Rays

[Foo Hong]

Rays? Oh ...this is not the shark's cousin or what you bar-be-que at seafood stalls....but yes....its rays.....it will haunt you, please you, piss you[off!], confuse you, annoy you.....cough cough!

[Foo Hong]

the more rays the better ? well yes and no. sufficient rays is required to cause growth of finnage 'sideways' rather than 'lengthwise', so that we get a shorter wider tail, anal. dorsal etc. as fin volume increases rays and ray branching usually have to simultaneously follow or else the fins will usually cease to grow any 'wider' but start to grow 'parallel'.

[Foo Hong]

the more rays the better ? well yes and no. sufficient rays is required to cause growth of finnage 'sideways' rather than 'lengthwise', so that we get a shorter wider tail, anal. dorsal etc. as fin volume increases rays and ray branching usually have to simultaneously follow or else the fins will usually cease to grow any 'wider' but start to grow 'parallel'.

[kennho]

Foo Hong, how many primary rays are there ? I count are 14 for st.
Also one of my spawn has longer primary rays before splitting. That's going to affect the future spread rite ?

[kennho]

Foo Hong, how many primary rays are there ? I count are 14 for st.
Also one of my spawn has longer primary rays before splitting. That's going to affect the future spread rite ?

[Foo Hong]

I usually counted [with my poor old pair of glasses] about the region of 12/13 primary rays.

I did quite a bit of observation myself initially after I was 'convinced' all those so called betta gurus when I started this hobby that ...'I am selling you a fish with good ray branching'. Initially I actually took out pieces of paper and draw the tails of various HM and SD [like mapping finger prints] to see what factors in a ray branching gives a better fin. I thot I had the firm answer but subsequently I realised that there are other factors besides rays in forming a good fin. I also think the 'webbings' between the rays are important. Having said...I agreed with Atison Phumchoosri that to get a decent looking fish, u need sets of 1to8 ray braching from most primary rays. If you buy a 'young' fish with 4 rays, there is a risk as you cant yet see the 'full picture'.

For me, I noticed those so called 'over HMs' in my spawns usually have 16 rays when fully matured and the spacing betw the primary rays are pretty 'volumous'.

[Foo Hong]

I usually counted [with my poor old pair of glasses] about the region of 12/13 primary rays.

I did quite a bit of observation myself initially after I was 'convinced' all those so called betta gurus when I started this hobby that ...'I am selling you a fish with good ray branching'. Initially I actually took out pieces of paper and draw the tails of various HM and SD [like mapping finger prints] to see what factors in a ray branching gives a better fin. I thot I had the firm answer but subsequently I realised that there are other factors besides rays in forming a good fin. I also think the 'webbings' between the rays are important. Having said...I agreed with Atison Phumchoosri that to get a decent looking fish, u need sets of 1to8 ray braching from most primary rays. If you buy a 'young' fish with 4 rays, there is a risk as you cant yet see the 'full picture'.

For me, I noticed those so called 'over HMs' in my spawns usually have 16 rays when fully matured and the spacing betw the primary rays are pretty 'volumous'.

[Foo Hong]

Rays! This was something I had a really hard time explaining to visitors at our recent roadshow...luckily there were Jack Lewin posters on sale, which clearly shows why a nice HM must have a decent set of ray structure