# bullet betta!?!?! WHAT!



## chrissylee13

i was searching google for betta body shapes and i came across something sort of horrifying. apparently there's a new trend happening some where in the world where betta fish are having their tails cut off while still very young. this causes a mutation where there is no tail on the fish. i guess they're doing it to parrot fish too. i couldn't find much info on this except for one thread on another betta forum. i guess they're calling it a "bullet betta" or a "love betta".

here's the picture of one of these bettas.


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## PandaBetta

Ohhh!!!


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## BeautifulBetta

WTF?!?! Why are people so awful?    How can they think thats okay?


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## Luimeril

i _think _that was one of Aquastar's..... he sometimes breeds DTs, adn i think that's an extreme deformity caused by that. :I

she's adorable... but can't have lived long....


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## chrissylee13

well, i found this one a betta forum from Malaysia. from what the person said that found these at a LFS there was a whole tank of them and a whole tank of parrot fish that looked just like it. i guess they personally know the breeder now because of their interest.


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## SnowySurface

A mutation is a deformation that happens during development. Like cows born with two heads. This is a cosmetic alteration that happens after birth to healthy bettas. If bullet bettas are real, then this is a form of mutilation because the betta was severely damaged physically and then healed the best way it could. 

I can't understand why anyone would want to do that to any fish.


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## RedneckBettaGuru

WTH, if someone is doing that on purpose that is animal cruelty for sure.

Lui, if you look closely i would say its a male. Long ventral and a a beard.

This is sad and wrong in so many ways.


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## SnowySurface

Luimeril said:


> i _think _that was one of Aquastar's..... he sometimes breeds DTs, adn i think that's an extreme deformity caused by that. :I
> 
> she's adorable... but can't have lived long....





chrissylee13 said:


> well, i found this one a betta forum from Malaysia. from what the person said that found these at a LFS there was a whole tank of them and a whole tank of parrot fish that looked just like it. i guess they personally know the breeder now because of their interest.


Ok. Now I'm confused. 

Is this caused by actively cutting off the tail of a young betta with a knife? Or is it caused by a glitch in DNA not forming the tail in the first place? If it is a genetic problem, then my previous comment is a bit off. I thought the breeder was physically cutting tails off of young fish that were born with healthy tails. :-?


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## djembekah

;-; poor fishie!


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## lvandert

That is horrible! Those poor babies! How could they deform something that cute just to try to get a new breed?!


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## MadameDesu

SnowySurface said:


> Ok. Now I'm confused.
> 
> Is this caused by actively cutting off the tail of a young betta with a knife? Or is it caused by a glitch in DNA not forming the tail in the first place? If it is a genetic problem, then my previous comment is a bit off. I thought the breeder was physically cutting tails off of young fish that were born with healthy tails. :-?


Okay, some quick biology. 
1. A mutation was found and the mutated strain was bred over and over until the deformity was established. 
2. The fish was cut and shaped during development and it cannot be bred into new generations.

I'd say it's more than likely #1. The fin wraps around cleanly with no scars or anything (if fish get scars). I'd expect it to look more damaged if it was cut up ...


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## MollyJean

OMGOSH that's so sad!! It's like half the fish is missing... That poor baby!


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## Luimeril

recently, i found a betta similar to this one on Aquabid. she had no visible tail(to me. after posting it on FB, someone said she HAD a tail, it was just really tiny and almost fused with her anal)....

i say it's a birth defect. he should have been culled the moment the breeder saw it. all his organs are smooshed, and as i said, he couldn't have lasted very long. :<


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## SnowySurface

MadameDesu said:


> Okay, some quick biology.
> 1. A mutation was found and the mutated strain was bred over and over until the deformity was established.
> 2. The fish was cut and shaped during development and it cannot be bred into new generations.
> 
> I'd say it's more than likely #1. The fin wraps around cleanly with no scars or anything (if fish get scars). I'd expect it to look more damaged if it was cut up ...


Thanks for the clarification. I still can't figure out why anyone would want to do this. But at least I have a better idea of what they are doing. I personally still see this more as mutilation than breeding for a trait. -_-


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## chrissylee13

in the thread i read it from it said that they physically cut the tails off while their still fry.


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## chrissylee13

and sorry i said mutation! the thread used "mutation" loosely. i did find though that there are some bettas that have no tail but it's because fry siblings ate it. and i think i found one that was born that way.

and my guess is that they probably experimented with how it would look... soo if they actually do cut it off it's probably done in such a way that it looks "nice".


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## MadameDesu

chrissylee13 said:


> and sorry i said mutation! the thread used "mutation" loosely. i did find though that there are some bettas that have no tail but it's because fry siblings ate it. and i think i found one that was born that way.
> 
> and my guess is that they probably experimented with how it would look... soo if they actually do cut it off it's probably done in such a way that it looks "nice".


