Can Male Bettas Get Vertical Breeding Stripes?

[betta fish]

Hi, just wondering if anyone knows the answer to this question?! as far as I am aware it is only the females that show vertical striping but I have a few young plakat bettas that I am trying to determine the gender of and quite a few are showing the vertical striping as females do when they are in breeding condition, does this mean they are definately female? incidentally they are also showing small egg spots too though I did hear that young males can also possess this and that it disappears when they get older? any help gratefully received, thanks!

 

[betta fish]

I've had 20 views and no responses I guess nobody knows

 

[tropic_john]

I thought they were signs of stress...

but I dunno anything about breeding bettas [apart from the fact they make bubble nests ]

 

[pippoodle]

i've never seen any of my males with breeding stripes hun and havent heard of any males having breeding stripes
though with young fish colour changes can be confused with breeding stripes as sometimes colour fades in a vertical pattern first of all

can you post some pics hun ?

 

[betta fish]

I'll try and get some pics of them tomorrow the fry are around 4 months old now and all look to be female but they are plakats so it's hard to tell! they often square up to one another and this is when they get their deepest colouring and the vertical stripes become apparent so I will do my best to capture this behaviour! oh and tropic john when the stripes are horizontal they are stressed

 

[pippoodle]

if you have containers for them you could try putting individuals in the tub/container and try the mirror
after a while most of my males will bubblenest in an individual tub next to another male from 8 weeks old

plakats are some of the worse to sex though so dont envy you

 

[betta fish]

Ok! I have some pics... it was a nightmare though as they are too quick and I only had my mobile camera to hand so they're not that great, in the end I decided to take pics of the main offenders separately but managed to get one pic of the striping! the fish are just over 3 months now.

Pic 1
Pretty sure this one is a girl, she is the one that show's the vertical stripes the most although you can only see them faintly in the pic, she also has an egg spot.

Pic 2
Also a girl?

Pic 3
Not sure about this one, though it shows the striping at times it doesn't appear to have the visable egg spot.

Pic 4
This fish often shows the horizontal stress stripes but has an egg spot and seems quite bossy.

Pic 5
And last but not least, this one...think he/she is going to be a marble like dad no obvious egg spot and unable to see barring though fins a little short for a male?

Oh and I thought I may as well show you the definate boy fom the same spawn, he's gonna be a looker!