[Witchipoo]

Nice wedge shaped head with strong jaw, good big dark eye, love his pects, but they hide his ventrals. Good strong flat top line, little bit of a dip behind the dorsal but nice.wide strong peduncle. His dorsal is too narrow and anal is way too long, edges of both are messy. Nice delta shaped caudal with smooth edges. Color bands could be sharper, but color is evenly distributed. Overall, nice boy.

 

[trilobite]

You can practice on these 2 very different ladies if you want

both hmpk

 

[Kay333]

His fins are still recovering from fin rot but here's my guy Rudy. He hates staying still and doesn't flare often... Sorry for the bad pic quality!

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[Kay333]

What tail type do you think he is? I've had someone suggest he's maybe a rose tail??


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[ao]

Thought Id plop my new petco purchase in here so I can learn something!

Im not usually a fan of DTs but this bundle of stress stripes in a little cup implored me to take him home. lol. i think he's quite lovely for a DT.

Since I'm not at all versed in good betta coloration and form, I can definitely learn something new here!

let me have a crack at this and you guys can correct me.

I believe his anal is quite long, and the red coloration on his ventrals are undesirable. but his caudal and dorsal are somewhat even.

what else?

Ninja feesh! haiya!

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[lilnaugrim]

Lol, you have the cutest Betta photos ao!

Yes, about all you pointed out. Ideally on all fin types, the fins should be flat and not ruffled as they are in Rose/Feather tails. So he's nearing the edge of having too many branches which is what causes the tail to ruffle and billow. If only his caudal was longer because it's actually too small for the size of the dorsal and the anal fin. So, if that grows out more then he's good! Still, the ruffling is technically undesirable as far as that goes Looks like his lobes are both pretty even, hard to tell with the dorsal flopping over the top one though. If he reaches 180 then he's also good!

He is actually slightly spoonheaded there. Body is relatively nice for a DT! It compliments his fins well! He's also a Marble Copper. Yes, the red should only appear as a wash all around versus some showing in the anal and not in the dorsal/caudal and all of it in the ventrals. It should spread out more or just not be there at all lol.

Ventrals aren't as long as the anal, that's a fault. Also, they should be full knife-like shape all the way to the tips, his webbing kind of just stops about 2/3 of the way down and doesn't go straight to the end which is a fault.

As most DT's, he has reduced webbing on all his fins which is also a fault--likely he has CT in his genes somewhere up the pool.

Overall, he's mostly balanced, if his caudal was bigger and webbing wasn't reduced, you'd have a winner on your hands! :-D

 

[ao]

Whew, it's amazing how much thought you dedicate to your responses Lil!

I just read half this thread, and learned so much more on this topic than I had in the past 4 years of betta keeping! This side of the hobby can be a little snobbish sometimes, so I rarely ventures into these parts, but it such a great friendly and educational environment here, it puts a smile on my face

A little question on the coloration, you said he was a copper, but he seems to be a steel blue to me? Here's a color accurate photo incase the lighting was throwing you off.

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[lilnaugrim]

You know me ao ^_^ always happy to help! I'm glad many are learning here!! This is what a forum is all about!

Ah yes, he does look Steel Blue there. The two are pretty closely related so it can be difficult to tell sometimes depending on the lighting of course--as you know :-D He still looks like he came from a CopperxBlue spawn though or at least Copper is down in his line; it's very dominant over Steel Blue. Royal Blue and Turquoise are also dominant over Steel Blue which is why they aren't as common as Turquoise which are the most dominant of them all.

 

[Witchipoo]

He's a bit spoon headed, but has a good strong jaw. Nice big dark eye, his top line is relatively flat, just a slight curve. Good wide strong peduncle. A bit short nose to peduncle which gives him a little bit of an unbalanced look, that comes with the DT though. That dorsal is to die for! The mast could be.a bit taller, but it's nice and smooth all the way up. Dorsal and caudal are very evenly curved in that gorgeous half circle shape. His anal is a good bit too long, messes up the smooth half circle. Ventrals are nicely shaped and, as far as I can tell with the angle, of a good even length with the anal fin. Most people ignore the pectoral, but a Betta can't maneuver well without them, his are celo, so hard to see, but from what I can see they're a bit smallish and more delta shaped than HM. His color is beautifully even in spite of the marbeling, but there is some red wash on the anal and the red ventrals are both undesirable. I think of it this way though, does it detract from his overall appearance? I don't think so, it sort of accents his coloring. A fish doesn't swim with his color! So color, to me, is the least and last thing I look at.

 

[Olivia27]

^ don't wanna question anyone but I don't think I see a spoohead. Are you critique-ing ( what's the present continuos form of 'critique' lol) @ao's boy?

 

[Witchipoo]

^ don't wanna question anyone but I don't think I see a spoohead. Are you critique-ing ( what's the present continuos form of 'critique' lol) @ao's boy?

Yes, if you look at the first full side picture you can see where his head slopes sharply down in front of the eyes and ends at a slightly upturned mouth, giving his face a "pinched" look from the side.

