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Finnage Variations By: BettySplendens Submitted: 6/30/2006 Bettas today come in a wide variety of forms, and new ones are being created all the time. Here are the most popular. SHORTFIN: Shortfinned bettas are also called Plakats (pronounced Pluh-COT, not "plackit") from the Thai words for "Biting Fish". They are generally more aggressive and active than a longfinned betta, and are a real treat to own. They are available in traditional and modern forms. Traditional plakats are bettas whose fins conform to the original wild form fin type. They seldom have more than 2-ray branching in the caudal, and the caudal is round and sometimes spade-shaped. For show purposes, the ribbon will go to the best Traditional plakat overall that most closely adheres to the Traditional plakat standards by possessing no more than 2 ray branching, a rounded tail, and 180 degree spread at the base of the tail. The shortfin trait is recessive to the longfin mutation. Breeding longfin to traditional plakat will give you 100% longfin veiltails. The F2 will bring back some shortfins. Modern plakats are the newer show type. They are basically shortfinned versions of HMs, Super Deltas, Doubletails, and Crowntails. They are bred according to the standard for the Modern Plakat, which is very similar to the standard for the longfin show betta; 4+ ray branching, 180 or better tail span with sharp edges, wider dorsal, and symmetrical form. The shortfin trait is recessive to the longfin mutation. Breeding a longfin HM to a modern plakat will give you all longfin HMs and Super Deltas in the F1. The F2 will bring back some shortfins. Modern plakat is often used by top breeders in their longfin show lines to help strengthen the rays and reduce the finnage of their show bettas. Please see Joep's article here on the three IBC recognized show types. VEILTAIL: This is the most common form, and if you purchased your betta at the pet store this is probably the type you got. The veiltail is a betta that shows the longfin mutation without any significant cultivation. The tail fin rises and then droops like a bridal veil behind the fish. These are still very attractive bettas, and the tails on some of them arch like an Arabian horse - very nice, indeed. Veiltails are inappropriate for show purposes because they are considered an asymmetrical form. The gene for Veitail is very strong, which means if you have one of these and you breed it to a modern show type like HM you will most likely get all Veiltails from their spawn, and it can be hard to get the show type finnage back. Veiltails make great pets, but if your goal is show quality Bettas you are probably better not using them for breeding. Veiltails are available in every color of the rainbow, but are genetic mutts and whatever color it displays may not breed true. SPADETAIL: The spadetail is probably just a shortened version of the Veiltail, or a slightly longer version of the traditional plakat. Spadetails can be produced by spawning traditional plakat to veiltail, but they do not breed true. Nevertheless, it is an interesting form and the mere fact that it can be produced makes it worthy of mention. ROUNDTAIL: This is a symmetrical betta form with rounded edges instead of the sharp, straight edges that define the delta, super delta, and halfmoon. Many bettas labeled delta or super delta are actually roundtails. This was the classic show form in the IBC for the longest time, until the development of the HM! DOUBLETAIL: A favorite among betta hobbyists, the doubletailed betta actually has two distinct caudal lobes instead of one. This is produced by a mutation that causes the top half of the betta to mirror the bottom half, therefore it produces two tails and a "dorsal" fin that is actually the mirror image of the anal fin -- considerably longer than that of the singletail! Doubletails can be available in all of the normal fin types, such as veil doubletail, round doubletail, crown doubletail, plakat doubletail, and HM doubletail. DELTA: A delta (literally, "triangle") betta has a tail that starts off narrow and then broadens from the base until it forms a fan or triangular shape. Breeders started calling bettas that exhibited this tail type "delta" after the delta-tailed guppy, which it resembles. Although roundtail bettas are often mislabeled as Deltas, the true delta has straight caudal edges, not rounded. SUPER DELTA: A more extreme form of the Delta, the Super Delta betta has the same triangular shape and straight edges but is somewhere between the Delta and the Halfmoon in degree of spread. There has been some dispute over just how much of a spread constitutes a Super Delta, so let's set the record straight right now: If your betta has straight edges but does not reach 180 degrees or more, it is a Delta or Super Delta. There are NO "170 degree" HMs! A 170 degree betta is a Super Delta, period, end of story. A HM must spread 180 degrees at the base, and if at any time in its life it loses the 180 degree spread, even by 1 degree, it becomes a Super Delta. You didn't think this was going to be easy, did you? ;) HALFMOON: This is the creme de la creme of the betta world. A HM betta spreads to 180 degrees at the base of the caudal, meaning the tail looks like a letter D when fully flared. It is literally a half-moon shape, hence the name. The history of the HM betta is an intriguing story and definitely worth a read when you have time. The HM phenotype is a combination of genetics (multiple branching and straight edges) and environment. A fish may be born with the potential to achieve HM, but without the proper care, food, and excercise may not meet that potential. I had a pair that always produced