Flashy Males Or Plain-Clothed Females

INTRODUCTION: Did you know that the lovely veiltailed bettas being sold in pet stores are more likely to be males rather than females?  Really?  What gives?  And no it's not some sexist conspiracy on the part of the retailers, but more a bowing to the law of supply and demand. Because survey says more people prefer keeping flashy male bettas than their less colorful female counterparts.

Why is that?  Good question.  And no, it has nothing to do with their respective prospective life span which can run to two, three years or longer with luck. Nor does it have a lot to do with demeanor although some males can be real characters.  Rather it's all about marketing, and males just rate better in that department on a scale of 1-10.  Guess you could say Technicolor wins out over dishwater gray. 

So I also guess you chalk this retail tendency up to the fact the male of the species are much more colorful than the females  are. The males also have longer flowing fins than females too. Even so you likely won't see many like this guy:



Just an incredible specimen.

Yet that's not to say that breeders haven't been busy doing what they can for the fairer sex.  Because breeding these bubblenesters has evolved over the years and believe it or not breeders have now started to develop better selection techniques so they can produce some females that also come in different, more exciting colors too. They are no longer all greyed up. 

Just don't get your hopes up.  As despite those advances they'll still never compete with their drop dead gorgeous brothers.  They still don't come anywhere close to the gaudy colors and impressive fins of these fishy male hunks.  That are more or less living pinwheels of colors coming in almost any hue you could want. 

CONCLUSION: So that's the appeal of male betta fish - a kaleidoscope of color.  Without a doubt it's truly a colorful world inside a tank with one of these guys, don't you think? More so than with almost any other tropical fish you can name.  So that's why when it comes to voting with your dollars, the guys have it all over the gals.