# How to choose to best fighting betta



## fishy101

Does anyone know what types of betta are the best for fighting? Im not going to fight but usually the best is the most healthy


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## MR.FREEZ

youd probably have to get in contact with a breeder


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## Tinkerbelle

actually, the healthiest bettas do not always come from breeders.

the more refined lines of bettas (i.e. the 'purebreds' or fancier tail types) that most show breeders deal with are actually extremely inbred. they cross brother/sister mother/son etc. to create more refined genotypes in the next generation. therefore: they are often very fragile to illness.

likewise, the common 'veil tail' you're going to find at the petshop is already close to a year old and has probably lived most of its life in horrible tank conditions.

if you really truely want a healthy betta, see if you can get ahold of a wild b. splendens or pay the extra buck and go for a rarer betta type such as b. smaragdina or b. pugnax.

the closest you can get to a wild betta- or the fighter types they breed in thailand, is the 'plakat'. plakats are a short tailed variety of betta and i've had one or two, although the most aggressive of my bettas was a veil tail boy from walmart! also, the longest lived of my bettas was a breeders 'oops' where his prized over-halfmoon lavendar lace male jumped a divider and ended up spawning with a mustard gas crown tailed female. the resulting fry were mostly ugly but this male was kind of cool (lemon yellow all over with black outlining on the scales and purple iridescent lacing.... but a really shitty comb tail).

as for your logic: what are the best kind for fighting; the best ususally are the most healthy.... not really. the fighting males are the one that have so much rage they'll jump out of a tank to go at anything that MIGHT be another male. comparatively, their lifespans are somewhat along the lines of the show breeders. they may have a higher immune system, but they ARE inbred for those lovely rageaholic traits.


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## Silence

There was a moment in my childhood where all I did was spending most of my times with Bettas / the Fighting Fish / Siamese Fighting Fish. Being the kid that I was, sure I battled them with one and another. I can share my knowledge..

First of all you need to decide which type of Betta you would like to get. The strongest is definitely the larger species of Betta that they call the large / wild / sometimes the short tailed Bettas. Below are some pictures of the large Bettas. These are stronger fighters than the Bettas such as the Crown tail, Half-Moon, Double-tail and so on, basically it means the long tailed Bettas ( long tails is a weakness when it comes to fighting, it is more about displaying for mating like peacocks do and also when it comes to battle which is only to make them look bigger than they truly are ) which have smaller bodies.

So if your choice is the Large Betta then go for the one with a high, straight spinal fin. Bettas here would be placed in bottles next to each other. And a cardboard would be placed in between the two and this goes to every bottles so they do not see each other. A buyer when choosing a Betta would pull the cardboard out and observe the reaction of the two Bettas that are now visible to each other. Its biting skills, fins, its aggressiveness etc is obversed and studied. The buyer would see one by one and finally ends up with two bottles of Bettas that he believes are greater fighters. He then places the two against each other and see which one satisfies him. The one believed to be the best fighter would be purchased.

Betta fans that buy to battle with their friends' have crazy techniques of training their Bettas to be the toughest fighter. The one that I had seen them doing was burying the bottle along with the Betta in the sand / earth. But they would create a hole for it to breathe. The reason they do this is to keep the Betta in darkness to drive it crazy or mad by allowing it to only see darkness, nothing else. And when it sees another Betta, it would be so aggressive towards it, so they said, but I have never tried this.

There are so many, but you are just curious about a good fighter which makes a healty Betta. Besides what I have mentioned above, the Betta must also be very dark in colour, and the red, green, blue must be vibrant, strong, intense but not light and faded. This goes to the long tailed Bettas too if the long tailed Betta is your choice. If the Bettas are placed far from each other, then go with the colours, the spinal fin, its tails, try to let it spread its fins and tail by making it see another or take a small mirror with you, watch its behaviour, and try to interract gently, whatever satisfies you. I believe this will do, good luck!


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## Tinkerbelle

first off, he said he DID NOT wish to fight the fish, he is just looking for a healthy vital fish.

secondly.... they are called PLAKATS. not 'short finned'. it is a specific body type and tail type. plakats on the whole are around the same size as the fish with the flowing fins- sometimes much smaller. when you talk about the large bettas, i can but assume you mean giants. giant plakats are rare, often expensive, and have been rumored to reach 5"+.

what fin were you going for with 'spinal fin'??? dorsal? caudal? anal?

colors have nothing to do with their vitality. yes, fading can be attributed to stress or illness, but most fish when you go to pick them out are going to have some crappy coloring. it will all change when you get them settled into their home enviornment. as for the COLORS themselves: some fish are naturally pale colored, take a cellophane for example. no, it is not an albino, but a lack of pigmentation in the blue/green melanin tones of the scales and flesh (i think... may be wrong on that.... could be in the reds too?). here is a cellophane female i had. she was a very long lived and extremely healthy the entire time i had her.

