Is My Female Really A Male?

[Queen Bee]

I recently bought the most beautiful female betta from the lfs. She was the biggest and most colourful betta (Pinky)I've seen in a while. I put her in my 29 g community tank that has guppies, platies, gourami and another female betta (Blue) who is also very large. The last few days, I have noticed Pinky chasing Blue around the tank. Pinky actually hunts Blue down to chase her. Blue now has several nips out of her tail, and yesterday a guppy has lost a large part of his tail. Could Pinky be a male?

I just transfered Pinky to my tank of betta females who are large, but not compared to Pinky. Pinky chased one of the females. The two of them kept pushing at each other with their bodies and trying to take bites. It was getting rough, I removed Pinky and put her/him in a container alone. Both bettas flared their gills at each other, but Pinky had much larger flared gills.

Is there another way to tell if a betta is male or female? Haven't seen bubbles, but Pinky has been in a tank with filter and airsones, so the water is always agitated.

 

[modaz]

For a start, i dont understand why you have 2 bettas, one which could be male in with guppies, gourami etc.... this is not the correct setup for bettas. I would remove them both and put them in conditions that would suit them more and keep pinky seperate for a while to see what happens.

 

[riogal_11]

Look for blackish horizontal stripes (indicates female). Also if it is female there will be a small white do right in front of the anus. Neither of these are fool proof, but both together would be a good indicator of female. However, I agree with the above. Better to be safe than sorry. Even if she isn't a he, she's obviously more agressive and better kept alone.

 

[LauraFrog]

We could sex it (probably) from a photo - is there any chance you could get one? It needs to be clear for us to be able to tell.

It's normal for there to be a bit of aggression when introducing another female to a sorority tank, and keeping two females together is not a good idea (4 or more is recommended). When two females are in one tank, the larger one will tend to bully the smaller one, often leading to bad injuries and serious stress. It's possible that if you left her in the sorority or put some more females into the community, things would settle down, but sometimes a very large, aggressive female needs to be treated like a male and housed alone or with very careful choice of tankmates.

 

[wilsonnw8]

We could sex it (probably) from a photo - is there any chance you could get one? It needs to be clear for us to be able to tell.

It's normal for there to be a bit of aggression when introducing another female to a sorority tank, and keeping two females together is not a good idea (4 or more is recommended). When two females are in one tank, the larger one will tend to bully the smaller one, often leading to bad injuries and serious stress. It's possible that if you left her in the sorority or put some more females into the community, things would settle down, but sometimes a very large, aggressive female needs to be treated like a male and housed alone or with very careful choice of tankmates.

Im confused do you have a sorrity tank and a community tank??? female bettas are best kept together in groups of 5 or more, they establish a pecking order and usually it works out well, but as laurafrog said some females must be housed seperately due to them being extra feisty. I personally keep my girls seperately in Aqua cubes. I would remove any betta you have from the community tank, it is common for them to rip the tails of guppies Im surprised it hadnt happend earlier with blue. There are very few community fish that you can happily house a betta with, a community tank just isnt a safe place for them or the other fish

 

[Amerce]

We really need a photo to decide on whether it is a male or female, but surely if you already have an all female tank then you know how to sex them ?

Also I'd never put a betta in with a fish like a guppy especially male guppies or any other brightly coloured fish, there are exceptions of course ... a very mellow betta but they are just that exceptions.

Also males and females will flare, expand gills etc that is the nature of the creature, females can be just as aggressive as males on occasion.

As stated earliery horizontal striping on the fish and the white dot are good indications but not 100% definitive (juvies can stripe up as well), if you can get a good shot of the fish then that will help sometimes the body shape tells as well.

 

[Queen Bee]

I have 2 different tanks. One is community, one is a betta sorority with 4 females. My original 4 female betta have no stripes, trying to see a white dot, but it is very difficult. Didn't know exactly how to sex them, always went by the signs at the store. The other 4 females get along fine with minor spats. The betta in the community tank has definite stripes and gets along with the guppies with no problems at all. Trying to upload a photo. New to the upload thing. Might take a few tries to get it, but I will keep trying till I get one posted.

 

[girl4God81]

Mo! Be nice!!

 

[Queen Bee]

The betta in question is in the bare betta keeper. The betta in the planted tank is one of 4 of my females. They look exactly the same to me.



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[lilfishie]

i'd say female, does it have a beard (extra flap of skin) when flaring?

 

[Queen Bee]

i'd say female, does it have a beard (extra flap of skin) when flaring?

Can't get the betta to flare again. I held the betta keeper up the my male betta and the male flared and the female did nothing. Maybe she is a female with bad attitude. Either way, I think she is better off on her own. I will make a nice place for her.

Thanks for clearing this up

 

[lilfishie]

or maybe because you added her to an astablished group, she was making herself known and wanting to be head of the group

 

[Amerce]

I'd say female based on the body shape, the one in the tank looks to be a female as well, seems you have a female who wants to rule the roost unfortunately.

Either perserve with the female tank and see how it goes or you will have to house her separately.

Good luck anyway.

 

[LauraFrog]

I agree female, and the beard is not really a good indicator, because I had a female who had one. A proven female.

Good luck, anyway!

 

[halfmoonbetta]

I agree, looks like you gotta girl bully!