In January 2017, as usual, I went to Bangkok's Sunday Market to look for fish. There are many fish-related shops here, making it a paradise-like place for fish lovers who can just browse around. However, there are rows of shops that look like barracks, so be careful of the heat! There is a high possibility of getting heat stroke if you are absorbed in it. In my case, after looking around and getting sweaty, I enter the air-conditioned commercial building called JJ Mall next to the fish area. It is standard to drink a watermelon smoothie at the drink shop inside to cool down your body. Once the body has cooled down to its core, it goes back to fighting the heat.
I'm familiar with most of the betta shops in this area, so I often get approached by people when I'm walking around. This is an important news source for people in jobs like mine. This time, I was stopped at a store and told to look at it, and when I looked, I saw a fish that I had never seen before! It is a veil tail type (traditional type) of carp betta.
It would probably be better to call it Koi Beta Traditional in English, but that would cause a misunderstanding in meaning, so it would be better to call it Koi Beta Veil Tail.

Even so, I can't help but feel that the order of this fish's debut was wrong in a sense. The regular carp betta made its debut, followed by the carp betta Half Moon. After that, it continued to Koibeta Giant. To my layman's perspective, Veiltail is likely to debut earlier than Halfmoon, but there must be a reason why it took so long.
It may have been genetically difficult to transfer the color of the Koi betta to the veil tail type, or it may have been a commercial consideration that led them to start with the half moon. I didn't have time to research this part this time, so I would like to research it next time I go to Thailand.

There is one serious problem with this Koi betta veil tail. It's the price. When I was shown an attractive fish, I immediately inquired about its price, but the answer I received was higher than I had imagined. It is higher than Koibeta Half Moon when it debuted. The general public's concept of the price of betta fish is Half Moon > Veil Tail. However, if Veiltail, which debuted later, is taller than Halfmoon, it may not be taken seriously.

There is definitely a reason for the high price. It can be assumed that the reason for the delay in production was that there was some kind of genetic difficulty, which required more effort and time. This is reflected in the price, which is not a scam but a legitimate one. Otherwise, betta breeders won't have much fun, and their motivation won't increase. However, this price may also have the meaning of being a celebratory price for the first product. I'm sure this problem will gradually be solved as fish become more popular and the fish are mass-produced. In fact, Koibeta Halfmoon has a track record of settling down to a fairly reasonable price in about half a year.

Another problem is that there is still little supply on the market. Even though there are many betta specialty stores in the Sunday market, as far as I know, there is only one store that sells this fish. Perhaps fearing that the price will plummet if they are bred, only the males are still being sold, and the females have not yet been released.

As you can see by looking at the photo, in the case of Koi betta, the veil tail type looks more Japanese than the half moon, perhaps because the tail fin is reminiscent of the hem of a kimono. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a hit with betta fans. In terms of colors, they range from the standard three colors of Koi betta to red and yellow. I am curious about the trends in the Japanese market from the end of spring, when the temperature rises and the demand for betta fish increases.