# critique please



## sstacy19 (Jan 20, 2010)

Could you please critique this guy from a show standard. Thank you!http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashm&1392716115


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## sstacy19 (Jan 20, 2010)

Is he to curved at the head?


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

he's a good looker, but not show quality, though he has the potential to help you get there. 

based on the dorsal fin, the caudal seems to be on the short side with relation to the dorsal and anal fins. dorsal and anal spread is nice though.

excessive branching in the caudal indicates a rose tail in the making as indicated by the "steps" made by overlapping layers. 

looks like uneven branching in the dorsal as well, but at least the lead of the dorsal is straight, like a mohawk. not seeing any missing or deformed scales on the body either (a common defect with rosetails) maybe a little excessive scaling at the base of the caudal.


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## sstacy19 (Jan 20, 2010)

Thank you so Much for that in depth critique. Very informative and helpful. Shows I still have so much to learn.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Well considering all AB fish are very young, he still has a lot of growing out to do. His caudal will eventually grow out as I had said to you before. What you want with the fin ends is to create a round circle so they connect all the way around. Here's a picture depiction, it isn't exactly for show standards but it is close and of course the bottom is what you want to avoid for the most part unless you aren't breeding or whatever.


View attachment 295977


I would say with your boy that the peduncle (base of body at tail) is pretty weak looking. See how it curves upward? It really shouldn't do that, so there is a minor fault. I love his dorsal as amphirion pointed out. He is slightly spoonheaded where you see his "nose" point upwards, it also should not be like that and should just have a gentle curve to his topline which he does for the most part, just his head right there. 

His ventral fins are nice and full but they are short, the tip of the ventral should ideally line up to the bottom of the anal fin which his do technically but it's still short all the way around. He may fill out more with time but at the moment he is no show fish. Scales look decent for the most part except they get a little messy on the head, with Dragon scales I'm not sure exactly of the standards but I believe they should be nice and even on the head and be a Full Mask. Again, I'm not too certain about that and it's mostly a guess. Over time he may end up with scales over his eyes rendering him blind but that would take a few years so he should be fine until then.

As for color since he is not solid Copper he would be in the variation class I believe, again, kind of shooting in the dark here but if I remember correctly that would be what he is. Also he's a OHM, over halfmoon which means his fins exceed the 180 degree spread which isn't terribly bad but helps out with his rose tail. RT also is not a class so again, that would be Variation. 

That's all I really see on him, over all he is a nice fish and if you planned on breeding him for show fish I would find a female with an exceptional topline, nice with a gentle curve and a better peduncle to straighten his out. Also fewer branches in her tail (4-6 would be ideal for him to straighten out the RT effect) and with even fins meeting all the way around would be the ideal female for him


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