# Male or Female Betta?



## Inquoate (Jan 25, 2014)

This betta was marked as a female crowntail at the LFS; I liked her personality, so I brought her home and named her Giselle. 

She looks completely different now—only three weeks later. Her relatively drab coloring has transformed into deep reds and blues, with white tips on her ventral fins. She is quite aggressive (really putting on a show for the snail sharing her tank, not that the snail notices) and she is blowing bubble nests. Although I believe I see an ovipositor, I've read that some male bettas have a marking that looks similar. She's acting less like a Giselle and more like a Grendel.

Since I'm a rank amateur, I thought I'd ask the expert community for help in determining for sure whether she is male or female. 

Here she is on the day I brought her home:










And here are some images of her in the last couple of days, facing off against her arch-nemesis, Winning Snail:



















I'd appreciate any assistance you can offer!


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

That's a boy. He looks great, and since he was young when you bought him you could have him for a while.


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

Well, that's something...If it wasn't for the absence of an ovipositor in the first photo, I would have thought he was a she too! Congrats to Grendel--great ugly duckling story!


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## Inquoate (Jan 25, 2014)

Haha! Well, that's a surprise! Grendel it is! Thanks so much for your help, *MattsBettas* and *amphirion*!


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

What a beautiful boy! I LOVE his caudal fin.


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## IcyFin (Jan 26, 2014)

What a transformation! I wonder how many juvenile males have been sold as females? And in a few weeks.. surprise! lol


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## Inquoate (Jan 25, 2014)

Thanks so much, everyone! I'm quite fond of the little guy. He has so much personality that he really stood out in the store. He was the smallest, least-colorful fish, but the only one holding his position squarely in the middle of his cup, with fins open. Honestly, given his coloring and gender, I thought I was probably taking home the fish that was least likely to be adopted by someone else.

Um, do I want to know what the white dot behind his ventral fins is (since it's obviously not an ovipositor)?

Random point of interest: I was researching betta illnesses (Grendel is in great shape, but I thought I should know what various illnesses and parasites look like), and I came across the following image of a female betta. It's strikingly similar to the image I posted of Grendel when I brought him home—same positioning, same horizontal stripes. (Same air of quiet resentment.) The fins and coloring are different, but it totally makes sense to me now why he was misidentified.












By the way, Grendel's remarkable change may be fueled partly by his own stubbornness. He refused all food until I got him some frozen brine shrimp. Now he has several different types of frozen food, which he eats, piece by piece, off the end of a blunt chopstick. I've also started raising brine shrimp that I can enrich for him. I'm surprised he's able to tolerate a tank that isn't made of crystal.


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## KathyR (Sep 14, 2013)

Wow that caudual fin is super crazy! That one had me stumped too for a while. I have a fish that somewhat looks liek that in my 10 gal. I always thought she was a girl but now I'm really wondering here is a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAB3kNmfQ-k


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## Araielle (Jan 16, 2014)

Can you folks confirm these are all females? They were in cups & some were hard to get a good pic of. I apologize! If more pics are needed, I can try to get better ones later tonight. Thanks in advance for your input! 

(labeled them 1-6 for ease of identification)


ONE










TWO [female because you can see egg spot]










THREE










FOUR










FIVE










SIX [female because you can see egg spot]


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## duskydolphin (Oct 30, 2013)

#2 looks like a possible male to me. I don't see the triangular shape behind the stomach area that would indicate ovaries. As I have experienced, egg spot doesn't always mean male. Always look for ovaries.


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## Araielle (Jan 16, 2014)

duskydolphin said:


> #2 looks like a possible male to me. I don't see the triangular shape behind the stomach area that would indicate ovaries. As I have experienced, egg spot doesn't always mean male. Always look for ovaries.


