Twin tail Betta

BANGKOK // At a record breaking 53, 500 baht (Dh5, 500), a Siamese fighting fish in the colours of the Thai national flag has been bought in an online auction, making it the most expensive Betta fish ever sold.

Pictures of the fish – with its blue, red and white horizontal stripes mimicking the Thai flag – went viral after its breeder Kachen Worachai posted them on a private Betta fish auction group on Facebook.

Mr Kachen had expected someone to buy the fish for a few thousand baht and was shocked when the bid hit 10, 000 baht on the second day.

"I never expected my fish to go for this price, " he said on Thursday.

Mr Kachen, a 40-year-old convenience store owner who breeds Betta fish as a hobby, posted the pictures on November 6 with a starting bid of 99 baht. The auction closed two days later on November 8.

Betta fish have been bred previously to reproduce the colours of the Thai flag but none have come close.

The highest previous price was for a half-moon Betta fish that sold for 23, 500 baht.

"The chance of getting a fish with the flag’s exact colour is like one in 100, 000, " said Mr Kachen. "So many people have tried to breed the Thai flag colours. Luck was really on my side."