View attachment 81117


here is an exceptionally brilliant royal blue halfmoon (with strong plakat genetics for tail branching and body conformation) female who was a MESS with health and vitality and ended up dying of dropsy.

View attachment 81118


here is a red cambodian marbled female who actually killed one of my males out of sheer aggression and bitchyness. this is the MEANEST FEMALE I HAVE EVER SEEN. she killed several guppies, one of my nicer delta male bettas, and ate the fins off of my cory cats







note: she had excessive green iridescent wash, but was a very LIGHT COLORED FISH.

View attachment 81119


the theory of keeping a betta in the dark is a very flawed one. bettas, being naturally agressive by nature, will actually take their aggression out on themselves. it is very prevolent in long tailed males who are kept in full view of one another (often in those really shitty little 'betta hex' tanks that are less than 1/2 a gallon) and they will shred their own tails and fins and more often then not end up with a nasty case of fin rot. plakats, on occasion, have been known to do this too. by keeping a fish in the dark it will frustrate the betta and he may self mutilate. revealing him to the light before a fight may also confuse and even shock him into premature death.

like i said, i had a few plakats, they were vibrant reds and blues. they WERE NOT MY MOST AGGRESSIVE FISH. my worst one i ever had was a yellow fish with black barring and purple irridescence. he was half crowntail, half half-moon and a real bastard. the second most aggressive fish i had was a veil tail who was WHITE with turqouise cambodian marbling.

as for keeping a betta, here is my website:

BETTER BETTA CARE


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## Puff

i got 2 bettas from petcetera because i felt sorry for them, and it was buy 1, get 1 free...so i got it.

gave one to my gf, took the other one home.

my guy, "Ricky" because he has quite the coiffe, and is named after the "Trailer Park Boy" Ricky, is a tough customer. for a while he was beign kept in a very large breeder net in my gfs tank. and he would try and start fights with german rams, angelfish, and all the tetras. he flared and flared, and got so aggressive. its pretty funny...all i have to do to set him off is wave somthing colourful in front of his tank.

my gf gave her betta to my aunt...who is putting him onto a 27gallon hex tank....lucky betta!!


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## Silence

Tinkerbelle said:


> first off, he said he DID NOT wish to fight the fish, he is just looking for a healthy vital fish.
> 
> secondly.... they are called PLAKATS. not 'short finned'. it is a specific body type and tail type. plakats on the whole are around the same size as the fish with the flowing fins- sometimes much smaller. when you talk about the large bettas, i can but assume you mean giants. giant plakats are rare, often expensive, and have been rumored to reach 5"+.
> 
> what fin were you going for with 'spinal fin'??? dorsal? caudal? anal?
> 
> colors have nothing to do with their vitality. yes, fading can be attributed to stress or illness, but most fish when you go to pick them out are going to have some crappy coloring. it will all change when you get them settled into their home enviornment. as for the COLORS themselves: some fish are naturally pale colored, take a cellophane for example. no, it is not an albino, but a lack of pigmentation in the blue/green melanin tones of the scales and flesh (i think... may be wrong on that.... could be in the reds too?). here is a cellophane female i had. she was a very long lived and extremely healthy the entire time i had her.
> 
> View attachment 81117
> 
> 
> here is an exceptionally brilliant royal blue halfmoon (with strong plakat genetics for tail branching and body conformation) female who was a MESS with health and vitality and ended up dying of dropsy.
> 
> View attachment 81118
> 
> 
> here is a red cambodian marbled female who actually killed one of my males out of sheer aggression and bitchyness. this is the MEANEST FEMALE I HAVE EVER SEEN. she killed several guppies, one of my nicer delta male bettas, and ate the fins off of my cory cats
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> note: she had excessive green iridescent wash, but was a very LIGHT COLORED FISH.
> 
> View attachment 81119
> 
> 
> the theory of keeping a betta in the dark is a very flawed one. bettas, being naturally agressive by nature, will actually take their aggression out on themselves. it is very prevolent in long tailed males who are kept in full view of one another (often in those really shitty little 'betta hex' tanks that are less than 1/2 a gallon) and they will shred their own tails and fins and more often then not end up with a nasty case of fin rot. plakats, on occasion, have been known to do this too. by keeping a fish in the dark it will frustrate the betta and he may self mutilate. revealing him to the light before a fight may also confuse and even shock him into premature death.
> 
> like i said, i had a few plakats, they were vibrant reds and blues. they WERE NOT MY MOST AGGRESSIVE FISH. my worst one i ever had was a yellow fish with black barring and purple irridescence. he was half crowntail, half half-moon and a real bastard. the second most aggressive fish i had was a veil tail who was WHITE with turqouise cambodian marbling.
> 
> as for keeping a betta, here is my website:
> 
> BETTER BETTA CARE


