How do you tell the difference...?
- Thread starter cation
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did you see the imbellis i posted in that thread? imbellis is a smaller fish than spendens plakat, they both look very similar except imbellis are metallic irredescent, another good tip is their gills are metallic irredescent as well, (sometimes blue or green double bars) (splendens will display double red stripes on the gills) imbellis will sometimes display a red tip on the anal fin as well. they are both originally bred for fighting and while not as big as it's cousin splendens (it has been theorized that they are both the same species of fish with only regional differences) it is faster and somewhat more unpredictable.cation said:
Yay, I'm glad you were here, bkk, I knew you'd have the answer to this question. So are both the imbellis and splendis considered plakats? Are the splendis ever irridescent? I'm really starting to like these guys a lot - My short tail has a great personality - but I still don't even know what he is. He's really spazzy, though, and when he flares, he does a lot of "posing", which my veiltail and HM don't. I just love him. 
Oh, and I did see the picture you posted in that thread - beautiful!
edited to add: just went to the website selling the betta you posted. The one above it, the copper one, is what the coloring on my guy looks like. He's kinda a burgandy color with that coppery/gold coating on it. (although he doesn't look that pretty. He's still recovering from all the fighting at the lfs, but his fins are starting to come back.)
edited to add: just went to the website selling the betta you posted. The one above it, the copper one, is what the coloring on my guy looks like. He's kinda a burgandy color with that coppery/gold coating on it. (although he doesn't look that pretty. He's still recovering from all the fighting at the lfs, but his fins are starting to come back.)
"pla" means fish, "kat" means biting in the thai language. traditionally, short-tail "fighters" in thailand are called plakat. they could be imbellis, splendens or smaragdina or malachai etc.cation said:Yay, I'm glad you were here, bkk, I knew you'd have the answer to this question. So are both the imbellis and splendis considered plakats? Are the splendis ever irridescent? I'm really starting to like these guys a lot - My short tail has a great personality - but I still don't even know what he is. He's really spazzy, though, and when he flares, he does a lot of "posing", which my veiltail and HM don't. I just love him.
splendens can be irredescent and sometimes even "metallic" (but gills will not be metallic on splendens) esecially if it has been crossed with either smaragdina or imbellis somewhere down the line.
short-tails will always hold a special place in my heart, real characters
Smaragdina? Malachai? I've never even heard of them! Looks like I have a bit more research to do on the topic. It's always funny to me that it's not until I start learning about something that I realize how little I know!
does your fish look like this?cation said:
at first i thought he was imbellis but later it was determined that if anything he might be crossed, his gills are not metallic irredescent though so calling him a "copper plakat" splendens is justifiable
they are "wild" bettas and are not really common outside of asia. they are important though because they are the fish that were originally crossed with splendens years ago to start the whole betta breeding thing we know today. smaragdina is sometimes called the "northern fighter" and they are beautiful fish with deep blue or green metallic colouration similar to imbellis. they acheive a larger length (around 3 inches) than imbellis though and have longer fins.cation said:
i love the history of the fighting fish, say what you want about the cruilty of actually fighting them but the history of how they came to be (and have come to be) is what i really devour
I don't know. I'm not sure if it's just the picture, but it looks like that guy has a little green, which my guy doesn't - he's more of a browny burgandy red underneath, no green at all. Also, I can't tell how goldish that guy is, I think just because of the picture. This guy has a pretty prominant goldy/bronzy layer over his base color.
I'm also not sure (pardon my stupidity) what you mean by his gills being metallic - on the outside, or on the inside when he flares? (I have to go look...*grin*)
*edited to add: Just went to look. His gills on the outside are the same as the rest of him (that doesn't make any sense - equally metallic, and I held a mirror up - the gills are dark red on the inside, except a round area in the middle is kinda silvery gold. Not the same bronzy as the outside, though...
I'm also not sure (pardon my stupidity) what you mean by his gills being metallic - on the outside, or on the inside when he flares? (I have to go look...*grin*)
*edited to add: Just went to look. His gills on the outside are the same as the rest of him (that doesn't make any sense - equally metallic, and I held a mirror up - the gills are dark red on the inside, except a round area in the middle is kinda silvery gold. Not the same bronzy as the outside, though...
yes, it's a crappy pic, he has a dark burgundy base colour (no green) with metallic copper scales. the outside of the gills should be metallic if he is true imbellis, mine are the burgundy red base colour.cation said:
i aquaired a copper plakat female recently and she is more of a golden colour, but retaining the burgundy red veins inthe fins so they will make the perfect pair when i eventually breed them (crown-tail project is up next)
Well, the more I hear about it, the more fascinated I am. They are such feisty little guys. I'm not personaally into the fighting part, but in a historical sense I find it interesting.bkk_group said:i love the history of the fighting fish, say what you want about the cruilty of actually fighting them but the history of how they came to be (and have come to be) is what i really devour
then we agreecation said:Well, the more I hear about it, the more fascinated I am. They are such feisty little guys. I'm not personaally into the fighting part, but in a historical sense I find it interesting.bkk_group said:i love the history of the fighting fish, say what you want about the cruilty of actually fighting them but the history of how they came to be (and have come to be) is what i really devour
sounds like you have a real beauty by the way, i'd love to see some pics (hint hint)
Hmmm... his gills are metallic on the outside. Perhaps I should have bought all four of the males they had at the lfs that time - they all came in in the same batch (as females 
).
They were all pretty beat up though - they said they'd done nothing but fight. I asked why they didn't put them in the betta barracks, and they said they "hadn't had time". I tell yah, for the most part they take good care of their fish, they are by far the best lfs around my area, but that ticked me off a bit.
).They were all pretty beat up though - they said they'd done nothing but fight. I asked why they didn't put them in the betta barracks, and they said they "hadn't had time". I tell yah, for the most part they take good care of their fish, they are by far the best lfs around my area, but that ticked me off a bit.
We sure do. Wait till I do a bit more reading about it and I'll have all sorts of questions, then you'll really get sick of me quickly!bkk_group said:then we agree
sounds like you have a real beauty by the way, i'd love to see some pics (hint hint)
If I'd stop buying so many fish I might have enough money for a digital camera!
Soon, hopefully. I'm a student and cash is a bit tight, but I'm graduating in three months and will be able to go back to the working world full time. You'll definately be able to see some pics by the middle or end of the summer. Maybe sooner - I've been itching to show off my bettas! My super delta, or half moon, or whatever he is, is a real looker too.Similar threads
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