# How big does a betta have to be, to be considered a giant, and or a king?



## Charc14 (Aug 27, 2014)

My betta marius is pretty big. he is at least 2 inches long. I believe he is closer to 2.5 to 3 inches. this is not including his fins, this is just his body. 
So, Is he a king? a giant? I'm not sure, Can kings and giants even come in veil tail? I've only seen plakat ones. 

I'm right in thinking that giants are bigger and different then kings, right?


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

My king is almost 4". I'm looking at a Petco king that is on the small side at around 2.75". I'm hoping he'll grow a bit once I get a hold of him. The kings that I have seen recently have all been on the smaller side. From what I understand there is no "king" betta, the name is a Petco creation. They are commonly known as half giants.

This old thread on the subject really helped me out when I got my king, 
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=99066


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Giants are mostly PK's and long finned HM's right now. Most VT's become very large though compared to the normal HM's so you probably just have a larger than normal VT, though if he does pass the 2 inch mark with just body then yes, I suppose you could call him Giant, not sure if it makes much of a difference or anything.


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## Charc14 (Aug 27, 2014)

Just now measured him, he is smaller then I thought, he is 2 inches, Mayer a tiny bit over. Guessing he is jut a big boy lol. 

Thank you guys for the help!


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

My Jasper is about three inches including his tail.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

The PetCo "kings" that I looked at today looked puny compared to my giant at home...definitely either very young, or half-giants. There's no way my giant could even fit in one of those cups.


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

hrutan said:


> The PetCo "kings" that I looked at today looked puny compared to my giant at home...definitely either very young, or half-giants. There's no way my giant could even fit in one of those cups.


I agree Hrutan,I've been seeing some pretty nice giants at Petco but they are all on the shrimpy side. They really aren't that much bigger than the other bettas.









My Petco king wouldn't fit into to his old cup at this point either.

I got my eye on the little guy on the lower left. The guy on the upper right is super aggressive. He struck at my hand while I was holding the cup 3 times. He hit it so hard I could feel it. I'm thinkin' some of these guys might have been bred as fighters and Petco is getting the culls.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

A fighter cull? That sounds reasonable. I know PetCo and PetSmart buy culls rather than pure random-breds for their HM and DT stock, which is why people can get lucky looking through their fish - even experienced breeders can make mistakes.

Someone on a FB group that I'm a member of got a lime green fish. True green, not turquoise, not blue. That had to have been a mistake on someone's part...


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## Polkadot (Feb 10, 2013)

MikeG14 said:


> I agree Hrutan,I've been seeing some pretty nice giants at Petco but they are all on the shrimpy side. They really aren't that much bigger than the other bettas.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


oooh I would get the super aggressive one.He looks good!


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

hrutan said:


> Someone on a FB group that I'm a member of got a lime green fish. True green, not turquoise, not blue. That had to have been a mistake on someone's part...


Wow! I never new such a color even existed. 
I'll have to expand my horizons beyond plakats & kings and keep an eye open.


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

Polkadot said:


> oooh I would get the super aggressive one.He looks good!


I'm in the process of setting up a divided 20 long right now to bring the little blue guy home to. Hopefully he'll still be there by the time I'm ready but real life keeps getting in the way.

How many Christmas concerts is an Uncle legally obligated to attend anyway? sheesh!

If he's gone, I may consider the bad boy. Although I'm not to sure he would make a good neighbor in a divided tank.

He has a mouth like a nutcracker and I do like his wild-ish coloring. So maybe?


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

This is a pic of 2 of my favorite females. Cookie is a true giant on the left. Pumpkin is a large regular HM on the right but she looks puny next to the big girl.


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## BettaMummy87 (Jul 26, 2014)

logisticsguy said:


> This is a pic of 2 of my favorite females. Cookie is a true giant on the left. Pumpkin is a large regular HM on the right but she looks puny next to the big girl.


This I think answers mine, my two cambos are massive comapred to all of my other fish... they completely dwarf everything else, including my HM and PK males. Large normals I think though... maybe. How big is cookie from nose to caudal (excluding tail)?


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

Cookie was 5 inches body only. She died from an infection. Giants have a very weak immune system. Her death led to me to make some changes to help protect the giants such as adding spirulina and probiotics in the diet and the addition of aquarium salt to their aquariums. Since doing this the giants health as well as the regular size betta health has improved greatly.


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

Cookie was amazing LG, I'm sorry you lost her. Could you explain a little more on how you feed spirulina and probiotics? I've never heard of anything like that before, I'm totally lost.


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

MikeG14 said:


> Cookie was amazing LG, I'm sorry you lost her. Could you explain a little more on how you feed spirulina and probiotics? I've never heard of anything like that before, I'm totally lost.


Sure Mike. 

Ive become a real fan of spirulina. I use a product from Hikari called spirulina brine shrimp. The shrimp are gut loaded with spirulina then harvested and frozen. (Spirulina Arthrospira) is a planktonic blue-green algae found in the warm waters of alkaline volcanic lakes. Spirulina is completely different from other algae in that it 
is more similar to bacteria than to plants. It occupies a niche between bacteria and plants. It is a unique kind of cyanobacteria, and its spiral shaped structure makes it look very similar to other cyanobacteria. Amazingly, it is this characteristic likeness to bacteria that causes the body, once it is ingested, to perceive Spirulina as a bacterium, and therefore causes it to step up its production of antibodies, which in turn increases disease resistance. Spirulina is rich in raw protein and seven major vitamins – A1, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E. In fact, it is one of the best natural sources for vitamin B12. It also naturally contains beta-carotene and other colour enhancing pigments, as well as a whole range of beneficial minerals. In addition, Spirulina has a 62% amino acid content. It not only contains eight major amino acids, but also all essential fatty acids required for complete nutrition. Spirulina is an amazing anti oxidant. I cant recommend this stuff enough and getting more of it in your own diet will do nothing but help. Much like probiotic Lactobacteria Rhamnosis GG the effect is more pronounced in fish than humans but is still great for both species. Your fish will be more colorful and disease resistant.

Lactobacteria Rhamnosis GG is a probiotic that I studied last year. It is commonly found in a probiotic product called Culturelle. I break open a cap and sprinkle on bloodworms to feed. Most fish probiotics are garbage due to decomposition in heat, light and air or they contain strains that are ineffective. It out competes bad bacteria for food then poisons them with lactic acid. It also sparks the production of T cells turning the immune system on high. There are other starins of probiotic bacteria that are effective but imho LBR gg is the best for fish. Some studies on Zebrafish showed 10% faster growth and much stronger resilient fish. There is a link here to that study.

http://www.thefishsite.com/articles/1565/effect-of-lactobacillus-rhamnosus-use-on-zebrafish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_rhamnosus


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

Excellent, thanks LG. My LFS carries the spirulina brine shrimp and the Culturelle looks easy enough to find, it's pretty much at drugstores and supermarkets everywhere according to their website. 

I've often worried about my half giant/king's immunity system. He's fine, but I'd like to take every precaution and keep him around for as long as possible.


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## Polkadot (Feb 10, 2013)

MikeG14 said:


> I'm in the process of setting up a divided 20 long right now to bring the little blue guy home to. Hopefully he'll still be there by the time I'm ready but real life keeps getting in the way.
> 
> How many Christmas concerts is an Uncle legally obligated to attend anyway? sheesh!
> 
> ...


Nice! I love Giants too,they are so spunky!


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