History of the Halfmoon

[Myron Tay]

As told by Dr Leo Buss:

Guy Delarval from Paris, backcrossed (that is, pairing parents with offspring) stock from Paris Jones and Peter Goettner, produced the first halfmoon betta, which was shown at a 1987 show in France.

However, the halfmoon phenomenon only took off when based on Guy's and Robert Underwood's (American) stock, Rajiv Masillamoni, Laurent Chenot and Jeff Wilson produced a halfmoon that won "Best of Show" at the 1993 IBC Convention.

[Markus Gutzeit]

Hello All,

here is some informtion to the Halfmoon betta history, it is an article Rajiv Masillamoni wrote.

Greetings,
Markus Gutzeit

Part 1: THE STORY OF BETTA SPLENDENS:
Bettas have been bred selectively for about the last 50 years to improve the finnage. Many breeders in America and Europe set about improving the finnage through selective breeding.

The early betta were imported from Thailand, Singapore and other south east Asian countries. These fish had slightly elongated fins. That is the caudal (tail fin) were a little longer than on the plakat betta, which is short finned and had been bred by Thais to fight against each other. Huge bets were made and houses, wives and money often changed hands.

The most important breeder in the 50's was Warren Young. He bred fish with superior size and long veil tail fins. Each of the single fins, like the dorsal, caudal and anal fin were as long as the body length. These fish were called Libby Bettas after Warren's wife Libby.

In the 60's, Edward Schmidt Focke of Germany was able to breed the first Delta fish from the Thai bettas. His fish were not as long finned as the libby Bettas, but had broad fins like the modern day bettas and the tail or caudal fin was Delta shaped.

In 1967 the IBC (International Betta Congress) was formed by a group of betta breeders. The IBC aimed to breed fish with fins that were broad and symmetrical instead of long. These fish were able to swim better than those with fins that were long.

By the 80's the IBC breeders like Parris Jones, Peter Goettner and others were breeding fishes which we would call the Super-Delta (fish with round tails and lots of volume).

Part 2 : THE TRUE STORY OF THE HALFMOON:
In the early 80's, Guy Delaval and some other breeders imported these fish to France.

Guy Delaval selected bred these fish for more angle on the tail fins and in 1987 he had a few fish that had a caudal fin of 180?

[Myron Tay]

Here's the halfmoon which won the Best of Show at the 1993 IBC Convention:

http://www.bettasplendens.de/galerie/data/media/2/BOS_IBCconvention1993ChenMasWil.jpg

[David Esguerra]

NIce pic of the winner. Where'd you get it Myron?

Atison also has an account of the HM's history on his site, virtually the same of what has already been said.

The best part about it is that how the HM line almost died before it even started due to abuses in inbreeding.

[Eddy Chandra]

Hi...David ..
if you need a Film about the Halfmoon,i can help you to get it...it is original Film from Rajiv Masillamoni ( Limited Edition )..it calls ** ChenMasWil ** and costs 15.00 Euro plus postage

Historical Halfmoon Betta Clips
The Clips can be looked with the Windows Media Player, to run the movie the divX codec must be
installed.(included on CD)
Part 1 , 2 , 3 ( 51 : 06 min )

Original Design by Markus Gutzeit

Copyright by Rajiv Masillamoni

This Film
showes a cross section of some males Rajiv Masillamoni used in ealier lines from 1989 -
1995.The expression Halfmoon was used first in 1991 by Jeff Wilson to discribe the Tail
Fin of the Fishes bred by Laurent Chenot and Rajiy Masillamoni. Jeff joined them in 1991
and together they formed ChenMasWil, without which there would be no Halfmoon Fishes today.

Eddy Chandra

[img=left]http://www.bettasplendens.de/bettacity/koeln/mark3.jpg[/img=left]

[David Esguerra]

WOw, thanks for the offer, might get back to you on it.

I do have a question though, just which place (country) did this group of breeders work on foundations of the HM? It would be nice to know just what type of climatic conditions the HM is really accustomed too (i.e. where it was first developed) so as to know just to which set of water params they could really be suited to. Oh and BTW, no offense meant but are any of the ChenMasWil still active in bettas? I have only read their names and was wondering if they are still working on something new.

[Svein]

I will highly recommend this CD, I think this is a "must" for all serious HM breeder. It's important to know the history behind our hobby.

regards Svein

[Eddy Chandra]

Hi...David ,maybe Markus Gutzeit will answer your Question...because he knows better...from the ChenMasWil ,I know Rajiv is still active with HM ,in 3 weeks i will meet him at the Swiss Betta Contest 21st until 23rd May 2005 in Moudon Switzerland and Markus Gutzeit is best Friend from Rajiv...he breeds together with Rajiv..about Guy Delaval ,i dont know him...but i know a man who works with his fish..his name Yia ly...he has also a HM Betta Forum...you can Contact him to ask more about Guy Delaval...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HmongBettaClub/

[David Esguerra]

Nice, thanks Eddy.

[Leo Buss]

The information with which this thread started is from a FAMA article I wrote. The history came directly from a conversation with Rajiv Massillimoni.

[sylwester]

The R39 ( linked from http://people.freenet.de/halbmondbetta/markus.htm )

http://people.freenet.de/halbmondbetta/MarkusRajiv/R39%20Rajiv.jpg

The father of the HM-line :) I'm interested in this guys parents but haven't found any images of them.

[David Esguerra]

Nice, may I know the relation of the R39 to the show winner? was it a brother or a "cousin", by what I understand of the accounts that I read, the show winner was not able to breed due to being too inbred or something like that.

Dr. Buss, nice to hear from you here on the group.

[sylwester]

Nop but I'm sure there were many fish exchanged over the atlantic and much work. I found a site about Delaval
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hmongbettasbreeder/hmbydelaval.htm

Here is his 1st price winning fish (M2) from 1987
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hmongbettasbreeder/P%204.JPG

[sylwester]

Nop but I'm sure there were many fish exchanged over the atlantic and much work. I found a site about Delaval
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hmongbettasbreeder/hmbydelaval.htm

Here is his 1st price winning fish (M2) from 1987
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/hmongbettasbreeder/P%204.JPG