Marianne Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 I've had this female (or male) for a little over a month, I've had to keep her and the other female seperate because she's quite aggressive and nippy (her name is Aggro:)). When I first bought her I suspected it might be a male, but after putting her in with a couple of males to see her reaction, I saw vertical stripes so I concluded it was a female. She was released with both males, but it didn't result in spawning, even after several days with each of them, and I haven't tried since. The other day I bought another 4 females, and moved all 6 of them to a bigger tank, figuring the bigger group would keep the aggression level down. Aggro is by far the most aggressive in the tank. She hasn't done any damage, apart from minor nipping, but she's always the one chasing and flaring while the others coexist peacefully. And a little while ago I discovered a HUGE bubblenest in their tank. I didn't see who made it, but with Aggro's strange behaviour she's the main suspect. I know females sometimes make bubblenests, but it's so huge and with her behaviour I'm just really wondering about her... Another thing I noticed is that she's actually a very drab brown colour. I've never seen her in proper light before, and always thought she was dark blue, but the big tank with the females has good light and the brown colour became apparent. So I'm wondering if it's actually a 'wild type' male? Whatcha think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 She looks very female to me. I'm no expert on wilds but she doesn't look like a wild-type male to me either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) I have an aggro just like yours but "its" name is Jaffa (brown body red fins hehe) Some days she acts like a boy others she act's like a girl. I believe she is a girl but she's just going to always live on her own and not bread - she actually doesn't show any interest in the boys at all and will actually get stressed if she see's them. Edited May 6, 2009 by Peta(&Eric) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 I'm leaning towards her being a girl as well, because of her behaviour around males, but just thought I'd check because I've been uncertain about this one for a while.. Like Jaffa, she has male days and female days :woohoo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duv Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 she looks just like the ones in my local pet shop. Some of them seem to be very aggressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 With all the mixing of different types and species going on in Thailand, maybe they are descendants of the ones who were bred to fight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbygodz Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Sounds like my ex........Seriously though, (IME), in a tank of females it seems you will always have an "alpha girl" that displays male type aggression towards her betta tankmates. Also (IME) when you remove "alpha girl" another female will step in to take her place. I am pretty sure she is a girl, bubble nest and all. An obvious egg spot is a good indicator of femininity, as are ovaries, (if you can shine a bright light thru her while filming), then examine the film for the prescence of ovaries. Not easy,especially if the fish has a dark body colour. Cheers!, Brad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 She does have an egg spot, but I've heard males sometimes have those too. I don't know what the ovaries look like, so doing the light thing wouldn't help me much.. She was definitely the alpha then, but she took a chunk out of one of the other girl's tail fin overnight, so I've seperated her now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 There's an article on sexing bettas at www.ausaqua.net. The author's a bit of a ditz though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 I've read it:) It was a few weeks ago, but I believe the conclusion was that you can't know for sure until you see them wrapping/laying eggs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergus Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 She looks just like one of my girls VT girl i'm told. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyarlla Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Definitely female. I have two girls exactly like her. One is incredibly sweet, the other will beat up everything in her way (including the boys!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 I believe the conclusion was that you can't know for sure until you see them wrapping/laying eggs. true, the author got that much right but this fish lacks some male indicia - most notably long ventrals, and she appears not to have a beard. She's also dull in colour, including for a wild male. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted May 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Cool, at least now I know:) Thanks:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callatya Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 IME the girls can be just as vicious as the boys. If they get it into their heads that they are going to fight, they are serious about it. They tend not to pull as many punches as the males do and are more into actual fighting than posturing. I had one girl that was impossible to have with other fish. We bought her on a road trip in QLD, and she was bagged in a medium fish bag with another female. I wasn't paying attention when the girl was bagging, but it was 2 girls from the same tank so we thought it would be ok for the 20 minute drive back to the rent-a-house. 5 minutes down the road we had to find a supermarket and get a bottle of spring water and some gladware containers as she'd torn strips off the other girl, body bites and all! given she was being flopped about with the car movement, she had some incredible aim and grip! The two girls were dubbed Cow and Chicken. Chicken healed up fine and Cow had a lovely life of solitude. Grumpy old sod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peta Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 ROFL @ Callatya (I have a chicken too - she's the cutest thing) I've got Jaffa in a divided tank with my other 'it' (who I have since confirmed IS a girl as Rocky dropped eggs when I changed the temp in the tank the other week)... and a boy that was mistaken for a girl (he's got the egg spot but is definitely a boy!) LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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