"Cockerel species" - it is very difficult to choose a description of such a question for several reasons, one of the main reasons for this is the very name "cockerel" given to fighting fish leading their history from Siam and as a synonym - Siamese cockerel. Natural forms of Betta splendens specially selected and prepared for fish fighting fall under this definition, and more precisely this form of fish is characterized by the so-called short-tailed cockerel - a poster (Plakat or Plakad) from which the Russian-language name of the cockerel fish came. Betta imbellis and Betta smaragdina also took part in the battles - therefore, the name - cockerel can also be attributed to these species of Betta. But the name "cockerel" stuck to all varieties of Betta, although I think this is wrong and as such "cockerel" refers only to Siamese fighting cockerel Betta splendens. But even after that, explaining what kind of cockerels are does not become an easy task. Well, let's try to figure it out together. While we leave the color variations of Bettas and try to understand the existing forms, which over the years of selection have not appeared. Starting with the natural short-tailed form (Plakat or Plakad) in the literature designated PT
At this stage, I can't say what kind of forms appeared next and in what order, so I'll just try to list them.
Crown-tailed cocks: Betta splendens Crowntail (CT) are increasingly gaining popularity. Crowns appeared in 1997, thanks to the efforts of the Indonesian breeder Ahmad Yusuf. Later, we will take a more detailed look at the biography of Ahmad Yusuf and analyze his work and contribution to the selection of roosters, and for now I can say that the requirements for a purebred crown tail are quite high. On the market in most cases there are "spoiled" crown-tailed cocks with twisted and curved rays of fins in different directions, with unevenly distributed interbeam tissue of the caudal fins and much more. Next, I will give an example of the crowned bearer of the champion title of the Aquarama exhibition in Singapore in 2005:
Crown-tailed cocks, in turn, can also be divided into several groups. Depending on the structure of the beam tissue and mebrana, there are corona-tail with crossed rays (pairs of rays cross at the ends forming X), double rays (pairs of rays are connected to each other by a membrane) and single rays.
Crescent or "Halfmoons": Half Moon (HM) - cocks with magnificent large symmetrical caudal fins, the extreme rays of which in an excited state spread at 90 degrees to the body line, while the caudal fin forms the correct "D."
Rosachvost (RoseTail) - all signs of Half Moon, but the plexus of the tail rays forms "intricacies" which, even in an expanded state, do not align in one line forming minted edges resembling rose petals
Spade Tail or Spear Tail (ST). - the name speaks for itself, the caudal fin is pointed.
Delta Tail - the extreme rays of the caudal fin are turned at an angle of less than 130 degrees, but the angles are not smoothed and form a right angle. The designation D is used for the description.
Super Delta - can be considered a transitional form between the delta and the halfmoons, namely the extreme rays of the caudal fin form an angle of more than 130 degrees but less than 180.
Although many people call cockerels other varieties of Betta, but I consider this erroneous, you can read about such species here.
To work on the article, materials from the following sites were used: www.bettysplendens.com, bettas.narod.ru (in particular photographs) www.halfmoonclub.co.kr