In the beginning there were Plakats (biting fish) a greenish brown short fined fish that lived in ditches & rice paddies of Siam (Thailand). The males were territorial and aggressive and fortunes were bet on fights between these males. But breeders isolated colors and soon red would fight blue and there were many brightly colored bettas. Foreign travelers were impressed and Betta Splendens (beautiful Warrior) spread through the known world.

After color isolation, breeders discovered a long finned male and the dominant gene for the long flowing tail is now know as Veil Tail bettas. This is the standard narrow tail but longer. But, the female’s fins remained short. Current usage has translated Plakat to mean short finned betta of any tale type

The next major development was a gene that caused the rays in the tail to split in to 2 rays making the tail wider. Then it doubled again to 4, then 8, and now 16. Even now, breeders are working on producing 32 rays, an OHM (over half moon).