Maybe your betta is something other than Betta Splendens? It does seem to have long fins for a female. Maybe it’s a male cross between a Splendens and some other variety?
Anyhow, that site also has info on care, feeding, and breeding. Perhaps you could contact them and send them a link to your photo.
I am going to try to get a better picture, before I send it to any site. The thing that makes it difficult to get a picture of her is that while her body is white, her fins are almost clear. They’re longer than they seem in pictures unless I get the lighting just right, and that’s hard to do…
Oh, and last night, when I was taking pictures of her, I took the top of the tank off to let the lamp shine in, and, while my back was turned, she vanished.
A few frantic seconds later, I found her–out of the tank and on her side on my desk, just laying there staring at me. The being out of water didn’t seem to affect her at all. Already, she’s so weird. And I like her.
The other one I bought is a regular old normal male. He’s not fun like she is.
Good luck with the bettas. My kid brought a baby one home from school following a science lesson that involved them somehow. It has grown from about half and inch long to maybe three-quarters, and we don’t know the gender yet. So far she/he has done ok with tap water that has been allowed to sit a few days, with a couple drops of a product called AmQuel to further remove the bad stuff.
I used to have some bettas (have a pesky goldfish now; got it at a cheesy local carnival…a year ago a yesterday, as the carnival is back this year.) One of them had that habit of jumping out of the tank.
I’ve had little experiences with females. Males do bow up, and are much larger than females, and have larger fins. In my humblest of opinions, you’ve got yourself a male on your hands.
It never really matters to me. A fish is a fish is a fish is a fish. Females, do tend to eat less.
I use stuff called AquaSafe, but the water here is recycled and the water conditioner I have apparently doesn’t do anything to the chemicals they treat it with. I might try just letting the water sit a few days, and see if that works…but it’s kinda bad because the only way I can find out is to test it on a fish.
000
WTNT31 KNHC 300556
TCPAT1
BULLETIN
HURRICANE BETA INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 13A
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
1 AM EST SUN OCT 30 2005
…HURRICANE BETA CLOSE TO CATEGORY THREE STRENGTH AS THE EYE NEARS
THE COAST OF NICARAGUA…
A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF
NICARAGUA FROM BLUEFIELDS NORTHWARD TO CABO GRACIAS A DIOS NEAR THE
NICARAGUA/HONDURAS BORDER…AND ADJACENT ISLANDS. A HURRICANE
WARNING ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHEASTERN COAST OF
HONDURAS FROM PUNTA PATUCA TO CABO GRACIAS A DIOS.
A TROPICAL STORM WARNING AND A HURRICANE WATCH REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR
THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF NICARAGUA SOUTH OF BLUEFIELDS TO THE BORDER
WITH COSTA RICA.
A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHEASTERN COAST
OF HONDURAS FROM LIMON EASTWARD TO WEST OF PUNTA PATUCA…INCLUDING
LA CEIBA.
A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED
WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO
PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD ALREADY HAVE BEEN RUSHED TO
COMPLETION. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA…GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS. A
TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE
POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA…GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.
FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA…INCLUDING POSSIBLE
INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS…PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED
BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.
AT 1 AM EST…0600Z…THE CENTER OF HURRICANE BETA WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 13.3 NORTH…LONGITUDE 83.2 WEST OR ABOUT 120 MILES…190
KM…SOUTH OF CABO GRACIAS A DIOS ON THE NICARAGUA/HONDURAS BORDER
AND ABOUT 55 MILES…85 KM…SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF PUERTO CABEZAS
NICARAGUA.
BETA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-SOUTHWEST NEAR 8 MPH…13 KM/HR…AND
THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT 24
HOURS. ON THIS TRACK…THE CORE OF BETA IS EXPECTED TO MAKE
LANDFALL ON THE EAST COAST OF NICARAGUA WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS.
RAINBANDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HURRICANE ARE ALREADY IMPACTING MANY
PORTIONS OF EASTERN NICARAGUA.
