Difference between old HM and giant HM

Lots of sellers sell "old" HM as giant HM. This is simply because some old HMs do have tendency to have very large finnage (refer to long tail discussion). So the question is....how would one differentiate old HM from giant? This assumes that sellers lie about the age of the fish (either intentionally or not....it's ridiculous for instance to see an 8 months or even 1 year old fish being advertised as 3.5 months old, cause you can really see that the "boy" is old!)

To start, the body length should be different...but then some old HM also have longer-than-normal body length, therefore this is not a good indicator. Sometimes you can see from the "face" of the fish that they are giant, this is typically true when the fish has much larger body size (volume-wise) and yet the face looks like he's very "young".

Another indicator is the length of the finnage. Giant HM should have very long finnage or looks wavy despite their young age (sample pictures). Guided with this comparison, we would expect that some 1 year old large-size HMs will be equivalent to a 4 or 5 months giant HM, at least on size comparison. You will still notice that the "face" differences.

As for movements...it is quite difficult to differentiate between the two. Both giant HM and old HM should be "quite" active. They move slower than their standard betta counterpart, but still active. However, the biggest differentiator would be how long they can hold off that finnage during flare. Old HM gets tired easily, whereas giants stay active for sometime before they get bored too (they maybe bored, but if given new flaring partner, they'll flare continuously).

Another nicer indicator though sometimes quite difficult to notice on young giant would be the width, volume, and scales. Giant has thicker and bigger scales as well as much heavier volume. While giant HMPK is very much noticeable and differentiable in their volume, giant HMs are typically slimmer than their giant HMPK counterpart. However, even a slimmer giant HM is still bigger and larger (in scales and volume) compare to old large-size HM.

Note that we are not trying to compare giant HM and "standard" HM, cause there is no comparison. Giant HM is much larger than standard HM as shown in comparison. We're trying to compare giant HM and the "fake" giant HM (e.g. old large-size HM). For instance, the fish in long tail discussion is standard HM with an unknown age. It is not a giant despite its sheer caudal size. Notice that it has skinny body too which confirms that it is of standard betta.

Interestingly, female giants are a lot easier to spot, if they are long fin. How many of those old large-size HM females that can reach the length and size of a giant? A 3 month old giant HM female would have beaten the size of an old HM female easily, hence there isn't much point of trying to compare them. Note that all of the above comparisons, including body volume etc, would still be applicable when comparing giant HM females and their counterpart old large-size HM females.

Perhaps the problem with giants these days are comparatively to the discussions that we used to have about 8 years ago, when we tried to identify whether a particular betta is a "good" HM or not....Back then (and still now, but less so), a full 180 degree fish is easily identified as HM but spawning 2 "HM" won't necessarily get you HMs!!! In fact, in the old days, we used to get majority of SDs (which cost considerably cheap compared to HM!!! HM could cost from $100+ while SD only costs $40). That's because the HM gene isn't stabilized yet but also because of a number of other reasons such as:

• seller doesn't tell the truth (e.g. is it stabilized giant gene? is it 50% giant? is it 75%? is it 100%?)
• seller doesn't sell good giants (for the interest of their livelihood and other reasons)
• ever wonder why you never get siblings when you try to purchase giants? (at least you won't get sibling giant HM so far)
• you may only get one-off giant in the spawn of 200, hence what you see aint necessarily the "best" gene out there

Of course there are many other reasons, that's why a good giant gene HM costs so much! In fact, realistically, if you're looking for good giant HM either male or female, you will end up paying about $100+ per fish. Many people don't really get this as yet....the cost is expensive, but that's the price someone ought to pay for such a hard work on the "line".

For those not quite clear yet, giant HM carries the following difficulties in "producing" them:

• it's HM (it is difficult to stabilize HM gene)
• it's giant (no one can stabilize this gene yet -- crossing 2 giants will only get you small percentage of giants, the others are just "carrier"; same analogy from 8 years ago...crossing 2 HMs will get you lots of SD and only 1 or 2 HMs!! crossing 2 SDs won't get you HMs unless you're lucky, but that's rarely happen!)
• it's HM (didn't we mention this already?)....HM has lots of problems associated with them which requires regular water changes, consistent care, etc
  

Now, some of you may say..."so what?"....well, did you know that HM is purely "hand-crafted"? There is no such betta in the wild that can be called HM (there are PK, VT, etc, but not HM). The HM fish that we've got today is totally the diligent work of their creators, over 100s or 1000s generations, to produce a very nice consistent form what we know as HM today. This is exactly the same process that many of us giant breeders are going through at the moment.....hand-crafting the ultimate giant HM. That's why some people including us love to breed "quality" bettas...we like to be "god" or at least feeling like it...

So, for similar interest enthusiasts out there....go breed "better" bettas, not just any crappy bettas (though this is very much up to the debate; perhaps for another discussion). Make sure you also help the mother earth and try to preserve wild bettas too. Don't cross your wilds with any designer bettas!

Hope this discussion helps you appreciate giant HM more. Don't be surprised if a seller asks for an arm and a leg for their giant HM, if it is good gene, it worth all the money! (provided you know how to make use of it too!)