.

But I do agree though, that it's better to add more females altogether at the same time if at all possible. I did it in waves, and it noticeably caused issues in the established hierarchy.
 

psyche

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I am sure striping can come up from stress. But I think this us just her coloring. I periodically see bettas in this store that are plain brown and striped, and classic colored ones (white, blue, red) and a few that seem intermediate. I guess if the stripes go away that'll prove me wrong :) The photo above is only one day after she went in the tank. Below is wild type striping. Some of the others they sell look a lot like this and I don't thinks it's just fade and stress--but given they are in betta cups, it is hard to rule out.

images_Wild Betta splendens 990 168.jpg

images_Wild Betta splendens 990 168.jpg
 
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FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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Cool. I too have never seen one with stripes.

The four $0.99 female bettas I bought from Petsmart weren't the most colorful when I first purchased and acclimated them into my 55g, but they are extremely vivid now. I wish I could get a good pic of them.

One is a beautiful dark red, one is a purple dragon scale, one is a pinkish-orange with blue eyes and one is pink/white with red fins and a red spot on top of her head. They crack me up and do shove each other around from time to time. The main thing is to have enough space and decor to break this up. Most of the other tank occupants are much larger than them, so that helps too I'd assume.
 

psyche

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I dithered for a long time between her and a classic indigo blue one. But curiosity got the better of me. At purchase she was grey with the stripes and blue-tipped fins. Now she is sort of a powder blue all over.
 

psyche

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Her color is continuing to darken towards a slate grey/blue -- so she may yet prove me wrong.
 
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