Siamese Fighting

Hello,

I am more than interested in breeding my Siamese Fighting Fish but I have no idea what gender he or she is to even consider it!

Here are a couple of pictures, if it at all helps!

He's a Veil Tail male. There is a lot of good advice on here about breeding, and I suggest you read it all, and then do some more research on your own. Breeding bettas is not only a lot of work, but requires a lot of time, money and room. I hope you get all the right info before you get into this. Good luck.

I certainly will.

I just need to be able to tell the difference between male and female too!

Yeah yours is definitely a Veiltail Male. There are different tail types too. Check out this link:

[URL="http/www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?=100=115=120&1&cg"]http/www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auc...20&1&cg[/URL]

The site is Aquabid.com, sorta like the Ebay of the aquarium world. They have just about any kind of betta you can buy, even the wild types. Plus they have just females for sale so you can see the difference between male and female. What people don't realize is when you say you have a betta, its almost like saying you have a bird. There's a lot of different kinds of birds in the world. Likewise there are alot of different kinds of bettas out there too. Your common betta is a Betta Splendens, your tail type is Veil Tail. I don't wanna bombard you with a TON of info all at once so go take a look at all the tail types and then feel free to ask any questions.

If I may ask, what kind of tank is your betta in? A community tank? I don't wanna be negative but your betta looks like he's been nipped by another fish or been in a fight. Did you just get him? I know alot of stores don't care for their bettas and let them get their fins torn and what not.

Welcome to Fishforums.net btw!

Its easy when you see the differences in them (i am not trying to promote my site here its just easier) if you go to the about bettas tab on my page using the link below in my sig i cover bits and bobs about sexing and breeding. You will need to do lots of research on different sites cos as has already been said its not as simple as putting them together and waiting. I wish you the best of luck and keep us posted

I got him about a week ago yes. He is in a community but of small peaceful fish. If there is any chasing going on, he's the one who is doing it. I bought him from a reputable breeder who assured me he was a Siamese.. what can I say?

He's always happy and is the resident top dweller!

Well yes, Siamese Fighting Fish is another name for a common Betta.

So in all technicality he IS a Sianmese Fighting Fish LOL!

As I bought him the way he is, and wouldn't know any different, is the nipping done to him substantial? I am making a trip back to the breeder in the next few days and it would be beneficial to know it it warrants a mention.

Yeah it looks bad on his dorsal fin (the top fin) and his anal fin (the bottom fin). For comparison, this is my betta Megamouth (on the right), he's 3 years old and has never been bit or torn a fin or anything like that:



And this is Tsunami, he's much younger than Megamouth so his fins are shorter but as you can see, he's got the long dorsal and bell shaped tail that gives them the name Veil Tail:

I attached your original pics with the areas that I thought looked nipped circled in blue. Hope you don't mind, I just wanted to be sure I wasn't the only one seeing it LOL

groupiekilla06 said:

I attached your original pics with the areas that I thought looked nipped circled in blue. Hope you don't mind, I just wanted to be sure I wasn't the only one seeing it LOL

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd say there is some fin damage as Groupie pointed out, but it may not be from nipping, it might be from the filter intake or the filter output. What kind or tank mates is he with and what type of filtration is in the tank? That would really let us know which it is.

Here are some pics of my Veil Tails for Comparison as well.

Alpha Betta



Here's Ryujin



And here's Carmine



Notice how all their fins are even in shape and size along all the edges, that's how your should look too. So let us know and we'll get your guy in shape in no time.

I'm going to be blunt here sorry.

Their are a lot of things to think about befor breeding and their is plenty of info here to read up on.
Breeding is quite easy but rearing is difficualt.

If you cant even sex them and only been keeping the a short period of time then you need to give plenty of time.
Dont rush things as your most like kill the fish.

So Dont, not yet anyway, if you know the breeder then talk to them and lurn.

When I bought him he came from a tank with mixed fish that I wouldn't be able to name. He mainly resides with mollys and guppies at the moment. Are you saying he could return to a non-nipped state?
I am interested in breeding these in the future, I am focusing on my guppies at the moment and taking advice from different sections of this forum for that. I would never rush in to breeding, I have seen some huge nests these can produce and I don't have the time needed to overlook this delicate process yet. I would love to give it an attempt towards the end of the year though.

Well that's a good plan. Waiting till the end of the year should be enough time to read and learn and prepare for a betta breeding.

As for his tank mates I'm surprised he hasn't killed any of the male guppys yet or had any boughts with the Mollies which, depending on the breed, can either be the aggressor or the victim when it comes to bettas. But either way they're not good tank mates for him. Danios, minnows, rasboras, otos, plecos, corys, shrimp, and snails are about the only thing that are safe with a betta, and if it's a really aggressive one, then not even they will be safe. Your best bet is to put him in his own tank, a 2-5 gallon is fine for him by himself.

He's my only real top dweller, and that's his territory. He hasn't bothered any of my fish, although he does come down to see what my leopard cory is doing from time to time. I don't know why ..

When my guppies move to their own tank this friday, he'll be left with a few mollys, a cory and some phantom tetras. My tetras don't even shoal together which is a shame. They really do keep themselves to themselves.