# Lyre Tails!



## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

Does anyone else have a lyre tail? If so, post a picture! I've barely seen any other than my own little boy and I'd like to see what others look like

Poseidon


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## AngelicScars (May 5, 2009)

A double tail? I had one awhile back, looked a lot like yours actually.


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

I was actually told by someone else in a different thread that he's a lyretail and that doubletails don't have a gap between the two caudal fins


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

They do indeed. Lyretails are completely different, and look like this (couldn't find an actual pic of a betta, they're quite rare)-











Double-tails have a lobed tail, like your boy.


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## bettafish15 (Oct 3, 2010)

Ehh.... he's just a doubletail. I don't know what the person your getting your info from is thinking XD


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?p=709224#post709224

bettalover2033 says so.
and animallover4lyfe a page back.


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

http://www.tropicalfish-scotland.com/res/fish/1495/1_bi.jpg?2

this is also labeled as a lyretail for sale online at

http://www.tropicalfish-scotland.com/fish.cfm?pid=1495


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

but i'll accept that there's no real way to know unless someone is a breeder because i've been told it's a lyretail, but other websites label them as double tails.


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## FuulieQ (Jan 10, 2010)

I have to say, I'm pretty sure he's a DBT. Look at the photo of the lyretail molly, and look at your boy. Maybe there's a kind of doubletail people like to call lyretail but it's definitely a different phenotype and the mollies called it first I'm afraid.  

He's really gorgeous, though. I've seen fish like him selling for 40$ on aquabid.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

That is a doubletail-two lobes that mirror each other...not a lyretail (the molly pic is a good example).....I breed lots of doubletails for that awesome wide dorsal fin and twin lobes......


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

Bettalover2033 said:


> Yes you have yourself a very pretty lyretail male betta.
> Doubletail and lyretails are very different tail types but same at the same time.
> For example if you look at the betta in my avatar, you could see that he is a real double tail. as for the fish in the below picture, he is a lyretail. The lyretail's caudal fins are a lot more spreaded than the doubletails.
> You can easily see the difference in the two. The male in my avatar looks like his caudal can fit in a flower as the one in the picture above does not.












Not true. The amount of which his caudal could "fit in lower" does not matter- any betta with a natural lobing of his caudal fin is considered a doubletail. Sometimes the splits in the middle of their tails don't reach their bodies- but they're still considered double-tails. Just not show-quality doubletails. Heck, there are even such things as fuse-finned doubletails, where they don't have lobes! 


Search up doubletail betta on Google images. Same fish as your boy.


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

ohh. okay. thank you!
learn something new every day!


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

Hey, no problem.


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

Ooh, nice. As said, some Double tails have lots of spacing, some have none (like in the case of many Halfmoon double tails, like mine) so they pretty much only look like halfmoons, and some tails are double but look only like theyre split down (fused)


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## animallover4lyfe (Jul 7, 2010)

Its a lyretail! My store ordered them all the time and they do not look like dts!! Dts do not have such a big space.


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

Yes, they do... If lyretails were so common, many people on the forum would have them, and there would probably be a whole seperate section on Aquabid for lyretails, let alone any people selling any lyretail bettas. If every type of betta is on Aquabid, why not lyretails? 

Lyretails are characterized by the wide V, U, or loose W shape in their tail, with the edges of the fins pointed.


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

Nerp!

"Lyre tail" image results:









Actually, no. Just some srsly messed up fins.



Yes:
http://www.getahugetank.com/images/Lyretail_guppy.jpg


Nope: (fused lobe DBT)











Yes!

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cichlid/images/FairyCichlid(Lyretail)WFCiaf_Ap18BT.jpg


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

but if NOBODY can find a betta with a tail like other lyre fish, who is to say the betta lyretail isnt different? unless you're an expert, you can't say.


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

I agree with Betta slave and Pew. They were simply giving their opinions in the thread.  

I would defiantly say that your fish is a double tail. And a very pretty one at that!! 

To be honest, I've never even seen a picture of a lyre tail betta, not sure if I even believe if they exist.


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## smellsfishie (Apr 14, 2011)

someone in another thread said there is only 1 guy who has a strain of lyretail bettas and I want to say they said he is in Japan? My personal opinion is that it is a double tail. Lyretails have a different, more distinct look, as pewpewpew and other members have pointed out.


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## frogipoi (Jul 3, 2010)

*the expert moves in* It is a double tail!  A pretty one too.
Lyretail bettas exists (hardly any true ones though, probably none that are real) .... you just have to be lucky enough to see one.
People usually mix lyretails and double tails together 
Lyretails are usually round with a gape in the middle, they look like pinchers.


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

thank you!
I'm still proud of my doubletail Don't see many like him.


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## Jessabell (Aug 16, 2010)

My fish Sozin just passed away...but he had the same markings as yours. He was just a regular half moon though.


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## YoshesMom (Mar 15, 2011)

old fish lady IS an expert if she says its a double tail then thats what it is PERIOD!


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## FuulieQ (Jan 10, 2010)

iLovededYou said:


> but if NOBODY can find a betta with a tail like other lyre fish, who is to say the betta lyretail isnt different? unless you're an expert, you can't say.


Well, it would be like saying you have a shrub that is a grass, and then arguing that for shrubs "grass" means a different phenotype than an actual grass-type plant. It doesn't really make sense. :U 

At least that's how I look at it. I actually always thought that these were just two different breeding manipulations of the DBT gene - one where the goal is to show off the distinct lobes and the other where the goal is to maximize finnage and create a perfect oval/circle around the fish's body. Does anyone know more about that? What are the show standards, anyway?


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## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

Show standards, copy & pasted from Betty Splendens, are-

1. Possess two distinct 'tails' or caudal lobes instead of one, with 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 should be faulted; if the bend is not excessive when viewed from above, the fish should not be penalized.


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## FuulieQ (Jan 10, 2010)

Hm, so I wonder if space between the lobes is favored?


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## iLovededYou (Jun 20, 2011)

hmm.. i'm not sure.. 
this is all very interesting.


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## MissRockyHorror (Jun 25, 2011)

Pretty!


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