over 80% true HM when I spawned them, but when I gave them to a breeder friend of mine I actually saw veil looking fish in her spawns, and no HM! It is difficult to breed, difficult to maintain, and a real pain in the butt to try to figure out genetically. But seeing the fruits of your efforts are undeniably worth it. The HM form is the preferred show form of the International Betta Congress. "HM GENO": This is a false term that is used to describe a non-HM fish that comes from a spawn in which one parent or both are HM. However, no matter what you may read elsewhere, there is no such thing as "HM geno". The HM is combination of factors, largely genetics and upbringing that all have to be in place for the HM phenotype to occur. It is not a set gene. I would be wary of any website or hobbyist that claims to be experienced with the HM betta and yet uses the term "HM geno". These are usually newcomers or those that have little understanding of the trait. ROSETAIL: This is a form that came about when breeders were striving to produce more and more branching in their HM lines to increase the likelihood of HM offspring. The result was a fish with much more than the typical 4-ray HM branching; in fact in some specimens it looked as if the branching overlapped on itself, creating a flower petal effect. This inspired the term "Rosetail". There seem to be mixed opinions about the Rosetail, but I think it is a very beautiful form and definitely worth preserving. My 2005 IBC International Convention Reserve Best of Show Male was a rosetail copper. I like breeding rosetail to HMPK, you tend to get a lot of strong Halfmoon in the resulting generations. EXTREME ROSETAIL: This is actually a DEFORMITY, and shouldn't be bred! The extreme rosetail appears when breeders are trying too hard to increase ray branching and not paying enough attention to the strength of form. Extreme rosetails have varying degrees of expression, but one gets skilled at identifying them if enough of them are seen. For one thing, almost all Extreme Rosetails (also called "X-factor fish") are smaller than their siblings, and seem weaker. Most of them have excessive branching and bad scales (this can look like someone has "smudged" the scales) combined with small dorsals, pale coloration, and stunted ventral fins. They are ugly fish, and they pass their deformities on to future generations if you can keep them alive long enough to spawn. It is unfortunate that a lot of inexperienced breeders see these fish and think they would be good breeding prospects because they don't know any better, especially when they are very young and look like miniature HMs!. Extreme Rosetails should be avoided at all costs! They will weaken your line. FEATHERTAIL: This is a form of Rosetail where the branching extends from the top and the bottom of the ray, creating a feather-like look. This is usually associated with Extreme Rosetail fish, but there are some feathertails that do not have the inherent weaknesses and deformities of the X-factor fish. COMBTAIL: This is a fish with reduced webbing between the rays, creating a serrated edge effect. Combtails that can achieve a 180 degree spread are sometimes called "Half Suns". Breeding a Crowntail to a normal fringe-finned betta will produce Combtails. CROWNTAIL: An extreme version of the Combtail, the crowntail form was selectively bred for using fish with reduced webbing. The fish looks almost insectile, and is sometimes found in pet stores! They are fun to breed because the males are far more active than most other longfin bettas due to the reduction of finnage weight and volume. They rarely get finrot, and seem to be more resistant to disease. Oddly, crowntail females are usually very round-bellied and can appear extremely gravid compared to non-CT females. A good crowntail has at least a 30% reduction of webbing between the rays, with a 50% reduction considered ideal. They are available in all the normal colors and patterns. CT x CT produces all CTs. The best of these is called a King Crowntail, after a red crossray bred by Henry Yin that went undefeated in open competition throughout Asia and was crowned "King" of the crowntails. Now all crossray crowntails with at least 6 cross points are called "King Crowns".

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HEJSAN FROM SWEDEN EVERYONE! Everything in Sweden is going well, although I'm still busy learning the language and coping with a newborn, so it will be a bit before I'm as active as I'd like with the fish. This is a Facebook update! I have created a new BettySplendens Facebook page that will be used exclusively for betta-related networking. On the 16th of August I will be going through and deleting most of the people on my personal Facebook page who are not actual friends or family (many of you have become friends through the course of the hobby, and of course will not be deleted). If for any reason you wish to remain on my personal page, please let me know by emailing bettysplendens@yahoo.com, or FB email. Otherwise, go to the new BettySplendens Facebook page and click the 'like' button for more betta-related news and updates :).

Tack så mycket (that's ''Thank you very much'' in Svenskie-land ;))! ~Victoria~

Slight change of plans! I have decided that, instead of reinventing the wheel, I'm going to create a personal FB page and use the old one purely for betta stuff. So if you're on the original page (now called BettySplendens Bettas), please stay put! :P

For all the betta inquiries:
Just a reminder, I am not selling bettas in the US at the present time. I may begin to supply a few select bettas throughout Europe sometime in late Spring 2011. Cheers!

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