Oh man really? I guess I will remove the egg spot comments then. I've been looking at pictures and for the life of me I can't seem to see any triangle/ovaries on any fish, even pictures where they point them out. I think I'm ovary blind or something. *sigh* I really appreciate your reply. I have a 15 gal tank, heavily planted with tons of hiding spots on the floor, but I don't want to put them in there if there are any males. I will keep looking for ovaries. Wish me luck lol.


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

Males have the white dot that can be mistaken for an egg spot but really it's his male parts. The females egg spot is bigger and rounder. So you can not always go by that as some of you see now. 

I am raising my first batch of hmpk. The short fins make it extra hard to sex the young but I finally found a way. I need to get it on video. When you put a female near a male they flare at each other females will show the gill flare too. One thing I have not seen a female do to a male is the stand off. It's hard to explain. The male will hold his pose and go sideways a bit and keep his venteral fins straight downs and twitch them. I have not seen a female do this with her venteral fins it seems to be a male thing. 

I have a tiny male I thought might be a female but then I saw him flare the way only a male can and sure enough he turned into a male with nice big fins. So when I have a tiny male I am not sure about I put him next to a male I am sure about and watch him for like 10 to 20 mins and the body language gives it away.


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## Rana (Apr 27, 2013)

Araielle said:


> Can you folks confirm these are all females? They were in cups & some were hard to get a good pic of. I apologize! If more pics are needed, I can try to get better ones later tonight. Thanks in advance for your input!
> 
> (labeled them 1-6 for ease of identification)
> 
> ...


I definitely agree that #1 & #3-6 are females and #2 might be male. Since you said you have trouble seeing ovaries, I took a few of your photos and added a triangle over the areas to look at (Sorry for the shaky lines!). Notice how the inside of the triangle has a pinkish tone, and looks like it bulges out at the sides? Classic ovaries.

For #2, I drew a curve where it looks like the gut drops away to the flat tail- there isn't any pinkish area, and the sides don't curve out. The blue triangle is where there would be a pinkish, round area. See the difference? Of course, ovaries can sometimes "fill in" later- just keep an eye on this one.


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## Araielle (Jan 16, 2014)

snowflake311 said:


> Males have the white dot that can be mistaken for an egg spot but really it's his male parts. The females egg spot is bigger and rounder. So you can not always go by that as some of you see now.
> 
> I am raising my first batch of hmpk. The short fins make it extra hard to sex the young but I finally found a way. I need to get it on video. When you put a female near a male they flare at each other females will show the gill flare too. One thing I have not seen a female do to a male is the stand off. It's hard to explain. The male will hold his pose and go sideways a bit and keep his venteral fins straight downs and twitch them. I have not seen a female do this with her venteral fins it seems to be a male thing.
> 
> I have a tiny male I thought might be a female but then I saw him flare the way only a male can and sure enough he turned into a male with nice big fins. So when I have a tiny male I am not sure about I put him next to a male I am sure about and watch him for like 10 to 20 mins and the body language gives it away.


Hmm. I'll have to clean out my small divided cup tonight & try this now.  Thank you!


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## Araielle (Jan 16, 2014)

Rana said:


> I definitely agree that #1 & #3-6 are females and #2 might be male. Since you said you have trouble seeing ovaries, I took a few of your photos and added a triangle over the areas to look at (Sorry for the shaky lines!). Notice how the inside of the triangle has a pinkish tone, and looks like it bulges out at the sides? Classic ovaries.
> 
> For #2, I drew a curve where it looks like the gut drops away to the flat tail- there isn't any pinkish area, and the sides don't curve out. The blue triangle is where there would be a pinkish, round area. See the difference? Of course, ovaries can sometimes "fill in" later- just keep an eye on this one.


Thank you for the lines. I saw some like that earlier, but when I was looking at my fish it seemed like they all just looked the same. Maybe it's the lighting, but I can't seem to see it until there are lines there. I guess I just need to study up a bit more. Thanks again! #2 has to be male as many people think so.  So now I'm wondering if he's going to grow up and get big fins or if he's going to grow up with short fins lol.


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