Tail Types of Bettas
There's a tale behind every fish
Tail types in bettas are a way to distinguish between certain breeds of betta and even betta lines. But just like with dogs, certain tail types can be prone to breed-specific health issues. In this article we’ll be going over what tail types are prone to which issues as well as general care and maintenance of each type.
Let’s begin with our long-finned friends before moving into other types.
Veiltails
Veiltail fins
The most common as well of one of the oldest types of betta in the pet trade is the quintessential veiltail. Veiltails have been bred into gorgeous color combos that make their long, trailing fins highly sought-after. This tail type is characterized by a wide tail base that comes off a strong peduncle before flaring down into its ‘veil’ shape much like a banner waving in the water.
But those long fins can hide issues. Fin-specific issues include:
Finrot
Fin damage
Fin-biting
Most of these potential fin problems are shared by the other longfin betta types. Finrot can take hold on the thinner fin edges and larger surface area of all longfin types, and these delicate tissues can become damaged on items within their environment. I’ve watched a veiltail tear his fins on Christmas Moss before! And fin-biting can be a frustrating issue with these longfin types whether from aggression, boredom, or other conditions within their environment.
Fins aside, Veiltails are also prone to two other non-fin specific issues:
Sinking Swim Bladder Disorder (SBD)
Large cystic internal growths
Veiltails can be prone to collapsing swim bladders as they age, causing them to lose their natural buoyancy and become sinking. These bettas will spend their days bottomsitting and wiggling around the bottom of the tank, unable to rise or swim normally. This SBD is often from an internal defect and this condition can be managed through specialized care.
Unlike SBD, the cystic masses veiltails are prone to are ultimately fatal and difficult to treat. Affected fish will balloon outwards a great degree with no pineconing shown, and if possible a bright light can reveal the internal shape of the growth inside the fish as a clear pocket of fluid. Most of these masses form in the abdomen and several may be present at once. These cysts will cause SBD in later stages as the extra weight acts like a ball and chain. Bettas with this condition often stop eating or become dangerously constipated as the internal growths put pressure on other organs or even block off the gut entirely. In females egg-binding can be an issue as well. In particular it’s the red veiltails who seem the most prone to developing these masses.
Now for a winning point in the veiltail’s direction— veiltails are one of the hardiest, most sturdy tail types out there. Most of them are absolute tanks of fish. And after going over several years’ worth of data on dropsy cases something amazing was revealed…
Veiltail bettas suffer dropsy far, far less frequently than other tail types. Out of 100 different dropsy cases, only a single one was a veiltail. That staggering difference might be due in part to rock-solid kidney function but I have a suspicion that it’s somehow related to these cystic fluid masses that veiltails get, simply because while they do not seem to develop dropsy as commonly as other tail types, the amount of cystic bettas make up enough of the data to even them out with the other tail types when it comes to overall kidney issues. Wow!
As fascinating as this link may be, the kind of research that would need to be done to prove the theory is beyond my capabilities. But, veiltails continue to be one of the gold-medal bettas in the pet trade.
Halfmoons
A Halfmoon betta with regrown fins
One of the most beautiful longfin bettas is the halfmoon, a picture-perfect 180* degrees of fin. These colorful, dramatic bettas come in every shade and pattern imaginable, with lines such as candy, koi, fancy marble, and dragon bettas stealing the stage. (Note: These lines have shortfin varieties as well) Halfmoons are characterized by those long, sweeping fins that gave them that iconic name.
Fin-specific issues with the Halfmoon bettas include the longfin Trifecta:
Finrot
Fin damage
Finbiting
More fin equals more chances for things to go wrong. Halfmoon fins are delicate and they can be awful finbiters as their fins weigh them down. This fin damage can be prone to picking up infections like finrot.
A Halfmoon with finrot
Amazingly, halfmoon bettas as a whole are fairly unproblematic aside from their fin issues. Certain lines like the coppers, platinums, and dragonscales are a story for another article. These bettas can get a bad rap from their fin-based catastrophes, but a basic, generic Halfmoon is a pretty solid fish. They can be sensitive to water changes, get stressed easily, and go off food, but overall they are hardy bettas. One issue with them that I’ve noticed is some of these Halfmoon bettas have a weak, downturned peduncle that makes them unable to fully flare out their tails, but otherwise they seem to be fairly well-situated to tank life.
