# Dragon scale bettas?



## Option

Need someone to edumacate me on these bettas. The dragon scaled varieties....are they pure betta splendens? (I keep hearing that these are a cross w/ another betta species to obtain these kind of scales)

Can anyone clarify?


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## LebronTheBetta

Not exactly pure, it's just their scales. Their scales seem to have a very heavy iridescence, and some thick layers. I think the term is metallic. Just a scale difference, not much of a big deal. It's not uncommon for some scales to cover their eyes, though.


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## Option

LebronTheBetta said:


> Not exactly pure, it's just their scales. Their scales seem to have a very heavy iridescence, and some thick layers. I think the term is metallic. Just a scale difference, not much of a big deal. It's not uncommon for some scales to cover their eyes, though.


So I heard it is actually a cross between splendens x imbellis? (in order to get that metallic scale look)

Can anyone confirm?


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## MyRainbowBettaFish

Option said:


> So I heard it is actually a cross between splendens x imbellis? (in order to get that metallic scale look)
> 
> Can anyone confirm?


i have never heard of that. It is usually just a regular betta splendens with the metallic or bronze gene, and they carry this iridescence. My betta Casper HMDT has some blue iridescence, but not enough to be classified as a dragon-scale betta.


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## Creat

I have. I think it is referencing the way the iridescence came about was out-crossing to another species.. Now that the gene has been in splendens long enough there is no longer a need to outcross


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## MyRainbowBettaFish

Creat said:


> I have. I think it is referencing the way the iridescence came about was out-crossing to another species.. Now that the gene has been in splendens long enough there is no longer a need to outcross


interesting, thanks for sharing!


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## Setsuna

Dragon scales are breed from show bettas with a cross breed from wild bettas to get the metallic scales


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## Option

Creat said:


> Now that the gene has been in splendens long enough there is no longer a need to outcross


Correct, which means it is not true splendens any longer. So it would suggest that all dragon scale bettas are not pure splendens.


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## Mo

A good article written by an experienced breeder
http://www.bettaterritory.nl/BT-AABDragons.htm
The unique appearance of this so-called "dragon" betta is characterized by a thick, solid silvery/white metallic layer which almost resembles armor. 

According to Pichet (Interfish breeder team - Thailand), the first "dragons" were created by using a "super" red plakat, a red copper plakat and Betta sp. mahachai [8]. With some difficulty, the wild Betta sp. mahachai was crossed to the red copper plakat with the intent of preserving the Betta sp. mahachai traits in the offspring. Then a young male from this spawn was crossed to a super red plakat female. The third step was a mother x son backcross: the super red female was crossed to one of her offspring in a method commonly referred to as 'line breeding'. Although the body shape and finnage of the fry was not very good and some of them even showed malformations in the body, the color was there and the first dragon pair was born! The first "dragons" were developed by Mr. Tea. The "Red dragon V1" were first presented to the Thai public in the December 2004 edition of a magazine called "Fancy Fish" by the Interfish breeder team

Betta imbellis, Betta smaragdina and Betta sp. mahachai naturally have a higher degree of iridescence on the scales compared to Betta splendens which probably is an adaption to the murkier water in their natural habitat. Both "dragons" and "armadillos" described above are characterized by a thick metallic iridescent scaling which almost resembles body armor. When we have a look at the origin of metallics and "dragons" we see quite a lot of overlap. Outcrossing domesticated bettas to Betta imbellis gave rise to the metallics which in turn also have an important contribution to the development of the "dragon". This shared origin mostly likely explains the similarity between metallics and "dragons" but in case of the latter the additional influence of Betta sp. mahachai seems to be the key to the thick shiny armor-like metallic scaling. When we compare wildtype Betta imbellis and Betta sp. mahachai we can already see the iridescence is shinier and thicker in the latter.


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## Setsuna

Option said:


> Correct, which means it is not true splendens any longer. So it would suggest that all dragon scale bettas are not pure splendens.


I think it's still a splenden cause it's only a show Betta splenden cross with a wild type from the same splenden complex group


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## Option

Mo said:


> A good article written by an experienced breeder
> http://www.bettaterritory.nl/BT-AABDragons.htm
> The unique appearance of this so-called "dragon" betta is characterized by a thick, solid silvery/white metallic layer which almost resembles armor.
> 
> According to Pichet (Interfish breeder team - Thailand), the first "dragons" were created by using a "super" red plakat, a red copper plakat and Betta sp. mahachai [8]. With some difficulty, the wild Betta sp. mahachai was crossed to the red copper plakat with the intent of preserving the Betta sp. mahachai traits in the offspring. Then a young male from this spawn was crossed to a super red plakat female. The third step was a mother x son backcross: the super red female was crossed to one of her offspring in a method commonly referred to as 'line breeding'. Although the body shape and finnage of the fry was not very good and some of them even showed malformations in the body, the color was there and the first dragon pair was born! The first "dragons" were developed by Mr. Tea. The "Red dragon V1" were first presented to the Thai public in the December 2004 edition of a magazine called "Fancy Fish" by the Interfish breeder team
> 
> Betta imbellis, Betta smaragdina and Betta sp. mahachai naturally have a higher degree of iridescence on the scales compared to Betta splendens which probably is an adaption to the murkier water in their natural habitat. Both "dragons" and "armadillos" described above are characterized by a thick metallic iridescent scaling which almost resembles body armor. When we have a look at the origin of metallics and "dragons" we see quite a lot of overlap. Outcrossing domesticated bettas to Betta imbellis gave rise to the metallics which in turn also have an important contribution to the development of the "dragon". This shared origin mostly likely explains the similarity between metallics and "dragons" but in case of the latter the additional influence of Betta sp. mahachai seems to be the key to the thick shiny armor-like metallic scaling. When we compare wildtype Betta imbellis and Betta sp. mahachai we can already see the iridescence is shinier and thicker in the latter.


Thank you. Excellent info!

BTW, can anyone clarify how to differentiate between copper scale vs dragon scale?


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## Mo

Copper is a color variation of a dragon. Just a brown-Ish variation. Nothing much different


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## Option

So copper bettas also have thickened scales as well then?


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