Types of Cockerel Fish

At the beginning of the XIX century, in Siam, residents found in the muddy waters of stagnant lakes a gray nondescript fish with small fins, which has a rather aggressive character in relation to individuals of its species. People were interested in the fighting qualities of a small fish, and Pla Kat, or biting fish, began to be used for tournament fish fights. The most successful representatives of the fish were used to produce offspring.

In the process of selection, the first individuals with an elongated tail were obtained, which were interestingly revealed during the manifestation of aggression or mating. Due to the fighting nature and beautiful tail, the fish were associated with homemade males, so they began to be called - Siamese cockerel fish (by origin).

Today, lovers of cockerels have little interest in her fighting qualities, but they appreciate the chic appearance. The nondescript fighting fish over the years of selection has become a welcome decoration of the aquarium, acquiring rich tail and fins and a variety of colors.

In the natural environment, the cockerel has an olive color with a grayish tint with longitudinal or transverse stripes and small rounded fins. The length of an adult fish is about 40-50 mm. Females are slightly smaller than males and are colored paler. Males grow up to 5 cm, females - no more than 4 cm.

Aquarium owners have been breeding Siamese cockerel for more than 150 years, having received more than 10 species of fish, differing in size and shape of fins, in different color options, turning a nondescript individual into a true decoration of a home reservoir.

Shimmering in the light with all the colors of the rainbow, the fishes leave no one indifferent.

A particular pride of the domesticated fighting fish is the shape and size of its fins, which the male very beautifully fluffs, caring for the female or threatening potential invaders of the territory.

Professional aquarium fish breeders and breeders, creating a sales description, males are divided into species according to the shape of the tail and fins, highlighting several groups.

• Crescent-tailed fighting fish or halfmoons. Half-men have a large veil tail that resembles an open fan or crescent in shape. The extreme rays of the caudal fin in the open state diverge by 180 °, forming an ideal semicircle. The remaining fins are also longer and lush than other types of males. When a half-moon opens its fins to its full potential, it is impossible not to admire the veil surrounding it.

• Crowned Cocks. The unique large veiled tail, as well as the dorsal and anal fins of the crown-tailed fighting fish, with their shape dissected into individual rays, resemble the royal crown. There are three types of crown tails, distinguished by the quality of the protruding rays. This is a single-ray fish, in which the shape of the open fins resembles a comb. There are fish with double rays. In such fish, elongated tail rays are connected in pairs by a membrane, forming many “swallow tails”. The third type of crown tails differs from other representatives by the tail, consisting of paired elongated rays at the ends.

• Veiled or common males possess long veil tail and fins. Compared to other species of cockerels, veil tails have less luxurious plumage, but Siamese cockerels are the ancestors of other Betta splendens. The reason for this was the fact that the first hybrids received from wild representatives were veiled tail fish.

• Two-tailed fighting fish It has a large veiled tail, divided in two to the base.

• Cocks belong to the group of short-tailed fighting fish. The fan-shaped round tail and fins commensurate with it do not have great splendor, but this does not look worse than the rest.

• Carpail It has a second name - spear-tail - due to the shape of the tail, resembling the shape of a broad peak or artist’s brush.

• Flag-Tailed Betta It is proud of its chic long tail and dorsal with anal fins, wide trails developing behind its back.

• For poster or short-tailed males short fan tail and elongated fins. The anal fin has a pointed shape extended to the tail. This species is closest to the wild representatives of Betta both in appearance and in character.

• Delta-tailed or cockerel delta in an excited state resemble the contour of a hang glider. They have medium length semicircular tail and rounded dorsal fin, anal slightly longer and slightly elongated to the tail. In addition to the delta, there is also a super delta with an elongated tail and fins.

• Cockerel with the names Dumbo, goofy, eared Dumbo It has unusual near-fin fins, shaped like an elephant ear. Most likely, this name was given to the fish in honor of the hero of the Disney cartoon about the elephant calf Dumbo the fool who could fly with the help of his ears. Dumbo is a new direction in the development of the species with a bias towards an increase in lateral fins, the volume of which is several times the size of the head.

• Giant cockerel or a giant differs from other representatives of its species in truly royal proportions. The adult representative of short-tailed giants reaches a length of 75 mm by the age of 8 months and continues to grow up to a year. The fish continues to increase its body mass for some time after the cessation of growth.Among the royal males there are both short-tailed posters and half-tailed posters. It is very rare to find veil-tailed and crown-tailed.

Giant males are obtained by breeding green fighting fish, therefore available colors for this type of fish are purple, blue, green, red with blue or green.

But not only chic tails and fins make the cock a decoration of the aquarium.

There are three color options:

• plainwhen the whole fish is the same color;
• two-tonewhen the body of the fish is one color, and the tail and fins are completely or partially different;
• multicolor individuals are painted in different colors with a transition from light to dark or vice versa.

There are also dragon fish with a more powerful body and colored scales of a silver metallic shade resembling chain mail. Most often among dragons there are poster-type cockerels with a contrasting edging of the tail and fins.

Among the single-colored roosters, individuals are found that are colored in white, blue, green, red, blue, purple, yellow and orange. You can find gold and black in colorful fish.

In addition to uniformly colored fish, monochromatic individuals with translucent fins are found. This color is called a butterfly.

Fish of the mask color can also be classified as monochromatic, in which the head has a darker shade in relation to the rest of the body.

Two-color fighting fish have a body uniformly colored in one color, and fins and tail in another. Fish can have various color combinations, for example, red with blue, blue with gold or black with red splashes. There can be a great many options.

Cambodian males have a relatively faded body with a red or green fin system.

The most colorful representatives of Siamese cockerels have a bright multi-color coloration. Various combinations of red, blue, yellow, green and other colors of the rainbow spectrum in the form of spots, stripes or borders allow you to get a decorative fish of a unique color.

The most colorful, multicolor color, resembling a harlequin costume, is called marble. Such a fish will be noticeable in any situation.

It is difficult to describe all the possible combinations of colors present in the color of the cockerel, especially since breeders are constantly working on new color options.

Males are relatively unpretentious fish suitable for keeping in a small tank in the aquarium, they can be purchased even for beginners in the aquarium.

But no matter how unpretentious the fish the cockerel may be, for a comfortable stay he needs to have a house of a sufficient volume:

• for an ordinary fighting fish, the calculation of living volume goes from 7 liters per individual;
• for giant cockerels already need about 10 liters of water per fish.

If the future owner is not going to breed males, then it is better to keep just one cockerel in an aquarium with a volume of up to 25-30 liters.

Particular attention should be paid neighbors fighting fish. Males get along well with small, peaceful species: zebrafish, neon, swordsman, tetra and catfish.

Too small fish do not fit in the neighbor to the fighting fish, as the males will drive them, not letting them in to the feeder.

The bright colors of representatives of other breeds of ornamental fish will annoy the cockerels and lead to fights.

But you shouldn’t keep the males with Sumatran barbs, since these peace-loving-looking fish love to rip out their chic fins with a veil-tail.

Representatives of cyprinids are not suitable as neighbors for Betta splendens, since they have different requirements for water temperature. Goldfish prefer cool water, and males need an ambient temperature close to + 25 ° C.

It is easiest for males to coexist with other fish in large aquariums while at the same time populating fish in a new place of residence in infancy.

Watch the video about the Siamese Cockerel fighting fish below.