Betta fish coloring question

Hi all!

I had a question about one of my bettas color transformation.

This is Mushu. I bought him from petco. The first photo below is from about 6 months ago then the second photo is just a few days ago. Very slowly over the past few months his color has shifted with his body becoming much lighter in color.

He’s in a 10 gal heavily planted/heated/filtered tank. He gets a varies diet of pellets, frozen, and live foods. He acts 100% normal- he’s not stressed. His tank parameters are very stable. He acts completely fine- eats, has a personality ect. His venteal fins have always been curled.

In facebook groups I’m getting a variety of answers from he’s a dragonscale, he’s not a dragonscale, he’s a metallic ( which from my research is more correct than dragonscale) and that there may be a marble gene in effect. I just haven’t seen very many betta go from darker to lighter.

So what’s y’all’s take on him? I’m really interested in learning more about his color shift and betta color genetics in general as I find it incredibly interesting.

 

Dewclaw83 here’s my post!

 

Wouldn't be shocked at all at a marbling gene with that drastic of a change. Looks almost like there is a purplish on his body now too!

 

Hi all!

I had a question about one of my bettas color transformation.

This is Mushu. I bought him from petco. The first photo below is from about 6 months ago then the second photo is just a few days ago. Very slowly over the past few months his color has shifted with his body becoming much lighter in color.

He’s in a 10 gal heavily planted/heated/filtered tank. He gets a varies diet of pellets, frozen, and live foods. He acts 100% normal- he’s not stressed. His tank parameters are very stable. He acts completely fine- eats, has a personality ect. His venteal fins have always been curled.

In facebook groups I’m getting a variety of answers from he’s a dragonscale, he’s not a dragonscale, he’s a metallic ( which from my research is more correct than dragonscale) and that there may be a marble gene in effect. I just haven’t seen very many betta go from darker to lighter.

So what’s y’all’s take on him? I’m really interested in learning more about his color shift and betta color genetics in general as I find it incredibly interesting.

Oh that is interesting! The second picture really does look like dragonscale honestly, but perhaps that’s just the picture. Dragonscale is thick white scales (basically). The closest thing (in appearance) to that, is opaque, which is more of a power derm appearance, not so defined.
It does not look like copper to me, however.

but I agree, I also have not heard of a fish going from blue to dragonscale like that! Did it happen evenly or in patches?

He’s gorgeous btw!

 

Oh that is interesting! The second picture really does look like dragonscale honestly, but perhaps that’s just the picture. Dragonscale is thick white scales (basically). The closest thing (in appearance) to that, is opaque, which is more of a power derm appearance, not so defined.
It does not look like copper to me, however.

but I agree, I also have not heard of a fish going from blue to dragonscale like that! Did it happen evenly or in patches?

He’s gorgeous btw!

Thanks!
It started with light patch on his head. Then his face lost its black pigment and the rest of the body started shifting.


Its hard to photograph him. He sort glows on camera. Some angles he looks white even. I’m attaching a few more photos from both before and after.

Wouldn't be shocked at all at a marbling gene with that drastic of a change. Looks almost like there is a purplish on his body now too!

He definitely shifts color depending on the angle! Sometimes purplish/sometimes white!