Betta sex - male or female?

[thursyanna]

I rescued 5 female bettas from Walmart a few weeks ago. I got them home, put them in their new 20 gal home. Now that they've had time to adjust and color up, I'm thinking that one of them that was marked as a female might be a male. Not sure. Need some opinions. I do have a beautiful male in my 55 gal but this one's not quite as big as he his but he is bigger than his tankmates.

 

[thursyanna]

Here is a female tankmate of his and my male in my 55 gal. Oops, my female didn't post. This is my big male in my 55 gal.

 

[Fishanatic]

Try compare him/her to the other fish. Also, isolate him/her and put a mirror in front of it. If it flares with it's gills, you can know it's a male.

 

[shellieca]

Have you looked for an ovipositor, the white dot on the underside? IMO, looks female. If you look at the ventral fins, they usually look shorter/smaller than a males. Some females can get quite large, I have a couple big girls.

 

[shellieca]

Try compare him/her to the other fish. Also, isolate him/her and put a mirror in front of it. If it flares with it's gills, you can know it's a male.

Females also flare, mine do it all of the time, usually at each other. However, their "beards" are not as large as a males usually.

 

[Harry Vysekal]

Quick test 100% works if its female take small mirror to the side of the tank to your betta can see its reflection if its male he will get aggressive and he will start attacking its reflexion, if its male you can do this couple of times in a week to keep him healthy and territorial so he doesn't get soft

 

[Pawtrekker]

IMO it looks female.

 

[AuroraBettas]

Quick test 100% works if its female take small mirror to the side of the tank to your betta can see its reflection if its male he will get aggressive and he will start attacking its reflexion, if its male you can do this couple of times in a week to keep him healthy and territorial so he doesn't get soft

I disagree, I have a few females that will react this way.

 

[Harry Vysekal]

Females do but this fish is in full colour it cannot be female if the fish reacts to the mirror I am professionally breeding bettas and I seem dozen of betta kind

 

[AuroraBettas]

Females do but this fish is in full colour it cannot be female if the fish reacts to the mirror I am professionally breeding bettas and I seem dozen of betta kind

I promise you I have females that do this. I am just disagreeing that your method works 100% of the time.



Looking for the ovipositor will probably be the best in this case. I also have a few females that are quite larger than the rest. Your fish pictured looks female to me though.

 

[Harry Vysekal]

I have many males that have ovipositors but if you don't trust this method try it if the fish have big beard then it's male because female have only small ones (beard is when the fish rises its cheek as a warning

 

[AuroraBettas]

I have many males that have ovipositors but if you don't trust this method try it if the fish have big beard then it's male because female have only small ones (beard is when the fish rises its cheek as a warning

Ah, yes, see, the beard part I do agree with!

 

[Alyxx]

I agree that beard size is a good indicator. Also, you could put her in a cup and float her with your male and watch how they react to one another. That's how I tested the sex of my hmpk male. He has what looks to be an ovipositor and I was a little worried when he came in that he may have been female - and I would have been mad if my $60 fish was another female, as I got him to breed. Already had a bunch of nice girls. He showed off for females and wanted to fight males. And now he is a daddy to month old fry!

 

[thursyanna]

I might try the mirror thing and see if he/she flares. I bet it's a female. Of course, I bought a baby awhile back that was supposed to be a female and he is definitely a male. That's why he's in my 55 gal. Thanks for all the input on this. I'll see tonight what it does with the mirror. She's probably just a big female. Even if turned out to be a male it wouldn't matter since it would be the only male in the tank.

 

[ktomminello]

I have an experience similar, only my 'mega female' came from my own breeding and completely took me by surprise- very prominent abdomen with egg spot, tiger stripes with male introduction, but she wouldn't lay eggs no matter which one of my proven 'daddies' that I paired her with. She loves the company of other betta, male or female, though and is 4 inches- bigger than my hmpk male!! I'm not a professional breeder, I just like multiple betta tanks and have gotten lucky with a majority of my attempts to breed my rarities.

I still have her, she shares a 10g with a giant tricolor king, another of my anomalies, and looks like a very fat male crowntail with shortened fins.

Moral behind the story- through selective breeding we got this far with the males it's only natural that the females are going to start taking on the traits of their male counterparts. I think that's how most of the species that are visually gender nonspecific became that way Sorry/ you're welcome about/for the biological philosophy rant... Thanks to whoever reads this.