Doubletails
A ghosted, floaty doubletail
Doubletail bettas are characterized by a repeating tail formation that gives them two tails stacked on top of each other as opposed to side-by-side like in fantails like goldfish. The underline on these bettas is also repeated and takes the place of the dorsal fin. These fish have a shortfin variety as well.
To save time and space, these bettas have the longfin Trifecta of finrot, fin damage, and finbiting the same as any other longfin. But unlike the other types discussed so far, Doubletails have a plethora of non fin-specific issues.
Spine troubles
Floating SBD
Overinflated swim bladders
Constipation
‘Petstore disease’
Red-Type Wasting Disease
Most of the issues with these bettas come from the doubletail mutation itself. These bettas are prone to contracted spines, loss of mobility, and floating SBD all due to the repetitious tail gene. This type of SBD tends to be chronic and can be a quality-of-life concern. Since this mutation does not just affect the tail but the entire body structure beyond the abdomen, it tends to mess things up internally. The gut itself can be involved and hold onto waste due to overall poor gut motility.
A doubletail with a contracted spine
‘Petstore disease’ refers to the trend of doubletails, due to their sensitivity to stress and sensitive guts, looking ghosted, pale, listless, and floaty while at a petstore but bouncing back almost immediately when introduced to a tank environment and good food. They’re dramatic and I love them for it.
Red Doubletails have a type of wasting disease associated with them that causes weight loss, listlessness, neurotic behaviors, and eventual death. This condition is not contagious and is thought to be genetic. It does not seem to affect many solid red Doubletails but I’ve found a fair number of them over the years.
Dumbos
A Dumbo betta
Dumbo bettas are characterized by their long, fluttering pectoral fins. These side flappers are beautiful and aesthetically pleasing to watch swim around and can be extremely cute and hard to resist. But aside from the longfin Trifecta Dumbos have a dark side: Their eyes.
An assortment of dumbo eye conditions
Dumbos are routinely plagued by every eye trouble imaginable. They get underdeveloped eyes, missing eyes, clouded lenses, pigmentation over the lens, inverted eye rings, fish Glaucoma, and even eye cancers. This is prevalent enough within the dumbo betta population that out of ten dumbos, four or more might have eye issues. Since most of these are congenital defects, they can only be managed and not solved.
Crowntails
Crowntail fins
Crowntails: My personal favorites! These bettas are characterized by incomplete fin webbing that reveals the fin rays without any webbing between them, leaving the points bare. These angry, spicey bettas are the only bettas in the longfin category that don’t have the complete Trifecta, though they’re even worse for finrot. These beautiful but thin ray tips are very prone to infection. Other issues include:
Fungus
Sensitivity to bad water quality
Ammonia fin-curling
Bulging eyes
Bloat
Fin tumors
Egg-binding
Thise beautiful fins can be prone to fungus due to the shape of those thin fin tips, which is also why crowntails are prone to water parameter issues. High ammonia can even make the fin rays curl up and in on themselves in a permanent condition that will never go away. They will be left permanently deformed from bad water. Even more fun— damaged fin rays almost never heal correctly so the all-healing blessing of regrowth of other tail types is not present to heal fin issues in crowntails.
A crowntail with unhealing fin tips due to finrot
Crowntails also are prone to massive, bulging eyes unrelated to popeye. Similar to Glaucoma, this is a pressure issue and cannot be fixed. Blindness in affected eyes is always a fear, and the eye itself is always a source of pain and discomfort.
Crowntails also have the most sensitive gut of all bettas. If they are fed bad food, they will get huge bellies and become constipated. Almost every crowntail will suffer from gut issues in their lives if they sre fed bad food or fed too frequently. Their gut needs time to process their food between meals to prevent getting backed up.
Crowntails also seem prone to a type of fin tumor, different from the cauliflower tumors other bettas get. These present on the fins and can get disintegrative.
Egg-binding can be an issue in female crowntails but even un-bound girls get grossly eggy. Crowntail girls are just like that— they get big.
This is not every longfin type but it’s all of the common ones. Feathertail bettas will actually be in the shortfin section. Wild types will have their own section as well. Once I get up my ‘conditions’ article I’ll come back and hyperlink all of these betta problems to their own page for ease of reading.
Now that I have settled in after the move, I’m ready to start publishing content! I have so much planned and I’m very excited to get started.