Topic: Do bettas change color??

[dudu]

Hi.. I am new with bettas.. I have a blue male and dark red female. I believe both have changed into lighter shade of color since I purchased them. Female changes her body colour all the time from dark red to reddish white (especially after moving from her cave into the open water). I thought this might be normal. But today I noticed that the male's abdominal fin color has turned into white in the area just after his body. This lasted for a few minutes and went back to blue again. He looks fine and is swimming nicely all around. Should I worry about anything?? ???

[Jessie226]

Some definitely do change color, but just going from a darker to a lighter shade, and vice versa, could be a sign of stress. Does the female ever have horizontal stress stripes? Does she ever have vertical stripes? Horizontal stripes would mean she is stressed, vertical mean's they're happy, in the simplest way of explaining it.
What are your water perameters? What size bowls/tanks are they in? Are you using tap or bottled water? Do you condition your water? Do you use aquarium salt? How often do they get water changes? Do you do partial or 100% water changes?
If you can answer some of these questions, we might be able to help you more. But yes, bettas can change color.

[ruthcatrin]

It happens, and that sort of rapid change is most likely the result of stress.  In general however marble colored fish often change their color and several of us here can show you pics and stories of fisn that we bought who were one color and with in a week were something totally different.