The betta breed Avatar is named after the title of a famous movie. This is especially common among varieties created in Indonesia, and they are named after movie titles such as Avatar, Hellboy, and Armageddon. When most people think of Betta fish, they think of Thailand, and Thailand has long been the home of Betta fish. However, Indonesia, which is on a par with Thailand when it comes to tropical fish farming in Southeast Asia, is putting a lot of effort into betta fish, and has produced many attractive varieties.

In ancient times, the crowntail was also derived from a sophisticated variety developed in Indonesia. A few years ago, there was a time when Indonesian betta fish were brought to Thailand, and at that time, Indonesian betta fish were called Indo. Indo means Indonesia in Thai, not India. At the time, some Japanese people seemed to have mistaken it for a betta from India (lol).

Nowadays, Thailand has evolved its own species by incorporating the good parts of Indonesian betta fish, and the name Indo is no longer heard. As a side note, will it be produced in Indonesia in 2022? It appears that genetically modified betta fish have been shipped all over the world.

The breed's eyes glowed fluorescent green even under normal conditions, and its body seemed to glow fluorescent green when exposed to a black light. Naturally, genetically modified fish are prohibited in Japan. So I decided to take a photo of that fish in Thailand as a record, so I asked a friend.
However, it seems that genetically modified betta fish are illegal in Thailand as well, and I heard that breeders who obtained the fish before they were arrested had them discarded.
Even in Thailand, where there are tons of genetically modified fish on the market, including zebra danios and black tetras, there seems to be something special about the national fish, the betta fish.

Going back to the topic, I remember that the breed called Avatar that I will be introducing this time started to be seen online around 2020, when the whole world was at the mercy of the new coronavirus.
Its characteristic appearance makes it a very attractive breed, and it is a fish that every betta fan would want, but at that time, only a small number were being traded online, and very few were on the general market. It didn't flow. Therefore, there were almost no opportunities to see the real thing.

These attractive new varieties and unique one-of-a-kind items are sold at fairly high prices, and in Thailand, it seems that most of the transactions are made online between individuals using SNS such as Facebook, rather than in shops.
For this reason, initially there were few opportunities to see them in their actual form, even at specialty Betta shops like the one in Chatuchak, but from around 2022 the chances of seeing them in shops have increased.
However, since it is a rare and popular variety, good specimens were sold immediately when they appeared in stores, and they were also quite expensive.

The typical phenotype of an avatar is a black background with shiny blue spots scattered about, but if the body is basically dark and has many shiny spots scattered in a well-balanced manner, then it is an avatar. Looks like it's okay to call.
Basically, it is an advanced version of the Galaxy series, so it is sometimes sold under names such as Black Galaxy and Black Star.

This is what the avatar will look like in the Thai betta market in 2023. Due to active breeding, the supply to the market has increased, so the price has settled down and it is no longer difficult to obtain.
As was the case with Galaxy, it seems difficult to fix a solid spot pattern, and in order to obtain beautiful individuals, it is necessary to breed a large number of individuals and select the good ones from among them. .
Therefore, prices will not fall easily.

Other colors have been added to the color scheme that used to be only black and blue, and more flashy avatars have recently been created, but how will they evolve in the future?