 

[RussellTheShihTzu]

Hi, Folks:

Wanted to remind everyone that this is a teaching thread to help you learn to critique your Betta; not a thread for someone else to completely critique your Betta. So let us know what YOU see and we'll go from there. The only requirement is that you post a clear, full side-view flare shot. Without one a Betta cannot be critiqued.

Work with your Betta until you get the shot needed. Not only does it make critiquing possible it gives you a lot of interaction with your Betta...which they love.

 

[BettaMommaHeather]

So I am trying to learn all about betta form and thought i would give it a shot with my boy Greymane who is a Copper CT

1. his face kind slopes down with a bit of a pouty upper lip, I think this is what is called spoonheaded.
2. the slope of his head gives him a "hunchback" appearance
3. I do like the spread of his fins, they look very rounded except for the overlap of the dorsal and caudal fins.

So how did I do, what did I miss? Overall he is a nice fish for a walmart find. Its ok you can be honest, he is a pet so I know he is not perfect.

 

[ThatFishThough]

I saw some EPIC bettas on aquabid, in terms of form. Here's one. I'll do my best critquing it.

Let's start with these guys.

Guy 1:

Pros:
Beautiful color.
Nice Topline.
Forward Dorsal.
Okay-ish anal, pretty close to proper size.
Nice vents.

Cons:
I noticed there's something wonky going on with his rays. Bent/Uneven/Excessive?
Not 180 Cadual
No D Cadual

Is the spikey dorsal a fault?

 

[lilnaugrim]

So I am trying to learn all about betta form and thought i would give it a shot with my boy Greymane who is a Copper CT

1. his face kind slopes down with a bit of a pouty upper lip, I think this is what is called spoonheaded.
2. the slope of his head gives him a "hunchback" appearance
3. I do like the spread of his fins, they look very rounded except for the overlap of the dorsal and caudal fins.

So how did I do, what did I miss? Overall he is a nice fish for a walmart find. Its ok you can be honest, he is a pet so I know he is not perfect.

Love his name!

Yes, that is called spoonheaded. Hunchback is not a technical term so I usually don't promote it's use. With spoonheaded naturally comes that hunchback so it's simply assumed.

His color is nice and even. His fins are very messy though. The reduction of the webbing should be the same all the way around. Here, look at this thread: What is a good Crowntail? He lacks 180 degree spread needed. Dorsal does hit the caudal but it's still too small. Can't tell how many ray's he has.

I saw some EPIC bettas on aquabid, in terms of form. Here's one. I'll do my best critquing it.

Let's start with these guys.

Guy 1:

Pros:
Beautiful color.
Nice Topline.
Forward Dorsal.
Okay-ish anal, pretty close to proper size.
Nice vents.

Cons:
I noticed there's something wonky going on with his rays. Bent/Uneven/Excessive?
Not 180 Cadual
No D Cadual

Is the spikey dorsal a fault?

Instead of beautiful color, tell if the color is balanced or not. Color balance means that the fish shouldn't have a yellow dorsal fin, a blue anal, and a red caudal (granted, that would be super interesting but work with me lol), that isn't a balanced coloration. Instead, you'd want all yellow or all blue, all red. Or if it's a Butterfly, the band should go all the way around the fins, not just on the caudal or the anal fin and not the dorsal. Make sense?

Say smoothe topline, not nice topline. Toplines can be smooth, bumpy, flat, too arched, etc. Nice has no real description

So to describe these two:
Fish 1:

Slightly spoonheaded, too arched. Dorsal has a wonderful forward spread and very large in comparison. It has too many rays though which makes that ruffled look. The web reduction (spikey) is bad form though. Caudal is too ruffled; excessive branching. All fins should be flat. Caudal is rounded at the edges, not the perfect D shape it should be. Anal fin matches dorsal fin in shape which is great! It's slightly longer than the caudal but not so bad in comparison to others we've seen. Ventrals are wonderfully fat and thick, very wide spread. Ventral's are also split though which isn't good, but it does line up with the end of the anal which is good. His fins in all make a big circle in shape which is what the goal is!

 

[BettaMommaHeather]

Ty for that wonderful link Thatfishthough it was super helpful and i understand things a bit more.
Lilnaugrim, ty for your critque and for helping me understand a bit more. I appreciate it. Just a quick question though, since being spoon headed would the arching not even be commented on since it is assumed?
Ty again

 

[lilnaugrim]

Ty for that wonderful link Thatfishthough it was super helpful and i understand things a bit more.
Lilnaugrim, ty for your critque and for helping me understand a bit more. I appreciate it. Just a quick question though, since being spoon headed would the arching not even be commented on since it is assumed?
Ty again

Arch and humpback can be different. I use arch to explain the degree since they do vary. Humpback is usually just the general term. Does that make sense? It's confusing I know, sorry >.<

 

[Olivia27]

I always thought of it like this: spoon heads happen when a fairy pinched their little faces when they're a baby XD

Merah is spoonheaded

 

[Tourmaline]

So it's just what I call a grumpy face, or a dip just before their lips? I think Rajah is spoonheaded. I actually wanted to post him instead but Plakat form confuses me. I have more HMs for reference.

Okay, I see it now. Went to each tank and took a good look at them. I only have 3 males without spoonheads, including Meeko.

 

[lilnaugrim]

Spoonhead:

Not Spoonhead