I find this pretty interesting and wanted to share, the complete transformation of my blue marble betta "lumpy" over the time I've had him. I took him from petco, as they were going to euthanize him because of a tumor growing on his side. Figured I would give him a shot, that was probably a year and a half ago and he is still kicking. Very active and personable betta.
This video is from august 2019. He was a mostly white fish with the beginnings of a tumor on his side.
And these pictures are from today, notice he has become completely blue and the only white on his body, is on the tumor. Also, his tumor has grown to be very large, and there are two more small ones now on his tail. His scales have also grown over his eyes partially, though he can still see. These health problems seem to be the result of the excessive inbreeding required to produce the blue marble morph, similar to the dragonscale or metallic morphs.
I had considered removing the tumor, but am afraid that I will do more harm than good since it is so large. I guess I will just observe since he does not seem to be bothered by the condition. This does make me more wary of any line-bred color morph fish, and is a good example of the darker side of selective breeding.
This video is from august 2019. He was a mostly white fish with the beginnings of a tumor on his side.
And these pictures are from today, notice he has become completely blue and the only white on his body, is on the tumor. Also, his tumor has grown to be very large, and there are two more small ones now on his tail. His scales have also grown over his eyes partially, though he can still see. These health problems seem to be the result of the excessive inbreeding required to produce the blue marble morph, similar to the dragonscale or metallic morphs.
I had considered removing the tumor, but am afraid that I will do more harm than good since it is so large. I guess I will just observe since he does not seem to be bothered by the condition. This does make me more wary of any line-bred color morph fish, and is a good example of the darker side of selective breeding.