Shelley Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 Here is my lovely Raquel...given to me by my mother.......as a gift for my male bettas.... She was sold as a female betta, and was a beautiful pale mauvey blue when we got her with a brown stripe running through the length of her body...however I am wondering if there is any chance she is a boy? (The brilliant colour came with feeding brine shrimp...the photos don't do the colour justice). The tail, to me makes her definitely a girl....but she chews the boys up and spits them out for breakfast...and busily builds bubblenests in her spare time, can anyone here help me? I am contemplating getting another girl at some time to see what sort of reaction THAT gets.... what do you think? I am left with no males, although they did not die in confrontation, they definitely found her (him?) menacing....and kicked the bucket 2 or 3 weeks after sulking when in near proximity with her. She (he?) is a beautiful girl (boy?) and generally a peaceful fish. Currently she is in a 2 foot tank with only neons and corys for company. here's the link. Thanks. http://photobucket.com/albums/y128/smee2004/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylefish02 Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 defitnely male if building bubble nest jus t maybe one with a crappy tale? cheers Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 lol....whaddaya mean a crappy tail! she (he) is beautiful :lol: I will have to start calling her Richard then.... that will take some getting used to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 Theres past evadence of females biulding the nests not the male. Shae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylefish02 Posted July 15, 2005 Report Share Posted July 15, 2005 well fighting with other male= usually a male but sometimes females can be aggressive nest building=male so there is more chance male cheers Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livebearer_breeder Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 Ive just told you, that just because she is nest biulding doesnt mean she is a he, and females will scrap with males aswell. Shae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 what is your gut reaction from looking at the pics? Plenty of bubbles there now. The first time she built them was when she was in a mesh breeder thing with a handsome male fighter in the tank....he was not interested and I thought she was trying to give him the hint!. I have started calling her Richard now..... I will get a female when i can and put her in the next tank.....and introduce them when I fell they are both looking good....and see what/if anything happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 Uh...he/she...is beautiful. Sorry no help Shelley don't know about bettas. But I thought it was the males that made the nest too...but heck...what do I know! I've never asked about the bettas here...but someone said they won't sell 2 because there supposedly all males. But heck...WHAT do they know :lol: :lol: Wait now...you said a gift for your "males"...you already had 2 males together...thought you couldn't keep 2 males together...or did you have them in different tanks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 I had 3 males at one stage all at the same time, but in separate tanks. All up i have had 4 males. We have 7 tanks so we can juggle them around a bit. Although Raquel/Richard LOOKS like a girl.....I think she must be a boy ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 Does "IT" develope the line pattens that go vertically or horizontally depending on "IT's" mood?? If so, I'd go with a female. At the moment, I'd go fellaress though. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 He/she does change colour and appears at times to have a stripe running through her body. This seems to be when he/she is feeling less happy...his/her colour pales and a brownish stripe appears right through from mouth to tail....her deep blue/purple goes back to the softer baby blue/soft lilac/mauve sort of colour (hows THAT for a description!) but she doesn't stay like this. Definitely with good feeding her colour comes out and she becomes more keen on becoming a parent...just WHICH parent is the confusing bit. She has been working on a bubble nest today (no other fighter in the house to inspire her ....of either sex)....and it is quite a nest! The food situation is bleak at the moment. I am out of frozen brine shrimp and have been feeding flake mostly until some dollars come in and i can get some quality variety back into her (his?) diet. Colour is good and rich at the moment. I only put her in this tank about 2 or 3 days ago. Her tank mates are a couple of corydoras and a few neon tetras. (I may have said this already?) :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylefish02 Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 Id go with male as if she is building a nest it is due to show off as males will try and build the biggest and best bubblenest tom show off.If u look at hollywood where they have all ther male fighters in breeding traps all males start to build bubble nests as a sought of competition so i would go with a male as males can also have brown lines present when not fully mature and i would put him as not fully mature cheers Kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillz Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 I am still learning but had a look at the pics. Can you see an egg spot? Although some males can show eggspots aswell :roll: He could be a short finned male....a Plakat I can't see what her ventrals look like........ the ventral fins are the two little ones at the front that look like arms. They are proportionately longer in males than females. Does your fish flare at it's reflection.....have you tried sticking a mirror in front of him/her? blowing a bubblenest isn't a 100% indication that a betta is male, but a betta who does blow bubblenests is far more likely to be male than female Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRSkz Posted July 16, 2005 Report Share Posted July 16, 2005 I've just been reading a very good book and have just bought my first lovely male myself. Now this book "Siamese fighting fish by gene wolfsheimer" under Physiologica, "The auther, at times, had maintained a strain of bettas in which the females often carried such exceptional fins (for there sex) that they were mistaken for males. The author also admits to having attempted to breed one of these females, thjinking she as a male, to another female. The misidentification occurred because this presumed "male" blew a beautiful bubble nest. Which goes to show that the female betta does, on rare occasion, take on the nest manufacturing job usually assumed by the male." page 9. So I would assume u have a female just looking for MR right or maybe she prefers same sex company? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 heehee....I'm still not sure WHAT the heck she/he is...but I did get 2 female fighters yesterday...currently they are in another tank, they are a little young yet and need some quality food inside them before I move she/he to the breeding tank in anticipation for introducing...having said that i figure he/she's offspring may be disappointing too in that we wont be able to tell if the juvenilles (or even adults) are male/female...until they start killing one another! The ventral fins you mentioned, phillz, are reasonably long and when he/she is flaring they glow quite reddy-purple in colour....I am not really sure what the eggsot would look like (I have seen photos but it doesn't look like much to me)...but yes....I would have thought so...he she can swell in the lower belly around the ventral fin area and appear to be paler in colour.....in the past this has happened a few days after her seeing a male in the outer tank and I assumed was her preparing for motherhood..... the bubblenest is now quite high.... maybe half a centimetre high...before it was just bubbles along the top, and reasonably impressive, but the added height has made it look like he/she is very serious for business....he she has gone off tending it now as there are no fishies to show off to. I did try a mirror...but she either didnt see herself...or didnt respond. Sounds like a great book you've got, MRSkz..... I bought a siamese fighter book but it is a little disappointing for information, although I picked up a few tips from it. I will keep you posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 I have some better pictures of Richard now and am sure he is a bloke as opposed to a sheila! Phillz I've got a shot with his 'ventral' (???is that right) fins....and i have what I am pretty sure is a female in the mesh breeder as they introduce themselves!. She is behaving more like a female in that she does this funny backward dance thing with her head bowed low and her tail up....it is quite hard to see what her colour is doing behind that gauze stuff because she her colour has intensified since showing off to Richard. She does have the little white opening at her vent. He hasn't guilt her a bubble nest yet but is looking mighty impressed (at long last you stupid woman,....says Richard...... you've brought me a female and not another male! lol :lol: I'll let you know how it goes. Here's the pics. http://photobucket.com/albums/y128/smee2004/?sc=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillz Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 YAY for Richard.......looks like a bloke to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistymu05 Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Definitely thought by looking at the ventrals that you had a male = amazing length when they only have the short tail - i love them I can understand how hard it is to sex them i think i have a couple of females from a spawn but i thought that about another one and he grew a beautiful blue tail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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