"king" Bettas

[keithp]

I was in Petco and I saw these HUGE bettas sold called "king bettas". They were all short finned males, most dark blue with a few red dots here and there. They were so big they were twice as large as the largest regular male betta sold. Why are they so big, any info on them?

 

[Karplunk]

I was in Petco and I saw these HUGE bettas sold called "king bettas". They were all short finned males, most dark blue with a few red dots here and there. They were so big they were twice as large as the largest regular male betta sold. Why are they so big, any info on them?

They are a species of betta called "chupang raja", which means "king betta" in Indonesian. They are not plakats, they are bigger than plakats but aren't giant bettas either. Some experts think it's a breed from the "crowntail betta". I don't think they are related. It's a relatively new breed.

 

[helterskelter]

Betta raja

Photo's from google

 

[modaz]

There are 2 forms of kings parading the internet at the moment, the most common or should i say most desirable is the crown king, this is where there is an intense webbing inside the extensions of the tail and the tips of the extensions divert at angles and cross in good examples, the other is the PK King, a very solid bodied fish and rather large but not as big as the gaint as stated above and easily mistaken for a standard pk. It did cross my mind if our imported pks were from a king line due to their size being just short of gaint status and their bodieds being very thick set but I didnt ask so i dont know

 

[wendywc]

I just saw them for the first time in person at a Petco near me. There were only four that I saw; three of which were dark blue and the last one was red with a few big white spots on the fins. They were all very fat bodied with short fins and kept in the same cups that they use for other bettas... which dwarfed the cups even more.

I was almost tempted to keep bettas again with that giant red.