An Overview of Betta Fish Colour Morphs and Patterns.

Betta fish come in a huge range of colours, patterns, and morphs - from striking blues and reds to intricate leather designs. Different varieties have varying prices and availability depending on where you live, so it's worth researching your options before making a purchase. In this article, we’ll go through the different types of betta colourations to help you choose the perfect one for your tank!

Introduction to Betta Fish Colour Morphs and Patterns.

Betta fish come in an array of fascinating and beautiful colour morphs, patterns, and elements. These can be combined to create a variety of stunning fish with unique personalities. Colour morphs are often broken down into two categories: solid-coloured bettas and variegated bettas. Solid coloured bettas have one colour all the way through their bodies, sometimes with additional highlights or freckles. Variegated bettas are a bit more complex - they have different shades on each side, such as a combination of white, yellow and orange. With mixed patterns, there is often a combination of various colours, as well as stripes and spots.

Solid Colours Betta Fish.

When it comes to solid coloured bettas, there are a variety of shades to choose from. Some common colours include black, blue, red, green, yellow, pink, white and purple. These can range from soft pastels that give off a subtle hue to rich deep colours with intense saturation. Additionally, different hues of each colour may be available such as royal blue or cobalt blue for example. Orange and purple are probably the 2 rarest colours you might find, if you are lucky. With solid colours, you will also find bettas with highlights and freckles – this gives the fish an added bit of flare!

Variations of Red Betta Fish - Chocolate, Wine And copper-Red

Red bettas are some of the most popular and eye-catching fish, coming in a wide range of shades. Chocolate reds have an almost brown or beige colour combined with dusky red shading and often have solid dark edges to the fins, while wine reds tend to have deep, rich burgundy hues. Copper reds have light golden tones with lots of orange splashed across their bodies. All three variations can produce stunning show-quality specimens with deep, vibrant colours that catch the eye from any angle. Copper can look a bit like a metallic black.

Marble Crayons and Panda Bettas.

Here we have the more unusual morphs of bettas. This includes marble crayons which produce complex designs with a combination of bluish grey and black grey variations, as well as panda bettas that feature spots of black, red or purple against a white background. There are also combinations both between and within solid colours such as steel blues (mixing blue, silver and green) and bi-blacks (combining two shades of black). Whether you’re looking for something subtle or something spectacular, the array of colour morphs and patterns ensures that there is an option to meet everyone’s personal preferences. The Marble is a unique betta with one very frustrating quality. The marble trait doesn’t show up right away. It’s activated suddenly during the fish’s lifetime, at random. It causes their primary colour to darken and splotchy pale patches to develop on the body and fins.

You’ll start out with a fish with one colour or pattern of colours, and suddenly they change. It can be a very dramatic shift, too.

Koi patterned betta are related to marbles. This trait is most commonly seen in plakat type bettas. Koi betta has been bred to look similar to the koi fish often seen in Japanese ponds, they are usually 3 colours Red, white and black.

Bicoloured Betta.

Bi-colour are often referred to as any 2 colour male fighting fish, however a true bi-colour Betta will have the body one colour and tail a second colour.

Marble Betta are quite often Blue and White. Mustard Gas Male Betta are usually Blue and Yellow.

Tricoloured Betta.

Tricolored bettas have an uneven mix of 3 colours along their body and fins. Multi-Coloured bettas have a mix of at least three colours and can have more than 3. The mix tends to be random and unpredictable. Possibly the most commonly seen of these is the Thai Flag.

Multicolour Bettas - Butterfly, Galaxy & Dragon Strains.

Multicolour bettas come in a dazzling selection of morphs, such as Butterfly, Galaxy and Dragon. The Butterfly strain has an array of light brown to bright blue scales interwoven with white - it looks just like the wings of a real butterfly! The Galaxy strain is an out-of-this-world combination of reds and blues that create a unique marble effect throughout their body. Finally, the aptly-named Dragon strain has bold stripes running across the body creating a beautiful rainbow pattern when the fish swims. Dragon Scale are often metallic, and you can see a distinctive outline to the scales on the body. They can be quite a show stopper.

New colours, special Betta.

There are some really stunning fish available with lots of other variations not mentioned above.

Hellboy - Are red bodied fish with bright blue fins and tail.

Avatar - Are deep blue/green random metallic scales a bit like sprinkled glitter.

Ironman - Are Red, Yellow and black.

Army Copper - Green, white and black, looking very much like camouflage.

There continue to be new strains created all of the time. So this article will be updated regularly as new Betta colour strains are developed.

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