[AshenEmberose]

I just recently found out about betta showing and I wanted some help learning how to judge betta fish. I've attached some photos of my boy Alarik to start(in temporary tank). I've been told he is a Double Tail HalfMoon irid multicolor and he has clean conformation I believe.

I'd love to find out how to count rays. I understand that my boy might not be the best, but I'm hoping to work up to breeding showline betta eventually so I'd like to know what to look for and improve upon with the offspring.

 

[AshenEmberose]

I found an article on how to count rays which was really helpful, but I cant seem to figure out how to count them on my boy. I think I want to get the female I breed him to to have very prominent rays so its easier to count, plus it looks prettier to me.

 

[indjo]

Look up, or even better, join IBC. Personally, I find their pages rather tricky to go through, but its there.Betta territory is another site you can learn from.

If you look at close up pictures of betta's fins namely caudal, you can see lines. These are the fin's bone structure - the rays. From the end of the body, each ray will branch, and each of which will branch further. . . .if one initial ray becomes 4 at the end of the caudal, its a 4 ray. 8 rays means 1 will branch into 8 at the end. . . . And so on.
**** Its difficult to spot rays on live, moving bettas. You need a close up side view of them flaring to see their rays.

 

[AshenEmberose]

I've been looking through the IBC website for the last couple weeks and I'm still having a hard time navigating it all. It seems like whenever I think I'm gonna find something there, it isn't. I was just looking into the IBC show forms and I realized I needed to find the classes of color and finnage but I couldn't find them for the life of me. I've seen them around before I believe but no idea where. The pdf for the standards was really slow to scroll through on my pc too so that made it more difficult. I wish there was a picture guide on what to look for and what to stay away from if you want to show bettas. That would be really helpful.

 

[indjo]

Tbh, I've never read the IBC standard . . . I looked through it once and thought I'd read it later. But could never find it again. Try betta territory. It's close to IBC standards, and shows ilustrations of what is meant.

In general, it's all about balance. HM is supposed to form a half circle when fully flared. All fins must be same length. Ideally, dorsal and anal should lean forward with long front rays. Caudal should look like "D".

Pattern should also be balanced (don't fully understand the details) - either 1 solid color all over body and fins (except head that are naturally blackish on regular colors - non metallic) . . . Or show balanced/equal pattern. For example: butterfly should have 50-50 color bands - preferably on all fins. Koi/fancy should show same pattern on both sides. . . . Etc.

Sorry, don't have pictures to help you better understand.

 

[AshenEmberose]

Are you allowed to show petstore bettas if they seem to be show quality? I just found 2 really nice bettas that I think could do well at a show.