You are right, Plakats or Plakad ( Fighting Fish in Thai language ) was what I was referring to but then see how I described it ,"...the larger species of Betta that they call the large / wild / sometimes the short tailed Bettas," which they do was totally different than how you said I mentioned it. As for colouring fading etc, yes I know there are light coloured Bettas too, and some crappy coloured too and as for the truly faded ones, it would be fine when it is moved to a better environment and is taken cared well, yes. Sorry to hear about the one that died, and I was referring to the spinal / dorsal fin. And yes I know he wasn't looking for one to fight that was why I had mentioned about it at the end and didn't go further with the single ridiculous technique and all. That technique, is stupid, you are right with the reasons you gave, I don't think it makes sense but this isn't a professional training, this is just silly but there are real Betta trainings used by the Thai people. And I was only talking about male Bettas. And I referred to the Plakat / Plakad because they were the ones I used to buy besides the rest in my childhood and they were the strongest. And you have a nice website, will be very useful for fishy101. Take care!

And if you don't believe me, here read this: ( again, yes not for fighting but the stronger ones if he wishes to know )

There are two chief kinds of Siamese fighting fish- Plakad lukmoh and Plakat pah (Plakad is the Thai name of fighting fish). The former kind can hardly be fond in the natural habitats today but it is bred by enthusiasts and is sold sometimes for two to three baht. The Plakad lukmoh is a tough guy which does not know the meaning of defeat.

Plakad pah abounds everywhere, even in the canals in Bangkok's twin city of Thonburi. This species has a longer body but it has no stamina for prolonged battles.

Plakad lukmoh and Plakad pah have been cross-bred.

A Siamese fighting fish is no more than five centimeters in length and no more than one centimeter in width. It may be caught in the ponds and marshes with the use of nets or sieves with tiny holes. When caught, the fish should be put into bottles of water. Pond water is better than water from the pipes at home.

Only the males are fighters. They may be distinguished from the females by their more brilliant colors, longer tails and bigger fins.

Plakad lukmoh was the successive perfection of development of Plakad pah or wild caught betta. Because if the breeder cross-breed with Plakad pah again. The outcome of the whole batch will become weaker and not so tough.

The cross breed Plakad lukmoh with Plakad pah or wild caught betta is called hybrid, in Thai word call "Sangasi" or in short "Pla sang". The main intention of breeding hybrid is to fight with Plakad pah. Because the pattern of the hybrid type is very close to Plakad pah some even look the same as Plakad pah but half of it is the real fighter. The hard core breeder using it to deceiving a foolish gambler. However, hybrid type can not fight with Plakad lukmoh.

In short, hybird type is the middle range between Plakad lukmoh and Plakad pah. It is superior if fighting with Plakad pah, which is lower grade in fighting capability.

If we take the beauties of the fish into our consideration. You will find that hybrid type get the nature of brightness, sparkling and the enthusiastically habit from Betta Imbellis. The owner of wild caught betta surely must fully agree with me. On the other hand, hybrid type has been obtained the strength from Plakad lukmoh or short fin Betta splendens. These two characteristics mold the hybrid type look super great.

See that? Short fin Betta...I will stop here.


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## Oscar5001

Great information Tinkerbell!!







My bettas just freakin' sit there all damn day doing next to nothing. Guess they aren't the fighting variety. I've had them both for over a year and a half now so they must either be genitically superior fishies, or I am a true Betta Masta.


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## Tinkerbelle

betta males should never be kept in full sight of one another for risk of self mutilation, however for periods of no more than 15-20 minutes you CAN put them in sight of one another for 'flaring' exercize. actually, the males with exceptionally heavy finnage REQUIRE daily flaring because of the risk of the rays of the caudal collapsing in on themselves. if you don't have 2 males, this can also be accomplished with a mirror (make sure it is not an enlarging mirror, i've had males FLEE from those! lol).


