Female Bettas With Beards..?

[Azaeil]

This morning I discovered Mavenna's tail ripped up right before I darted to work, and I isolated her with medication. Later today I observed Kalli flaring at Mavenna and displaying a small but distinctive beard, and then aggressively attacking the barrier when Mavenna came near. Alli, the one I thought was the aggressor, was swimming calmly around with not a single mar on her hide.

So I'm really stumped now because I see Kalli's egg-spot, but I don't remember if females can possess the beards that are typically seen on males? If this is uncommon, is it also possible for a female betta to switch into 'male mode'? Because both Mavenna and the new girl displayed vertical stripes when Kalli approached them..

I've got a youtube vid loading up that'll show the extent of Mavenna's injuries, Mav is no longer displaying her stress stripes, hasn't since this morning despite being moved several times, and she's not pleased with the smaller environment after getting a taste for a 10 gal tank..

 

[Katty]

Maybe you can get her in the circus as a bearded lady?... Just kidding!

Not specifically related to bettas, but extra testosterone (and other male hormones) in animals can cause aggression and development male characteristics in females. Female spotted hyenas are an extreme example of this.

So my off the wall guess which you should probably take with a grain of salt, is that somehow she's getting or producing more testosterone than your normal female betta, so has/developed a male's "beard" as well as displays more aggression than expected from a female.

Have you ever noticed whether her "beard" was that size or smaller before?

 

[Azaeil]

I've never noticed her beard period, she'd never reacted to a mirror before, though I'm tempted to pop one in front of her now.. Alli my white girl and the new albino cori are having a blast swimming back and forth across the tank with each other though.. I recorded a vid of that going on.

 

[Katty]

Huh that's strange, so this is all brand new? Another guess I have is that she saw she could be dominant over another betta and just slipped right into that role of big macho female. The beard is weird though. Is it very large?

Alli and the corydora sound adorable

 

[Azaeil]

Apparently it is. When I put them all together it was Alli being 'macho female' in pushing the others below her. The beard itself isn't large, but dark beard against red-gold hide is very noticeable.

It is cute, and I recorded it because I know my folks up north love seeing 'dancing fish' and the fact they're both white makes it even more interesting to watch, makes all my other dark fish look like they're not trying to stand out in comparison. Took me a long while to find some good music, but I'm in the process of uploading that one. I'll try to upload the other one tomorrow as it failed to finalize XP.

Belated response but I had a gigglefit on your first line X3

 

[Katty]

Well it's not too weird for a female to have a little bit of frilly stuff showing out when she flares, I remember seeing a little bit of stuff sticking out the single time my female decided to flare, but it was just a little itty bitty thing.

I don't even know what I'm really getting at here... In any case I don't think it's any harm to the betta (maybe not so much to her friends though), but I do think she's a little bit more masculine than your typical lady betta in any case, so she wants to be the alpha fishy.

P.S. I'd love to see those videos once you get them up : )

 

[Azaeil]

Heh, if so, she's going to have to 'man up' so to say and share a divided tank with two of the real boys XD

Still waiting for the video to upload, friggen thing likes to take it's time, so in the meantime I'm working on some advertisement images for objects I made in a game called SecondLife.

Edit - I do have ONE video up of the girls in their new getup, but it doesn't include the cory and the new girl to take Kalli's place for now.

I know the vid desc says Koi Loach, that's how I remembered reading the sign, but seeing the sign again today after getting two more in preps for the boys' tanks, it's Khuli loach, and boy do the two new ones behave differently than the ones in the girls' tank.. The first pair like to huddle under the heater, and the newer are on the exact opposite side of the tank from the heater and the water is the same temperature XP
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xkhUcqtOpE

 

[Azaeil]

Alrighty, I have the video up finally XP It's the one with the white fish, not one with everyone focused on. I'll try to get that one up again tomorrow..

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnhwHG8YrVM

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

None of my girls respond to a mirror; some will look at it for all of 4 nanosecons but I get no response.

Is her beard just at the sides or at the bottom too? My girls rarely flare (although one is starting to), but for her it's a dominance thing

 

[Azaeil]

She's not responding to a mirror either, I popped one in front of her just a moment ago and she acted as if it wasn't there. Looking at her again it's an uneven beard - her left side displays more than her right side when in neutral position, and goes all the way along her gill slit.

 

[Azaeil]

'nother update - here's the vid of the lot finally, and you can get a good view of the damage Kalli did on Mavenna overnight - http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEPGQykFh8A&feature=mfu_in_order&playnext=1&videos=qhm72Dlg_d0

 

[Katty]

Aww the dancing is cute :3

 

[keithp]

When my female flares she has a tiny colored beard that barely sticks out, but now where near as wide or thick as a males. Females do have tiny beards but you should be able to tell them apart from a males.

 

[lilfishie]

4 out of 5 of my girls have beards it just doesnt go all the way around there face, there is a gap under there chin which according to a betta forum i am on is still a female, hope this helps and lovely girls you have there

 

[GuppyGoddess]

One of my bettas was super little when I brought her home...over the last six months, she's developed long fins and now flares with a full beard. She flairs all the time just for fun. Doesn't even need a mirror or anything.

She still has an egg spot...but her fins are long.

Not sure what gender she/he is for sure...