Sexing Bettas

[angelicdeity]

How do you tell male bettas apart from female bettas, i keep buying 'females' but then they aren't.
thanks,
Kylie

 

[my_fallen_angel]

the males tend to have long fins and the females have short fins.
there are some short finned male but they are rare.

 

[angelicdeity]

I know that much, i even have a plakat male. I was looking for more specific details.
thanks though

 

[Synirr]

I've noticed that the males tend to have a lump near the base of their tail where the swimbadder ends... I'm not sure how early that begins to show, though.

 

[juliethegr8t]

Female bettas have what is known as an "ovipositor". It is an egg tube located behind the ventral fins underneath the fish - looks like a small white dot. Hope that helps you out - if you can find one, you'll know for sure it's female.

Found a good site with pics: Betta Gender

 

[bulldog188]

yup the ovipositor is the only true way I've found of sexing bettas.. you can never go with fin size etc as I've seen some females with lovely fins [still only short] but looking a hell of a lot like short finned males with great colouration etc

 

[angelicdeity]

Can you have extremely aggressive females? A betta i bought awhile ago when added to my female community nearly killed 3 girls which were like 1/2 larger...i.e. ripped scales and fins...not good..and that was in like 3 hours or something


If the white thing is there, is it a female? because i have a long finned betta with a white thing between its fins...if it is i will be sooo happy and then i will breed her

 

[bulldog188]

yes some females can be very very aggressive I had one that ripped one of my long finned males to pieces.

It is very rare but females can have long fins so if she has the ovipositor then it will be a female.. but be sure that you are absolutely positive that this is the case before putting her/him in with a male.

 

[iloveyou]

females tend to be aggressive towards each other sometimes... bigger ones usually pick on smaller ones

 

[Annastasia]

females tend to be aggressive towards each other sometimes... bigger ones usually pick on smaller ones

Yeah, I found that out the hard way. I put 2 girls in together, because the fish store said they would be fine, and they killed each other.

 

[angelicdeity]

I have a community tank with 3 girls, and they are all fine...The last girls i bought though were really aggressive...and i got a long finned female...hehehe!

Looking like i am gonna do a bit of breeding...hmmm should i breed it with my purple double tailed crown or my black and blue crown? Or my short finned Green Boy?