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## fishy101

Wow! thanks guys, you really know betta. I do have 2 shot tail gaint betta and they are huge. Around 6+ centimeter. I my mind I think that they are the best fighters because they are so big and they have a very short tail. My cousins betta fight my betta onces then run because my betta is too big and mean.

Which betta is better for FIghting, RED Or Blue short tail gaints? 
I have a red and a blue and they seem to be at the same level. UNDIFEATED against all other bettas that I have fought.


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## Mettle

I had a melano plakat male. He was awesome. And MEAN. I wish I still had him.


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## fishy101

R PLak and short tail gaint the same???

RED OR BLUE PLAK? which fight better?


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## Tinkerbelle

fishy101 said:


> R PLak and short tail gaint the same???
> 
> RED OR BLUE PLAK? which fight better?


thought you said you didn't fight them. fighting two fish is inhumane, and i attribute it to the same level of lowness as pitbull fighting. seriously, get a hobby that doesn't feed your male machismo in such a barbaric way.

the red vs blue debate is pretty interesting in the betta world. most people say reds are the most aggressive and yet i had a purple laced pineapple that kicked ass. like piranhas, i believe it comes down to the individual fish AND its ancestry.

as for giantism in bettas it is prevolently seen in the plakat form of the betta. so your fish are giant plakats, but carry the gene for giantism and when crossed on a normal female you will end up with larger than normal fry, but if she has no 'giant' genes you will have no giant fry. when the fry are crossed on each other, i believe the split is 50/50 giant, and those resulting fry will have 75/25 giant fry.


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## iigwk

It is important to know what one should look for when buying a Betta from the pet store. The fish should be a healthy specimen from the outset. If you end up buying an unhealthy Betta, it is an almost certain recipe for disaster. You could end up spending many distressing hours trying to improve its looks, color and general health to no avail. These fragile fish do not recover easily from malnourishment or maltreatment and you would be heart-broken if it died in your care.

It is always a good starting point to make sure that the Betta fish was well cared-for during its stay at the pet store. In fact, make sure that it is actually alive while you are in the store. Sometimes Betta fish lie dead in plastic bags or glass bowls, something that could go completely unnoticed. Often, the Betta fish in the stores are already sick because of the less-than-healthy conditions in which they may have been kept. By going to an obscure pet store, you could be doing yourself a disservice. Stick to those that enjoy a good reputation.

Tips for Choosing a Healthy Betta at The Store

Check out the surrounding environment: Make sure that the jars, in which the fish are kept, are clean. The water should appear fresh and clear with no traces of leftover food. There should be no bad odors emanating from the jars. These malodors could possibly be from dead fish. Next, a thorough check-up of the fish needs to be undertaken.

Check the body: The body should be free from any kind of lumps or bumps. The scales are flat and smooth in a healthy Betta, with missing and loose scales signifying a history of trauma and illness. White patches on the body could be indicative of a fungus infection. If its stomach is swollen, consider this a clear warning that the Betta is certainly not well.

Check the Fins and Gills: There should be no discolorations, tears or holes when the Betta's fins are extended. This may be very difficult to properly check, because it is almost impossible for the Betta to extend its fins in the tiny bag or container that it is usually kept in at a pet store. In fact, Betta fins get broken or torn because of the very fact that they are kept for extended periods of time in containers way too small for them. When these showy fish swim around, their fins brush against the walls of the containers and tend to break. The gills should look smooth and flat with no sign of peeling. There should be absolutely no lumps or discoloration at all.

Check the Color: Healthy Betta fish are brightly colored with no apparent discoloration. Unhealthy Betta fish have a pale appearance with some discoloration seen along their body or face.

Check the eyes: Healthy Betta fish have clear eyes. Do not buy Betta fish whose eyes are either sunken or bulging.

Check the Behavior: Betta fish are usually active and float upright, unless they are sleeping. Bring your hand close to the Betta fish to make sure that it is alert. Don't end up startling it though jabbing a finger into the bag in which it is stored, or by tapping against its bowl. Rather move your hand gently toward the Betta and gauge its reaction. Be subtle and gentle so as not to traumatize the fish. A healthy Betta is very alert and will always react in one way or the other to the movement it detects, though it may not always respond by flaring.Tips for Choosing a Healthy Betta at The Store


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