SATELLITE DATA SUGGEST THAT THE MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE
INCREASED TO NEAR 110 MPH…175 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER GUSTS. BETA IS
A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. THERE IS
A CHANCE IT COULD BECOME A CATEGORY THREE MAJOR HURRICANE BEFORE
LANDFALL.
HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 15 MILES… 30 KM…
FROM THE CENTER… AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 60 MILES… 95 KM.
ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 965 MB…28.50 INCHES.
STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 12 TO 17 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS IS
POSSIBLE ALONG THE EASTERN COAST OF NICARAGUA NEAR AND TO THE NORTH
OF WHERE THE CENTER MAKES LANDFALL.
HURRICANE BETA IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAINFALL WITH
TOTALS OF 10 TO 15 INCHES ACROSS EASTERN HONDURAS AND NICARAGUA.
ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE FORECAST FOR SAN ANDRES AND
PROVIDENCIA WHERE ISOLATED STORM TOTAL AMOUNTS COULD APPROACH 25
INCHES.
REPEATING THE 1 AM EST POSITION…13.3 N… 83.2 W. MOVEMENT
TOWARD…WEST-SOUTHWEST NEAR 8 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…110
MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE… 965 MB.
THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT
4 AM EST.
Pet stores will often test your water for free. Try Petsmart.
But, you know, if you can afford to be responsible for getting fish, then you can afford to be responsible for buying a gallon of water now and then. You can pass up a couple of sodas, which you don’t need anyway. Or use some of your junk-food fund.
I upset everyone at work Friday over bettas. Because this is Halloween, and because it’s the middle of the fund-raising Combined Federal Campaign (United Way for feds), there are all sorts of food-treat fund-raisers. Friday, some people were selling ice cream sundaes and raffling off 2 bettas. They were in the most ghastly glass vases, each with a scrawny peace lily crammed in the top and a garish bow tied on. Their water was murky and they looked terrible. Ghostly naked plant roots hanging down were all they had for diversion. All the color had gone out of one of them. They looked spooked, as if they couldn’t see outside the container, and I think they could not–the glass was thick and distorted. Their little sides were sunken in like they hadn’t eaten in weeks. “Oh, they’ll eat the roots.” They weren’t even planning on giving the winners any fish food!
Well, I felt just terrible about that. Those fish were starving. It was awful. A lecture on the proper care of bettas just burbled out of me. I tried to be polite, but these people were resistant and I became more upset.
Finally, thinking I would simply rescue the fish by buying them outright, I asked how much they had paid for them. I would just write them a nice contribution check, tote off the fishies, and everything would be fine.
A woman I did not know, but who turns out to be from my department ( ) snarled “I MADE THOSE. I MADE THEM MYSELF. I MAKE THEM ALL THE TIME. I WENT TO A LOT OF TROUBLE FOR THAT! THEY LIVE A COUPLE OF WEEKS. SOME OF THEM LIVE FOR YEARS. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT!!!”
Needless to say, they did not let me buy them. I was shunned.
I think the clincher may have been my outburst of “This is animal abuse!”
I went through my purse and my desk drawer, scraping up $4 and a few cents. Sigh. Not nearly enough!
They wouldn’t let me buy any more raffle tickets, so I went around recruiting people to take the $4 and go buy them for me.
One of my officemates won the sickest fish. We snatched the plant out of the top of the vase . . . it swam to the top, gasping and looking around. It looked sooo relieved. I gave him some of my betta’s food–he went after it like a shark. Poor thing.
I got him a 1-gallon tank and nice plant, which I’ll go set up tomorrow . . . Sunday . . . so he can have a nice new home.
Amazingly, after eating and getting a good air-change, he turned blue and green.
The other fish ended up with someone in my department, but from another building. I’ll have to send a social services emissary over on Monday with some food and care instructions.
They weren’t even planning on giving the winners any fish food!
I’m laughing because it took me a while to get what you were saying. I think I’m all Hurricanned out.