Bettas4all Standard: Chapter 4A - Unicolor

[Roberto Silverii]

Chapter 4A: Color Characteristics - Unicolor


By Joep van Esch
www.bettas4all.nl - The International Betta Forum


General remark:
The Bettas4all Judging Team has the right to include colorpatterns which are not described in this standard but which classify as "unicolor" based on their appearance.


Please note that the figures shown in his Chapter are used to illustrate the various color variants. Most of the examples still exhibit points requiring improvement.


In the "Unicolor" class, the color pattern of the fish consists of one single color. This means that body and finnage have the same solid, uniformly, distributed color. This with exception of the tips of the ventrals which are allowed to be white. Color coverage of the head, also called mask, is allowed but not a necessity. The Bettas4all Judging Team can decide to split the unicolor class into separate subclasses when there are at least eight fish of a certain subvariety entered by a minimum of two breeders and that the amount of (sub)classes does not exceed the maximum prices made available by the organization (see Chapter 2).


Table  4A.1   Optional  subclasses of the unicolor class - Primary division individual color variations



Depending on the number of fish and colorvariations entered in a particular finnage variety, the Bettas4all Judging Team can decide to split the unicolor class into separate subclasses. This is only allowed when there are at least six fish of a certain subvariety which are entered by a minimum of two breeders and that the amount of (sub)classes does not exceed the maximum prizes made available by the organization (see Chapter 2).


Table 4A.1, 4A.2 and 4A.3 give a hierarchical overview of the optional subclassification of the unicolor class based on the presence or absence various color pigments on the body of the show betta:
•   Darkbody: Presence of black pigment (melanophores) on the body (black scalation).
•   Lightbody: Absence of the black pigment on the body. Lightbodied fish are all homozygous for the cambodian trait.
•   Iridescent: Presence of blue/green/yellow-reflecting crystal elements (iridophores) on the body.
•   Non-iridescent: Absence of iridescence on the body.


Table  4A.2   Optional  subclasses of the unicolor class - Primary division Darkbody vs. Lightbody





Table  4A.3   Optional  subclasses of the unicolor class - Primary division iridescent vs. non-iridescent



This chapter describes the various colors and to which subclassification (see Tabel 4A.1, 4A.2 and 4A.3) they belong.


1.   Darkbody
1.1   Iridescent
The darkbody, iridescent class is characterized by a range of colors varying from blue to green. In this class the colors can be either non-metallic (see Figure 4A.1) or metallic, including "dragons" (see Figure 4A.2). The body and finnage must be uniformly colored without traces of opaque, red or any other type of pigment. The iridescent colors are often referred to as structural colors as they are the result of the light reflection from thin colorless crystal elements found inside cells called iridophores which are present on the surface of the body. The spread iridescence trait is responsible for the distribution of the iridescent colors over the body (with exception of the head). The head can be either classical "black head" or fully masked.
Some examples of unicolored variants belonging to this subclass are:
-   Non-metallic turquoise, steel blue and royal blue.
-   Metallic turquoise, steel blue and royal blue (including copper and teal).
-   Turquoise, steel blue and royal blue based "dragons".



Figure 4A.1   Examples of darkbody – iridescent fish:
   Turquoise (A), steel blue (B)  and royal blue (C)
   (A), (B) and (C) were bred by Joep van Esch - BettaTerritory (The Netherlands)



Figure 4A.2   Examples of darkbody – iridescent fish:
   Homozygous metallic turquoise (A), copper (B) and teal (C)
(A) was bred by Kit Watchara - Aquastar71 (Thailand); (B) and (C) were bred by Joep van Esch - BettaTerritory (The Netherlands)


1.2   Non-Iridescent
The darkbody, non-iridescent class is characterized by an absence of iridescence. Ideally this should result in uniform, dark intense black color (see Figure 4A.3). The body and finnage must be uniformly colored without traces of (metallic) iridescence, opaque, red or any other type of pigment.
Some examples of unicolored variants belonging to this subclass are:
-   Black
-   



Figure 4A.3   Examples of darkbody – non-iridescent fish:
   Black (A and B)
   (A) breeder unknown; (B) was bred by Kit Watchara - Aquastar71 (Thailand)


2.   Lightbody
2.1   Iridescent
The lightbody, iridescent class is characterized by an absence of black pigment. In this class the colors can be either non-metallic or metallic, including "dragons". The body and finnage must be uniformly colored without traces of black, red or any other type of pigment. Ideally this should result in an uniform white color. A slight steel blue wash is allowed. Please note that royal blue and turquoise based pastels and/or opaques show a blue/green wash and are less favored than the steel blue based pastels and opaques which have a clean white appearance.
Some examples of unicolored variants belonging to this subclass are (see Figure 4A.4):
-   Non-metallic pastel white, blue and green.
-   Metallic pastel white, blue and green.
-   Pastel white, pastel blue and green "dragons".
-   Non-metallic opaque white, opaque blue and opaque green.
-   Metallic opaque white, opaque blue and opaque green (including platinum white).
-   Opaque white, blue and green "dragons".



Figure 4A.4   Examples of Lightbody – iridescent colored fish:
   Opaque white (A), metallic pastel white (B)  and metallic opaque (C)
(A) and (C) were bred by Kit Watchara - Aquastar71 (Thailand); (B) was bred by Joep van Esch - BettaTerritory (The Netherlands)


2.2   Non-Iridescent
The lightbody, non-iridescent class is characterized by a total absence of black pigment and iridescence. Because of the absence of these dominant layers, this results either in a uniform red, orange, yellow or colorless appearance. Please note that in the case of a sufficiently large color contrast between body and finnage, red, orange and yellow bettas have to be reclassified to the bicolor class (see Chapter 4B).
Some examples of unicolored variants belonging to this subclass are (see Figure 4A.5 and 4A.6):
-   Red (light- and darkbody)**
-   Orange
-   Yellow
-   Cellophane (clear)
-   Albino
**Darkbodied reds are also shown in this class but have to be faulted for the presence of the underlying black pigment.



Figure 4A.5   Examples of Lightbody – non-iridescent colored fish:
   Lightbody (A) and darkbody red (B)
(A) was bred by Joep van Esch - BettaTerritory (The Netherlands) and (B) was bred by Kit Watchara -Aquastar71 (Thailand)



Figure 4A.6   Examples of Lightbody – non-iridescent colored fish:
   Orange (A) and Yellow (B)
   (A) and (B) were bred by Kit Watchara - Aquastar71 (Thailand)


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