Female Lfs Bettas

[LilyRose Tank]

Today I purchased 6 females. I have some questions, I have put what I think the answers are in brackets...tell me if I'm wrong
1 Can males have "stripes"?(no)
2 Can females have very small beards?(yeS)
3 Do females flare like a male does?(yes)
4 to find territory would females act like males when first placed together in a tank? (yes)
5 will a dominant female flare at all other tank mates until things have settled.

I have been trying to get photos and when I have uploaded them, I will put them on here to see if they are females
thanks in advance

cambodian female?

red girl?

bluebell

Jade

lilac/green

possible male?

 

[Bettaboys]

Hi lily

Yes male can have stripes in most if not all its a sign of stress

Females will always try and establish a hierarchy so a bit off bossing about and nipping is normal but keep an eye on it, if it gets out of hand you will need to seperate, some females are just not meant to be in a sorority set-up its happened to me

Females do flare yes, howvere there beard is not as prominant as the males and most of the time is transparent

all 6 look like females to me, and i cant see anything in any of the photos suggesting otherwise.

however they do look pretty stressed out and may need some tending loving care

hope this helps

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

They all look like girls to me too

 

[LilyRose Tank]

thanks Shaun. I think the last one has a red beard, although it is very very narrow. and doesnt "show" like the gold yellow hm I had from You boys. they all had stripes in the lfs, three of them have faded now, so my tank must be ok for them. A little concerned about the cambo female, seems she lost weight since I saw her 3 weeks ago in the same tank. so keeping an eye she isnt being bullied.

 

[lilfishie]

all females from me too

 

[Didge007]

Oooh so they are Cambodian females? My lfs has a couple & I've never looked twice as they always looked stressed, skinny and unwell. Good to know they are Cambodians though

 

[LilyRose Tank]

I managed to get a video of two of my females. Is the one nearest the camera a male... Has a lovely red beard?

http/i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww235/Tigerslady85/Mobile%20Uploads/ec0bd48d.mp4

 

[blinky000]

To me they look a bit skinny and stressed, particularly the first one, but nothing a bit of tlc won't fix as a general rule of thumb with females, horizontal stripes = stress, vertical stripes = virility

Also, I can't tell by the video, but does the red one have a white spot on its belly?

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Yes so I thought female but the red beard and the aggression has me puzzled

 

[The_Betta_Lady]

It is a female, she is just very dominant. You can't always go but the white spot on the belly as sometimes males (especially young ones) can have them too and looses them as they come into maturity. They really do need some TLC especially the first one and if I was going to say any had the chance of being male I would say that one but its hard to tell with its condition. Just give them some time to condition up and it will be clearer to see whats what. In the film the ones you see are looking better already.

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Well now they are all striped up again except the Cambodian and the dominant female who spends all day chasing the others. I think I will separate her from the others and see if the others stress levels improve x

 

[LilyRose Tank]

well they are still barred up. The water levels are amm 0 nitrite 0 so I am unsure what is making them stressed....could it be the number of females in the setup. At the moment I have 3 skunk corys, a bn plec, an apple snail and a oto in with them.....could any of these be causing the problem?
( plus the 6 females of course) Should I add another 2 females...would that help or hinder the situation?

 

[LilyRose Tank]

Well sad day yesterday. I found all my fish belly up. I tested wTer and ammonia had massive spike...2 ppm. Lost all fish. I don't get how this happened though. I had performed a 50% water change the night before as the reading was between 0 and .25.
Well fed up !

 

[LadyDragon]

So sorry, what a terrible outcome.
They can cause us some serious emotional heartaches and headaches as well as the trumphs. I'm sorry it went so badly.

 

[lilfishie]

Jayne i am so so sorry to hear this hun big hugs to you xxx