What to look for when choosing a new Betta

[Agility4fun]

I couldn't find this in other threads.

What should you look for when choosing a new Betta?

Activity level?
Color?
Size?
Type/style?

[ChoclateBetta]

It should react to you and you should like the look they change color and activity when they are in good tanks.

[registereduser]

What should you look for when choosing a new Betta? answers in green are JMHO

Activity level?Yes. Even if they are just resting, they should be active when you pick up the cup. I would hesitate to buy an inactive betta laying on its side or all clamped up (unless I was going to rescue it and rehab it.)

Color?Color is secondary to health but still a big part of my choosing. I like unique! Elephant ears, dragon scales, marbles, now with Stumpy I just went for his bizarre-ness

Size?Matters not to me. Altho I would love a king/giant betta with pretty colors someday.

Type/style?I ended up with a variety of tails and types but this wasn't as important as health and color.

HTH!

[Chuckee]

I -always- go for activity, in that they respond, like Choclate said. It's the only time I appreciate getting flared at
Also, choose a color you like, and a fin-type you like. I'm not partial to those double-tailed ones - they creep me out, so obviously I wouldn't love it like my loves.
But on top of that, make sure they're not deformed! This is -really- important of pet-store bettas, and fish in general.
Size is not really important, but they should be well-proportioned. Some have big heads and short bodies, others have outrageous fins and bodies too small to really hold them up.
Curled fins won't ever straighten out, so choose whether or not to accept those, and oftentimes, they'll have mismatched "arm-fins" (I forgot the proper name like 12 seconds ago!).
Check for kinked spines and funny eyes (I've seen some weird things with fishes' eyes in pet shops) and anything else you can think of, then make a rational decision, 'cause there's nothing worse than having them die in a week, or never really perk up to having their own home.

[ChoclateBetta]

I just want to point out color can change significantly when bought they really color up.

[Chuckee]

Originally Posted by ChoclateBetta

I just want to point out color can change significantly when bought they really color up.

Totally. I bought a "silver" (he was grey, really) who turned a brilliant shade of lavender/rose... Unfortunately, he jumped his bowl, going after flies, I think. I thought that the plants in it would discourage that, and honestly, I had never had a jumper before him, so didn't really put too much paranoia into it. But then, he was plakat, and I usually keep half-moons. I suppose it's easier to jump without those huge fins dragging you down...?

[ChoclateBetta]

All bettas should have lids and it sounds like a small bowl.

[Chuckee]

Originally Posted by ChoclateBetta

All bettas should have lids and it sounds like a small bowl.

I know that now. I have learned my lesson, I assure you. Although, I don't use lids, per se, I actually have mesh or cloth over them.
And it wasn't a small bowl, at all. Admittedly, I was looking for something bigger (I did point out that he was a rescue, along with my brown "HM") but -none- of my bettas spend more than the requisite 15-20 minutes in those ridiculous cups, and nobody gets less than 2 gallons, ever. That plakat was being temporarily housed in a shallowish 2.5 gallon container, because I immediately found out that he was going to scare the HM to death through the divider.
I did end up moving the brown into a smaller bowl (covered!) though, as he didn't seem very comfortable in the tank. I have a female that did the same thing... They just sat cowering in a corner and barely eating. Now they're both in 2 gallons (apprx) and happy as clams.

[ChoclateBetta]

I only have a delta tail.

[LittleBlueFishlets]

Well, I'm a newbie about this, but I looked for:

Color first: Because I like color. So I only looked at brightly colored fish, and the more blue they had, the better.

Health/Activity level second: Once I narrowed the assortment down to blue, I looked for something that was healthy looking.

Size and type/style was last.

But as I said, I'm a newbie. If you ask some of the others, they'll probably be able to tell you more about conformation, body shape and size, etc.