The fish in our logo, Betta Antuta. Yes, it is not a parrot! With my lack of photoshop experience, I think it was good enough. haha
Betta Antutas are one of the largest type of bettas in the Unimaculata Complex. When you see domesticated giant bettas, they have nothing on the big wild type bettas. They are known for the larger scales on the head resembling dragon scales. Most comes with some iridescent masking on the face from half mask to full mask. When under the light, they become a nice blue or teal color. They are rising in popularity as more high quality Antutas are becoming available.
You have may have seen Betta Antutas sold with a letter or 2 following. Such as, S, SB, S2, B, X, T, M, K and maybe others.
What do these letters mean? My initial thoughts before I dove into Betta Antutas were that they meant the quality of the Antuta. When I first saw photos of Antuta SB, I was amazed. This specific Antuta quickly rose in popularity. I was determined to learn more about them. They have betta shows in Indonesia with a category for Antutas as well.
Based on conversations with people over the years, I learned a few things. How accurate they may be is a different story.
- The letters represents a location they were caught from.
- Each location offers Antuta with some differences.
- Don't always expect the same quality as the photos you see.
- Each location offers different grades for quality of Antuta.
- The grades are determined based on mask and scaling of full grown Antutas.
- SB has gold color in it.
- SB also has double layer masking. Supposedly the only type to so far?
- Some SB location have been destroyed.
- X type females also has masking.
- They come in temperatures at about 72-78F
- Different sellers sell different Types since it's based on location.
We have never called them by letters but I believe that was based on the hunter's confidentiality to keep their location a secret. This helps the sellers monopolize on their "Brand" of Antuta. Our supplier will be doing that as well as they find higher quality Antutas.
We also have seen Antutas with little to no iridescence as well as Antutas with full mask of iridescence. You'll see the best colors when they are full grown and that is the time when competitors take them to the betta shows.