Halfmoon:
Halfmoon (HM) is the term used for a bettas caudal fin, that when spread fully, has a halfmoon appearance. Like the capital letter “D? The flared caudal fin is exactly 180 degrees, The caudal edges have to be straight. Curved or rounded edges are considered a fault in judging HMs. Caudal fins that spread more than 180 degrees are called Over-Halfmoon (OHM). Halfmoon bettas are not really a geno type but rather more a pheno type. HM bettas usally produce 10-15% (HM)'s per spawn ratio.

Super Delta:
Super Delta (HMx) is the term used for a bettas with a caudal less than 180 degrees and delta tails are 120 degrees or less.

Crowntail & Combtail:
Crowntail (CT) bettas are very similar to combtail bettas, where the rays of all fins extend at least 33% beyond the webbing of the fins. Anything less than 33% would be considerd a combtail. Webbing 50% of the ray length would be a good proportion for a crowntail. Good (CT)s should have strong and thick rays, such that when the fish is flaring, all the rays stand up firm. Variations of CTs are: double ray (dr), double double ray (ddr), and cross ray (cr).

Rosetail:
The main characteristic of the rosetail (RT)is the excessive branching in all three unpaired fins. Especially the excessive branching and the overlapping rays in the caudal finnage results a "rose-like" appearance, which explains the choice of the name.

Double Tail:
Double Tail (DT) Bettas have a double lobed caudal fin. The more even the lobes, the better the quality. Double tails are considered genetic mutations. Breeding a pure pair DT genom betta you will get 100% DT spawn. (DT) Bettas are expected to differ in several ways from the singletail:
1--Possess two distinct "tails" or caudal lobes instead of one, with a complete separation to the base of the caudal peduncle.
2--Possess a wider caudal peduncle to support the double lobes.
3--Possess a larger dorsal fin, nearly the size of the anal fin.
4--Their bodies are usually more "chunky" and often a bit shorter.
5--Bends in the caudal peduncle are expressed to a varying degree in almost all doubletail bettas. These are more easily noticed when viewing the fish from above. Easily seen bends are faulted by IBC standards. If the bend is not excessive when viewed from above, the fish should not be penalized.

Roundtail:
Roundtail (RdT) bettas have a round caudal. It is a pheno type not geno.




Veil Tail:
Veil Tail (VT) These are the most common tails on bettas. These are the ones most found in pet stores. Their tail is very long and opens more on the bottom than the top when flaring. This is the oringinal tail type that lead to every type of tail we have today.

Grizzle:
Grizzle Betta (GZ) is a patterned Betta. The grizzling shows a random flecking, spotting, or peppering of any iridescent color over a pastel or opaque body. Each of the fins should demonstrate some grizzled pattern. Fins and body should show distinctly two shades of iridescent color (any one of the iridescent colors combined with the lighter pastel or opaque base color). Fish exhibiting an even spread, close to 50% iridescence and 50% lighter base color are preferred. No one grizzle color is preferred over another.

Multicolor:
Multicolor (MC) designation is for Bettas with two or more colours, which do not fit into any of the other patterned categories. Ideally the colours should be in high contrast with each other. The colours are those normally seen in Bettas. However, simply having the head alone a different colour, or having a different colour of on the tip of the ventrals is not sufficient to be designated a Multicolour.

Pastel:
Pastel Colours include, Pastel White, Pastel Green, and Pastel Blue, etc. All of these lack the dark undercoloration. Therefore green for example is considerably different from the definition of green used when referring to a single dark colour Betta. Opaque Bettas may be accepted as Pastels when they are young and later be accepted as Opaques. This is because Opaque Pigment increases in Opaque Bettas over time as the fish ages, though on true Pastel fish, the Opaque pigment is limited.

Butterfly:
Butterfly (BF)is a variegated Betta with a very specific fin pattern. The key is in the fins, which display a banded pattern. Emphasis is placed on the contrast and crispness of the band, not the colouring of the body and fins. The band should be crisp - not a lightening of opposing fin colour (meaning a Yellow with a lighter Yellow outer band is not a Butterfly, but a Yellow with a clear band is a Butterfly). The bands should scribe an even oval around the fish. There are two forms the banding may take: A two band fin pattern, where the fins are divided equally between the number of bands. the multiple band pattern is sometimes difficult to identify since two of the bands, though distinct, may be subtle but different shades of the same colour. In this case, shining a flashlight from behind the fins may aid in detecting this trait but lack of definition between bands is considered a fault.
The Butterfly body and the colour in the first fin band may be either a single colour, Bicolored, Marbled or Multicoloured. The general basis of faults of the Butterfly Bettas:
The principles, which determine the arrangement of the fault charts found in this portion of the text, are:
1) For two band fins, the bands should occupy 1/2 the fin area on all fins.
2) For multiple band fins, the bands should occupy 1/(number of bands) of the fin area on all fins.
3) The dividing line between fin bands should be straight and scribe an oval around the Betta.
4) The degree to which a second colour intrudes, lack of crisp definition, also affects the degree of severity of the fault.


Marble:
Marble (MB) Betta, like the Butterfly, is a patterned Betta. However, it is variegated in a different manner. The key differences are the lack of fin banding, and the presence of other colours on the body in a "Marbled" effect. Two types of Marbles exist, the "Traditional Marble" (or Piebald) which is a dark bodied fish with a white head or face, and the newer "Coloured Marble" which may have many other colours than the Black/Flesh/White combination. Though Cellophane is sometimes considered to be a genetic Marble variant, it is not classed as a Marble Phenotypically. The fins and the body must show at least two colours. These must include a light and dark colour mix. Fish exhibiting sharp 'edges' to the Marbling pattern are preferred over those with blended colors A mixing of colours is a must otherwise, how can the fish be Marbled?