# Why cant they sex them!



## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

i was assured thursday little Cri-kee was DEFIANTLY a girl
i picked a secon female and got them home

i was photoing crikee and she was dull brown with little stress stripes
i sat the unnamed female next to her and BOTH went from stressed to full flare and colour instantly

i think i have two males!

pics coming


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

My girl fllares, do they have big beards or little ones? females have small ones


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

you tell me what you think! i kinda suck at sexing YOUNG 
sorry i havent resized this is BEFORE i put them beside each other "Cri-kee" jus twas pale and brown with stripes slightly
then the others are them beside each other:
Remember the transformation through these pics was about 5-10 seconds upon seeing the other fish:
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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

I missed the FULL flare thats some of the beard


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

Ok heres how i see it
the male flares a beard and the females flare out their gills correct?
the lil one looks like a girl only flaring her gills


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

Gah ignore that post theres beard!


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## NCPanthersgurl (Jul 13, 2011)

I'd say the last pic is a male. I could be wrong, but that's what I think. The other looks female. :/


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

A couple of my more aggressive females flare a beard, but it's not as big or defined as a male's. I have a suspect male in my sorority who seems to flare a lot more than any of my females.

Going by the picture, I would say there is a high possibility it could be a male. Does it have an egg-spot? I've found my suspect male had one like all the other females until he started sprouting and now it's not there any more. 

It's aggravating buying females that turn out to be males. Mine is staying in the sorority until he gets too aggro.


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

OK pictures:
This is meant to be Cri-kee
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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

This is meant to be the other female:
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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

Egg spot wise i think i can see something on "Cri-kee" and an even smaller spot. im actually straining to see on the other one.

i could just be hoping that its one


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

I need them sexed before they are set loose together in the qt tank or should i turn them loose and be on standby???


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

They both look like boys to me... :/


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## smellsfishie (Apr 14, 2011)

i think they are both boys too... def cri-kee looks like a male. The 2nd one does too but body shape wise kind of looks female...... i would still guess male though based on both their fins and their big beards.


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

oh damn!
my lfs only sell male vt and cts these kinda look like PK?


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

there goes the idea of turning them loose in the female sorority >:/

my bf is going to be rather upset


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## smellsfishie (Apr 14, 2011)

They do look like PK....... I don't know, i could be wrong. But they look like my male plakats.


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

^ agreed, they look like male PK


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

ok now im up the creek without a paddle i cant turn both loose in the qt tank i set up it has rayne floating in it i dont have a spare heater i dont think *runs to suss the situation out*


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## cajunamy (Apr 28, 2011)

both look male to me, females don't have beards at all as far as i know


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

This is all females flare that i know of:
*just their gills flared*
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## smellsfishie (Apr 14, 2011)

ooh that top female is purty  Yes, when my females have flared, just their little side cheeks flare out, no beard that I have ever saw. :/ sorry. You could try returning them to the pet store, if you are not already deeply attached...


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

i am deeply attached and both those females are one female lol Thats my marble female Rayne she darkens and lightens constantly ones just a more recent pic lol

I am in love and my bf said ring em and take one back im like NUUUUUUU
i was guna call em Cri-kee and Khan (the cricket and the horse)


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## smellsfishie (Apr 14, 2011)

awww  You could always do a divided tank to keep them?


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

i have one tank divided into 10 and two smaller tanks that are in the middle of being divided by three so i have room for 16 males kinda..... cept i have 14 before these two (4 still waiting on tanks to be divided) and im going to sydney in 10 weeks where i was hoping to get a few males.

the lfs said bring em in tomorrow and they will have their guy check em out. im like


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## smellsfishie (Apr 14, 2011)

They could also be juvenile males, and not PK's... just saying. I had a halfmoon juvenile I thought was female for awhile... then turned out to be definitely male.


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

yeh they are defiantly young still but gah i dont think BF would like me keeping both


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

Well, if you decide to keep them, there are cheap 3 gal. critter keeper knock offs on Amazon. com, I bought four and they are amazing (Lee's Critte Keepers)
Maybe the store will be willing to give you a discount due to the mistake (they did that for a friend after a guiea pig turned out to be a preg. girl, gave them a free cage and food)


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

space wise im ok it just its still winter here. id need a heater and a more permanent asap and a filter  plus my bf i dont think he wants MORE males.

OK so we think Crikee is male most defiantly and the other looks like could b a female. i suppose i could turn her loose with another female and see what happens??


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

SOOOO Crikee may become Khan and the "female" were still working out would be Crikee just have to take her into the store tomorrow and find out.


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

I wouldn't turn EITHER of them loose. They both look like males to me. Don't just "see what happens". That could be dangerous!


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

I was being sarcastic as if i would turn them loose with the possiblity of injuring them. I am sometimes a little weird but i would never intentionally be stupid. I'll take them into the fish store tomorrow to get 100% confirmed sexing the safe way


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

I have the defiant male loos in a 3 gal critter keeper, the other is floating in a container beside Rayne whos also in a container


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## Eziekel (Aug 15, 2011)

i bought a female once, and turned out to be a male...


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

it happens a lot more then you would expect lol


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## Burd (Apr 10, 2011)

Just going to put my two cents out there...
My LPS only sells full grown betta males that have no possibility of changing gender AND FOR GOOD REASON!

Is it just me or are Petco and Petsmart selling younger and younger bettas? Every time I go in there it's like they're getting smaller and smaller, especially the girls. I've brought home girls from both and found them to be males a week or two down the road. It's infuriating. The fish are so young... how can they possibly adequately sex them?

Either my fish keep growing (not likely...) or they keep selling smaller and younger fish by the day. >:{


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## NCPanthersgurl (Jul 13, 2011)

Burd said:


> Just going to put my two cents out there...
> My LPS only sells full grown betta males that have no possibility of changing gender AND FOR GOOD REASON!
> 
> Is it just me or are Petco and Petsmart selling younger and younger bettas? Every time I go in there it's like they're getting smaller and smaller, especially the girls. I've brought home girls from both and found them to be males a week or two down the road. It's infuriating. The fish are so young... how can they possibly adequately sex them?
> ...


I have a CT female that hasn't quite gotten her color yet. I'm worried that the nasty pet store water might have stunted her growth a bit... :/ But you're absolutely right, they're selling them way younger. I was told it's supply and demand. I think that's crap.


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## Bettaluver4evr (Jan 21, 2011)

My 2 cents, those are both plakat males. They just have that body shape and quality to them, and I don't see an egg spot on either one. As to petco and petsmart having younger fishies, I agree! I just brought home a new fishy yesterday from petco that is less than half the size of my other male fishy. He's just a baby DeT, but I'm thinking young HM.


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## Shimizoki (Jul 8, 2011)

I agree with basically everyone else. Some males seem to have an eggspot, but it is much smaller than the females. If you are straining to see it, its probably a guy. Also both pictures looked like they had visible beards when they were not flaring which is another male trait.


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

both are going for a visit to the store today. the main male atm im calling #1 and the other is #2. Number 1 is still fully coloured and spent all night flaring between the girls and flirting. the other was a little coloured and seemed happy just to watch but the real girl in there rayne was flaring out her lady cheeks at #1 a lot.


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## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

Walmart is selling Bettas younger to :/ 

good luck Abby!


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## Abby (Jan 13, 2011)

seems even Josh couldnt tell 100% with the 2nd "girl" so i gave him that one back (*sob*) and kept Khan


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