Female Betta Stress Lines?

[stubert]

hello,

So was reading some stuff today and the horizontal lines on a female betta are known as stress lines, now my females have had these since ive gotten them but i cant see a reason for them being stressed? they are in a 64 litre (3 of them) with some bronze cories neons and a couple of baby BN plecs, tanks at around 27c and parametres are good, plenty of hidy holes and plants etc. As far as how they act i cant see signs of stress

so what can i do??

Thanks

 

[aly_starh]

hi, how long have you had them for?

Do you ever see them fighting? Ideally when female bettas are kept together there should be a minimum of 5. It might be the fact that they cant get a dominant female in the group? The more the females, the aggression is spread out and not pin-pointed at the one fish.

hope that helps

 

[angelfishguy]

are you sure one of the females isnt a male?
they get those lines when breeding too

 

[stubert]

ive had them for maybe a month now? and i see OCCASIONALLY a chase for a split second, but apart from that theres nothing, they dont tend to notice each other, most aggressive fish in my tank is my male BN and thats only when hes feeding and gets annoyed at other fish pecking round him and hes hiding most of the time and im planning on getting a couple more, i only had enough money for 3 when i last went to the fish shop.

Well i did wonder if id end up with a male because ive read about it happening alot but they all look pretty much the same, i don't see flairing or anything like that, not even totally sure what ones they are i think they are plakats, they where fairly young when i got them so still waiting for them to grow fully

i read the breeding lines where vertical? and stress horizontal?

 

[aly_starh]

Hmmmm.....

Yes, vertical lines are breeding stripes and horizontal are stress. My females bettas took just over a month before they settled.

Have you seen any bubble nests? If so then you will more than likely have a male in that tank.

Any chance of pictures? Males have a long, thin body. Females are usually bigger.

Id say just see how it goes, and if they still dont settle maybe add another few females to even aggression.

 

[BethK]

Vertical lines on a female betta, is showing her being ready to spawn. Horizontal lines show when stressed.

A healthy female betta will have her hori lines showing, they fade over time as the female colors up more. Try leaving the tank lights off, unfortunately some females are just naturally stressy. These lines show up morein lighter colored fish, compared to the darker variety.

Nothing to worry about, unless she is being bullied.

 

[stubert]

no bubble nests, apart from in my 5gal by my CT renji

And i can't get any pictures atm, will be getting aload soon tho when my dad lends me his cam so will have to ask again then

I'll keep an eye on them though im sure theres no bullying or aggression going on, all seem happy tbh. And i will hopefully get some more fem's soon

thanks for replies

 

[krista522]

A good indication of females is the eggspot. Should be under her belly and it's very noticable. Not to say that if you can't see it they are male, it's just an easy way to confirm they're sex