Jaded12
The Betta Bug Has Bitten... Resistence Is Futile
I posted this awhile ago but its probably been lost in time so I'll repost it, its an article I wrote up awhile back hope people find it helpful
I'm sure many of us have had the problem of not being able to tell the tail types of our female bettas. So heres a guide on what to look for in females to better guess what tail type they may be. When figuring out the tail of type of your female the first thing to look for is the amount of rays she has, so first I will discuss how to count rays.
Different tail types have different amounts of rays. VT's, usually have two, as do CT's (though sometimes they can have more - up to 4 or 8 sometimes). HM's can have up to 8 (and have even been know to have as many as 12
), but usually have 4 or 6 (though a HM with only 4 - 6 rays would most likely be classified as a delta or super delta). PK's generally have two (traditional PK's) and HMPK can again have 4-8. When you look for rays, they always start off at the base of the fin as one big ray, then branch off about 1/4 to halfway down the main ray. It's the branching you want to count. It can be tricky to see sometimes.
Here's a pictures taken off of aquabid to show you what I'm talking about, lol.
I drew in the rays to make it clearer. In example #1 you can see the clearly defined 4 rays. But in example #2 you can see where the rays spliting off and there's actually a 5th ray, bettas rays comes in two's so when this fish is finished maturing there's a good chance that he'll have 6 rays. You measure your bettas fins by the highest ray-count. So it could have a few rays with 4, and a few with two, but would still be classified as a 4-ray.
Ok, now that you have an idea on how to count rays, we'll discuss each tail type individually. Here are pictures with certain highlighted points, look at the picture then we will discuss the highlights.
Veiltail
Ok, highlighted in red we see that the edges of her tail are not straight, they curve in toward each other.
In green we see that she only has 2 ray, a veil tail female will NEVER have more then 2 rays.
and In blue we see her anal fin, its long and scopy but not very well defined or symmetrical.
Delta/Super delta
Red - The edges of her tail are straight, the DO NOT curve in toward eachother.
Green - She has 4 rays, deltas/super deltas can have between 2-6 rays.
Blue - Her anal isn't as scopey as the veiltail and is more well defined, this is the type of anal we will see on the halfmoons as well.
Halfmoon
Red - Her tail had nice long straight edges, and when shes in full flare her tail make the shape of a perfect D.
Green - She had 8 rays, a halfmoon can have anywhere between 6 and 16 rays!!
Plakat
The only point I can really highlight here is her anal fin, a female plakat will have a smaller, straighter, shorter anal fin then any of the other females.
Double tail
Red - She'll obviously have 2 lobes, the more even the better
Blue - Double tails have a much long dorsal fin then any of the other tail types.
Telling a female from a male plakat
Red - Males tend to have much longer ventrals than females
Green - Males have an extra layer of skin on there gill making it possible for them to make the big flare face, lol. When females flare their girls will flare out but that BIG extra layer that frames the face won't be there.
Blue - Males have long pointed anal fins.
I'm sure many of us have had the problem of not being able to tell the tail types of our female bettas. So heres a guide on what to look for in females to better guess what tail type they may be. When figuring out the tail of type of your female the first thing to look for is the amount of rays she has, so first I will discuss how to count rays.
Different tail types have different amounts of rays. VT's, usually have two, as do CT's (though sometimes they can have more - up to 4 or 8 sometimes). HM's can have up to 8 (and have even been know to have as many as 12
), but usually have 4 or 6 (though a HM with only 4 - 6 rays would most likely be classified as a delta or super delta). PK's generally have two (traditional PK's) and HMPK can again have 4-8. When you look for rays, they always start off at the base of the fin as one big ray, then branch off about 1/4 to halfway down the main ray. It's the branching you want to count. It can be tricky to see sometimes.Here's a pictures taken off of aquabid to show you what I'm talking about, lol.
I drew in the rays to make it clearer. In example #1 you can see the clearly defined 4 rays. But in example #2 you can see where the rays spliting off and there's actually a 5th ray, bettas rays comes in two's so when this fish is finished maturing there's a good chance that he'll have 6 rays. You measure your bettas fins by the highest ray-count. So it could have a few rays with 4, and a few with two, but would still be classified as a 4-ray.
Ok, now that you have an idea on how to count rays, we'll discuss each tail type individually. Here are pictures with certain highlighted points, look at the picture then we will discuss the highlights.
Veiltail
Ok, highlighted in red we see that the edges of her tail are not straight, they curve in toward each other.
In green we see that she only has 2 ray, a veil tail female will NEVER have more then 2 rays.
and In blue we see her anal fin, its long and scopy but not very well defined or symmetrical.
Delta/Super delta
Red - The edges of her tail are straight, the DO NOT curve in toward eachother.
Green - She has 4 rays, deltas/super deltas can have between 2-6 rays.
Blue - Her anal isn't as scopey as the veiltail and is more well defined, this is the type of anal we will see on the halfmoons as well.
Halfmoon
Red - Her tail had nice long straight edges, and when shes in full flare her tail make the shape of a perfect D.
Green - She had 8 rays, a halfmoon can have anywhere between 6 and 16 rays!!
Plakat
The only point I can really highlight here is her anal fin, a female plakat will have a smaller, straighter, shorter anal fin then any of the other females.
Double tail
Red - She'll obviously have 2 lobes, the more even the better
Blue - Double tails have a much long dorsal fin then any of the other tail types.
Telling a female from a male plakat
Red - Males tend to have much longer ventrals than females
Green - Males have an extra layer of skin on there gill making it possible for them to make the big flare face, lol. When females flare their girls will flare out but that BIG extra layer that frames the face won't be there.
Blue - Males have long pointed anal fins.
ignore the black cricle
