[Image source]

Another bit of betta history, the Tutwiler butterfly betta!

I’ve been entranced with the myriad of stunning Betta types available through online transshippers for a couple years now, a phenomenon of the internet truly globalizing the world and connecting people who’d never otherwise meet.

Of course, this personal interest in Bettas stems all the way back to reading about the lost “Tutwiler Butterfly Betta” in the 1986 edition of Axelrod & Vorderwinkler’s Encyclopedia of Tropical Fishes published by TFH Publications (there are many 1998 editions currently available at Amazon too – this title appears to be out of print).

To this day, the Tutwiler Butterfly Betta seems to haunt online forums just as it lurked in my childhood memory, a subject of mystery and speculation. Two main schools of thought seem to emerge, that the Tutwiler fish may have been what we now call a “tri-band” betta, or perhaps better referred to as the modern day “reverse butterfly” betta. Of course, it doesn’t help when a black and white photo like the above doesn’t convey that the fish is actually red and white. Modern breeders seem to have come very close to recreating Tutwiler’s lost fish, but nothing quite like what you see above.

- Amazonas Magazine (The Betta Son, Part 2)

And here’s a bit more about it from a 1972 paper by Dr. Gene A. Lucas: Betta Genetics, Part XV - The Butterfly Variety or Variation in Variegation.

(Photo: Unknown. This is a screenshot of a book shown during a web seminar, but I didn’t catch the title of the book.)

Here’s a little betta history, if anyone’s interested!

THE LIBBY BETTA

“In the 50′s an American named Warren Young made a significant contribution to the betta world through his creation (as a result of carefully selecting the fish he used for breeding) of a particularly large strain of veiltail with even longer fins. He named this fish the Libby betta, after his wife.”

-  The Betta Bible: The Art and Science of Keeping Bettas by Dr. Martin Brammah (published 2015)

“Most hobbyists are aware of the existence and popularity of Libby bettas. Warren and Libby Young of New Jersey proved that size in bettas can be enhanced through selective breeding. They stressed the importance of care in choosing the most advantageous females in breeding. Males, of course, are easier to select. The popularity of their bettas resulted in the name “Libby” having become synonymous with largeness in bettas.”

- Bettas: A Complete Introduction by Walt Maurus (published 1986)