# My Little Dwarf Female Betta



## Bettaman (May 20, 2005)

Hard to tell by this picture but this Betta is only 3/4 inch long. She hardly grows so I'm wondering if she is some kind of dwarf betta if their is such a thing. I got her with another female at the same time and in just two months the other female grew to be 4 times larger than this Little bit. By the way, that's her name, Little Bit. Ain't she cute. 

Link to picture:
http://www.sportsfantasyleagues.com/pictures/LilBit.JPG


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## Zoe (Feb 26, 2006)

She's adorable! Great pic, too.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

I have never heard of a dwarf betta.
Female bettas are quite a bit smaller than male bettas.

Purdy fish!


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## kristian18f (Oct 31, 2005)

I have a female that looks almost exactly like her, but she's nice and big.


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## lisie (Apr 26, 2006)

Awww she's so CUTE!!  

And there is such a thing as a mini betta... I breed them actually.


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

there is something wrong with the betta... it should be way bigger than she is now. there is no such thing as dwarf betta, but i think in this case if you did nothing wrong in raising the fish and the people you got the fish from did nothing wrong, then the fish is a deform one.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

aaa said:


> there is something wrong with the betta... it should be way bigger than she is now. there is no such thing as dwarf betta, but i think in this case if you did nothing wrong in raising the fish and the people you got the fish from did nothing wrong, then the fish is a deform one.


Are you sure that a type of deformity in a fish is smaller than normal size
I have had a 3 female bettas get no bigger than an 1''


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2006)

Aww she's a cutie!


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

SpoiledFishies said:


> Are you sure that a type of deformity in a fish is smaller than normal size
> I have had a 3 female bettas get no bigger than an 1''


i don't know if the fish is deform or not. but one thing i am sure of, the fish must have problem. if your fish is older than 6 months, he/she should be over 1"(well, normally should be about 2"). if not, either you or the breeder or the lfs(who ever you brought the fish from) you got the fish from must have bad water condition to stop the fish's growth. yes, there is giant betta, but i remember i read an article sometime ago on dwarf betta, it said it is not really clear if there is such a gene, but usually the "dwarf" betta you see is stunted. 

just in case some of you don't know, betta release hormone to slow their sibling's growth. when they are not around, the hormone end up stopping their own growth. the only way to remove is water change. once a week 100% water change or normal water change a few times a week for a betta is needed. the more water change the better it is. the water may seems fine in the tank, but the hormone may be stopping the growth of the fish. once it stop and it is going to be hard to catch up and he/she end up being small all his/her life.


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

aaa there are bettas out there that are compleatly heathy and fine that are just small. I remember reading some place that a breeder is trying to develope small bettas.


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

leafgirl115 said:


> aaa there are bettas out there that are compleatly heathy and fine that are just small. I remember reading some place that a breeder is trying to develope small bettas.


i don't know if they are really healthy or not. but all the "dwarf" betta i see is just stunted betta


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## gemjunkie (Jan 20, 2005)

aaa said:


> there is no such thing as dwarf betta,


That is completely NOT true! A dwarf betta has a deformity to the spine and is 'stubby' looking but has normal sized fins and head, the body is just GROSELY short. A while back on Aquabid, some people were trying to sell these 'dwarfs' as a new 'strain'... The problem is the males can NOT spawn. I had some and tried MANY times, no matter how hard the male tries, he can not wrap and even if the female releases eggs, they are not fertile.

I could try to dig up some old pics of REAL dwarfs. That pictured betta is a runt or suffered from some nutritional deprivation or lack of proper temperature that caused it to not become very big, that's all. OR, it could just be a strain that has females that run small, who knows?

I raised bettas for about 15yrs and although it happens, it's still not common.


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## Kageshi17 (Sep 6, 2006)

Just to remark....guys....take your fingers and make an inch with them. Then make them 3/4 of an inch. THAT IS SOOOOOOOOOOO SMALL!

..........f-in cute.  !!!


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

gemjunkie said:


> That is completely NOT true! A dwarf betta has a deformity to the spine and is 'stubby' looking but has normal sized fins and head, the body is just GROSELY short. A while back on Aquabid, some people were trying to sell these 'dwarfs' as a new 'strain'... The problem is the males can NOT spawn. I had some and tried MANY times, no matter how hard the male tries, he can not wrap and even if the female releases eggs, they are not fertile.
> 
> I could try to dig up some old pics of REAL dwarfs. That pictured betta is a runt or suffered from some nutritional deprivation or lack of proper temperature that caused it to not become very big, that's all. OR, it could just be a strain that has females that run small, who knows?
> 
> I raised bettas for about 15yrs and although it happens, it's still not common.


yeah... that's my point... the fish is deform. it is just my opinion that i believe in a true dwarf betta is a betta with smaller proportion and it will breed true. but none of those qualify the "dwarf" betta to be a true one. not saying it can't happen, but it just that to my standard it didn't happen. balloon molly is a strain because it breed true. the baby will be balloon molly, but dwarf betta you mention don't. so in my opinion, they are just deform fish. of course different people have different standard and there is no clear defination on this, but that was just my 2 cents on this. i agree with you on the one in the picture is not the same dwarf you mention.


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