what to look for

[sweetlybroken1]

I hope I’m posting in the right spot.
I started out with 1 betta and fell in love i now have 10 and would love some info. My question is what do you look for when getting a new betta. I have personally fallen in love with the CT but when looking to get a new fish I have no idea what to look for. Are there standards that I want to look for or do I look through the selection and pic the one I think looks the coolest?

[BeckyFish97]

If you are picking a fish as a pet then it really is up to you, there are certain things you may want to look for if you want something specific, for example, if you want a red fish, what sort of red?blood red?fire engine red?or maybe green, the ideal is a deep forest green. In terms of finnage I know with some pet stores it's hard to see the fins in those tiny cups, but try your best!for crowntails look for nice even rays (the bits that stick out), plakat's I'm no expert with, but I would say look for one with a nice even spread, Halfmoon's, you dont want one with with too long an anal fin, look for one with an anal fin that isnt much longer than the bottom edge of the caudal, or one that ends exactly the same height.(HMPK is basically just pk and hm put together so employ both ideals for this) Delta tails again, I'm no expert on so the only thing I can say here is even fins (same with super delta)
With doubletails look for one with even lobes, you don't want one with an overlarge bottom or top lobe as I have found that this can cause a couple of problems swimming (I.M.E)
Veiltails are often overlooked for flashier betta's but I try not to make this mistake, veiltails when properly cared for can be beautiful!
I tried not to miss anything out but probably did anyway!
The 2 most important things to me are to know what I am looking for, but to also know that it is not a bad thing to change your mind!!!

[chrissylee13]

some people also like to "rescue" they're new bettas. so they pick ones that don't look as healthy so they can rehabilitate them. if that's something you know a lot about or want to do thats an option.

if not i mainly look for signs of health and colors i like. so looking for healthy bettas you wanna see them flaring, swimming around, interacting with you or other bettas. you don't want to see any bloating, fins falling apart, body damage, fungus.. etc.

thats how i go about it. some times i actually choose one based off of how much they are interested in me. some people have said "the betta chose them" and it does happen!

[Sheldon31]

As I had no time or experience to take care of a sick betta so I looked for good fins and tail, no clamping, signs of rot and good colouration. I watched their behaviour for around 10 minutes. Kyon flared beautifully for me when aproached his tank and watched the people walking past. Ky chose me, like Chrissylee said he looked at me and I knew he was the one. I also chose a shop where I knew the care was up to scratch and I asked lots of questions subtle enough not to let them think I was giving them a grilling but the answers were enough to know they were caring for the fish so I wasn't going to bring home a sick fish that I didn't know if I could care for properly.

I also chose Kyon for his fin and tail size and shape. I knew I wanted a blue betta or a cambodian. At the time they have both. Unfortunately the cambodian didn't look too well and didn't move much and sat at the bottom except to come up for air.

[Twilight Storm]

If you are asking about standards for show fish, I don't think The IBC shares that information with non-members. I could be wrong? If you are in the USA, I think any shows would be using the IBC standards?

Here is the show standards I go by. I don't know how similar they are to IBC standards:

http://www.bettaterritory.nl/BT-Bettas4allStandard.htm

(I don't belong to the IBC... yet at least...still have not convinced myself to give them money when I don't know what I will actually get out of a membership.)

Here is a link to the IBC too in case you wanted to look into them:

http://ibcbettas.org/en/

When I go looking at bettas though I end up just "getting a feeling" I need to bring whichever particular one I just can't put down, or keep coming back to, home. I have 7 now as pets. I am going to be getting a nice quality breeding pair at some point. The standards on Betta Territory is what I am "going for" when I start to breed them.