Ahhhh, ok. Wow ... it's a wonder that fish even got to that size. I don't think it'll last much longer :-(


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## Olympia

That is sad and disgusting


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## MrVampire181

This is becoming a serious problem on AB with people selling deformed fish to get money for "rarity".

The IBC was raging about such auctions last week. This is why I will NEVER buy from Aquastar... he has too many deformities and I don't trust his lines. 

I'll stick to sellers like Chaba and Ploybettas since their fish are great and I have never seen a deformity posted from them on AB.


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## Olympia

Boycotting Aquastar would be a good idea  People could write to stop this madness.

Honestly I don't think these deformed fish sell well? Or do they?
I don't get who would want a betta without a tail, or something. That's why we love betta. They have beautiful fins and colours.


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## Leeniex

Here's a thread about that betta's fate.

http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php?showtopic=23263&st=0&#entry210301


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## Luimeril

i adore many of the bettas Aquastar sells, but yeah... he sells too many deformities. like his "Diamond eye" betta.... poor boy was blind. he's sold another like that, and tried to say it wasn't blind, when it's eyes were clearly clouded/covered with scales....


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## chrissylee13

ah!! it definitely looks like that same betta. which is weird since i found the photo from the Malaysia betta forum lol


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## Luimeril

o-0 Syn got her...? how did i not know that? the picture was posted on there before, and she didn't chirp up with 'i have/had her'.... i wonder whatever came from that experiment...


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## betta lover1507

adorable fish, but it is sad what it has to go through for a day, because the lack of fins


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## Luimeril

according to the owner, she swam just fine. for all the world seemed happy, and normal, aside from her missing tail. she probably got about by wiggling her back end, using her nearly fused anal and dorsal like a tail... she certainly was adorable..


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## gabrielle09

So I just finished reading that thread about that poor betta. Does anyone know if she spawned successfully? I wouldn't think that she would be a good breeder.


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## betta lover1507

i really doubt it did get sucessful. with a huge deformity like that fry could instantly die


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## gabrielle09

That's what I assumed. I had a guppy once that was born with a slight deformity in her spine as she grew bigger I had to cull her because the deformity was getting worse and she had no quality of life. She couldn't even swim anymore.


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## Luimeril

she was spawning them to SEE if it was genetic or done by man. the thread is over 4 years old, so one would have to ask her whatever happened to it. :I that, and the gal's probably long-gone, if not from the way her body is, then from old age.


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## gabrielle09

Well if the poor thing's tail was cut off I think there would probably be a scar. I had a baby get her tail nipped once and when it mended there was a slight imperfection. I don't see any imperfections when I look at that picture. So I would lean more towards it being genetic rather than man made. And even if it were man made, the way the growth has been stunted could effect the fry. I wonder is there is a way to get a hold of the owner. I would like to know what happened to that girl and her potential spawn.


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## lexylex0526

WTH!!! That is awful!! Animal Cruelty is just plain wrong!


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## Aluyasha

Olympia said:


> Boycotting Aquastar would be a good idea  People could write to stop this madness.
> 
> Honestly I don't think these deformed fish sell well? Or do they?
> I don't get who would want a betta without a tail, or something. That's why we love betta. They have beautiful fins and colours.


People tend to like anything that looks unique. More so when sellers and breeders give cool nicknames to the deformity (pearl eye, shock betta, bullet, ect..). Just like the tattooed and color injected fish.

It sickens me personally. I am sad when I go to petstores and see disabled fish being called something cool and higher priced than normal fish. Like watching the balloon mollies getting knocked over by the normal ones when fed.

Unfortuatly the tail less fish are getting more popular. Now some are trying to make tail less Jack Dempseys. 
And all I can say about the tail less Blood Parrots is, are they not deformed enough already? Now their tails are taken away? :/


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## Luimeril

'shock betta'? :I

i agree, though. newbies who see deformed bettas given cool names like "Diamond Eye" will be easily fooled into thinking they have something cool and different, when in fact they have something that may not be happy at all, or may require special care to survive...


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## Aluyasha

Luimeril said:


> 'shock betta'? :I
> 
> i agree, though. newbies who see deformed bettas given cool names like "Diamond Eye" will be easily fooled into thinking they have something cool and different, when in fact they have something that may not be happy at all, or may require special care to survive...


 I saw a betta once at a local pet store (now out of business), that had a few bettas they called "shock bettas" they had deformed spines that made them look twisted, or electrocuted. Hence the name Shock. :/


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## bettasusa

This is just crazy! So this is the end result of two DT's spawned together is what I'm thinking Im reading in previous posts?


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