Saucy Girl Or...?

I have one, what I am assuming to be, female betta. I purchased her as one of two females, and until the unfortunate passing (terra cotta pot accident) of the first, this betta was the less dominant of the two. She is just wonderful in with the variety of fish that she's been in with (to the point of being the one shoved around when there's food - no worries, she's getting plenty!).

Anyway, the point of this story is that when I attempted to breed her last year, she basically attacked the male quite viciously. My boyfriend has bred bettas before and said that was very unlike any female he'd known. If you show her a mirror she acts exactly like a male will - flaring and wiggling and generally being quite saucy. I had a bagged male that I put in the tank for a minute the other day, and she went crazy at him (while he didn't do anything back).

So... Is she just really saucy to other bettas, or is she perhaps a male? Thoughts?







These two are from when the male was in the tank.




ETA: Oh, I do have a short clip I can upload and post showing her behaviour.

Are they all the same fish?
And did he/she make that bubblenest in the last picture? Looks a bit like a PK to me...

well...i guess the common questions to ask would be, the white spot on her belly? (between the anal fin and the ventral fins) and does she have that extra flap of skin that comes out when she flares like the males?

monica said:

Are they all the same fish?
And did he/she make that bubblenest in the last picture? Looks a bit like a PK to me...

Click to expand...

She's been with the one other betta, the one I bought along with her when she was little, but has been with a wide range of other fish - swordtails, cherry barbs, tiger barbs, congo tetras, danios, RTBS, spotted climbing perch, etc.

The bubbles are from some Melafix I had put in the tank earlier that day - it causes the filter to produce tons of bubbles.

well...i guess the common questions to ask would be, the white spot on her belly? (between the anal fin and the ventral fins) and does she have that extra flap of skin that comes out when she flares like the males?

Click to expand...

Can you please explain these questions further? I'm not entirely sure what you mean.

StarChildren said:

well...i guess the common questions to ask would be, the white spot on her belly? (between the anal fin and the ventral fins) and does she have that extra flap of skin that comes out when she flares like the males?

Click to expand...

This is a hard one, please answer those questions

No idea about the white spot... Care to explain further?

As for the extra flap of skin when flaring, I'm assuming that means that when they flare there's the extra piece that comes down below their gill covers (or whatever the correct term is, )? If so, then yes 'she' does have it. I just ran down and showed 'her' the mirror and 'she' flared and those little flaps were present.

the white dot is between the two front fins that hang down from like her chin and the fine that goes back along her underside. its where i think the eggs come from. and the extra flap of skin, when a male flares up its like theres a piece of skin that comes out from under his gills.

this is a male flaring


and the egg sack, white dot on a female (its attached and should show below)

and i am just assuming thats the egg sack...cuz that seems to be where the eggs come from...sorry wasn't correct on the terms and may not be correct on what the white dot is either. been a long day and am a lil slow on terms. sorry.

Ripley said:

No idea about the white spot... Care to explain further?

As for the extra flap of skin when flaring, I'm assuming that means that when they flare there's the extra piece that comes down below their gill covers (or whatever the correct term is, )? If so, then yes 'she' does have it. I just ran down and showed 'her' the mirror and 'she' flared and those little flaps were present.

Click to expand...

i have yet to see a female who had that extra when she flared...so i'd say its a plaket male.

Have you ever seen 'her' display vertical bars? On her body...

Thank you StarChildren! The extra membrane is exactly what shows when it flares. And I've never seen the little white dot.

Monica - there might have been one time I thought I saw vertical bars... But could have been the light in the tank and my (hopeful) imagination. Even when shown a male there were no vertical bars - just lots of agression! (In my defense, at the time both my boyfriend and I assumed it was female.)

Definitely starting to sound a lot like a male! But that surprises me that having two of them together and this was the less dominant (showing the horizontal stress stripes at times) of the two. And has never, ever attempted to chase or harass any of the other fish (maybe having 'grown up' with all these different fish).

Not trying to be pushy, but does anyone else have anything to add? A confirmed diagnosis? Any thoughts as to why it got along just fine with the other betta?

I can get a video of 'her' today flaring if anyone would like me too.

a little unrelated....where the betta's anus is, which I am thinking is very close to the two long parts that hang down on a male, are there two white bits, and is this the fishes anus??

Yeah a video of "her" flaring would probably be very helpful

its a male... a very nice pk male! me likes.. me wants

look at the tip of the anal fin

look athe spread of the dorsal and tail... look at that bubblenest!!

Okay, I'll try and get a video clip later today and post it!

Blue_betta: That's not a bubblenest, as I mentioned earlier I'd put some Melafix in the tank and it makes the filter jet produce bubbles like crazy. This betta has never made, or attmepted to make a bubblenest.