# What Is my Betta?



## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

I bought "her" under the impression she was a girl, but she hasn't taken any interest in the guy next to her and now there is a bubble nest in her tank...So my questions are is it actually a boy betta (in which case her name will cease to be Selena) and what type is he? If it is a male I was thinking a Round or Plakat.

Thanks


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## ShadowCourtGirl (Jan 27, 2012)

atm i would guess CT plakat and judging by the fins, its a male.. but im not quite sure.. my brother hs a male blue plakat with the same fins.. but some females make bubble nests also


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Ok thanks I'll add a few more pictures to maybe help


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

The second one is when I first got "her".


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## BeautifulBetta (Nov 12, 2011)

It looks like she's just a longer finned lady, to me. She doesnt have an angry-looking male face lol. She's got a cute innocent girl face and no beard that I can see. If theres a small white dot between her two ventral fins, its a girl


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

I thought she looked too cute to be a male, lol. I thought I saw on on her when I first bought her but I don't see it anymore. And I noticed today that she decided to blow a nice big bubble nest. confused me to no end. Maybe she was trying to tell her neighbor something considering he's a male.


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## BeautifulBetta (Nov 12, 2011)

hahaha giving him a hint "Hey over there, this is what you're supposed to make for me, Get 'er done!" haha. A couple of my girls like to make nests..One even laid eggs and put them in it


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

lol yeah I'm hopefully going to breed those two in about 2 or 3 weeks. It'll either be those two or my other pair. lol


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## BeautifulBetta (Nov 12, 2011)

Cool! Be sure to make a spawn log in the breeding section, I'd love to watch the progress!


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Such a beautiful betta. I'm no expert on plakats, I've only had one male plakat, so I'm no help, but I love the look of him/her.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

IMO a female VT.

Don't show her the male.... just yet. Show her a mirror and let her flare. Make her aggressive. Then show her a male, preferably a flirting male. She should respond.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Alrighty thanks. I'll mate her with my VT male. Walter is sure to love her


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## styggian (Dec 13, 2011)

I was going to say at first that she had a somewhat "male-ish" body shape around the head, as they seem to have a bit of slope while females are more bullet shaped (or at least that's what I see in mine) but I see no sign of a beard beneath her chin. I'd say veiltail female, and agree that she may have a little bit of crowntail in her background.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

*I think she is a he...again*

So I decided to make my girl flare against a mirror and then with another betta (don't worry I used a floating breeding cage to separate) and I'm just not sure she is a she. her beard looked pretty big for a female. I have another female and her beard isn't much bigger than her gills. i suppose i wont know unless a she develops breeding stripes from the brief 20 min encounter or if I try to breed her and it doesn't work. Pics are below.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

HmPK maybe?


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Ok, my mistake....
That looks like a male. The gills open 90* - females usually don't open that far. And you're right, the beard looks too big for a female. 
Does he/she have a white dot under the belly? Females (older) should show them clearly. So if it doesn't have one, then it should definitely be a male.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Nope its not there although when I bought her she had the vertical white breeding bars of a female. this little one is just so confused. confused me too. But hey I'll take a hmpk for the price of a female  thank you petco


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

*Strategic feeding*

So I strategically fed her/him and got some shots of the underside. Pretty sure thats a male now...


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

there is a white spot but it doesn't bump out like my other girl's. Well I guess this means his name is now Smith and I need to go get another girl ^^ YAY! I get to buy a fish. I need another one like a hole in my head but thats the betta craze


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

White spots on females are literally white - like milk/paper. That is just the anus. So IMO he should be a male..... Hi Smith.

BTW, he doesn't look PK. His fins (caudal) looks too long to be PK. That's what I would call a round tail. They are rather long, but not as long as a VT.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

K I shall change that then, thanks a bunch


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Got a new female, and made sure she is a she. I call her velvet and she is an iridescent white with purple fins. I'll post a pic with her in her new house and my new cage.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

He's a handsome boy.. hmpk I believe.. possibly a hm without the pk but is still growing out the fins.. one way to tell the sex with short finned bettas- not just the ov spot (as real young males may have them too) is the ventral fins.. just looking at the first pictures you can see they are a good length. Females have shorter ventrals and males have much longer, double the size.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

*This is Velvet*

Meet Velvet. Her fins have finally opened up and shes very friendly. I'm thinking VT but regardless I love her color!


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## PhilipPhish (Mar 6, 2011)

your blue one very beautiful! she reminds me of my VT girl, Annie. Annie and Shoes make a huge bubble nests in my 25 Gallon if I keep my sisters fish, Andy, in a jar next to them.

Velvet reminds me of a red velvet cake with vanilla icing!


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

Does it have an egg spot on its tummy or a beard? this will tell whether its female or male.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Oh its female for sure. She not only has an egg spot but if the light is right I can see her eggs


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

lol, i didn't realize that there were 3 pages!


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Oh some of them are devoted to Smith as well. He was a toughie. Confusing all of us but I know now...lol


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## PhilipPhish (Mar 6, 2011)

I'm awful at reading! lol! Smith is a very handsome fish, though he still does look like my Annie! sorry for the mistake!


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

oh thats ok... I just had this feeling that he wasn't a he. So I posted pictures on here and at first everyone though it was a girl. Then I got the idea to make "her" flare and "tada beard!" lol so definitely male, just super young.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

*Is Walter a dumbo?*

lol I guess this is a thread where I question all of my fishies. So I've always thought Walter had big pectoral fins, what do you guys think? Does he have the "dumbo" gene? Also maybe a bit of dragon scale on the head?


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Looks like a big ear to me, although most big ears I've seen before had white ventrals. Love his colors.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Yeah I know, his are clear as day except for the edges. My other male's pectoral fins are tiny compared to his. Walter's also come to a long point. I wonder if that's a VT thing? Most of the big eared fishies I've seen have been HM or PK and theirs were round.


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## betta lover1507 (Aug 6, 2011)

my avi has a pic of my big ear, but he only has it one side really :lol:
<<< pic


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

ok Sweet, Thats kinda Walter. And of course now I can get a great photo. I tried for a half hour last night to get the "right one" to show his pectorals...


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## MistersMom (Aug 9, 2011)

big ear? whats that!?


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

It's where their pectorals are huge compared to "normal" betta's. Like Walter, his pectorals are huge compared to Patrick's or Smith's


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Well now he's definitely a boy I've been trying to figure out what he is... I'm seriously thinking round tail. His fins have grown a lot so I'll post a pic


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

I love his color! I have a male HMDT that is that color with a little dark blue and black, wonderful.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

lol I do to. His bubble nest is almost an inch out the water now a days. It's so strange because when I first bought him he was marked as a girl and had vertical breeding lines...


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

You must have gotten a wonderful deal on "her".


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

lol yeah it was like 3 something...


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

ok maybe he's not a round tail. I was looking at super deltas and their rays are similar


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## jasonh (Feb 11, 2012)

lvandert said:


> lol I do to. His bubble nest is almost an inch out the water now a days. It's so strange because when I first bought him he was marked as a girl and had vertical breeding lines...


maybe it was a hormonal thing when it was young. those markings in that one picture look like female's markings, but then in other pics it's definitely a male.


here's my first female. she's usually brown but changes color to blue/purple when it's feeding time.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Awws purty girl! I need to get me another  I have one VT girl and one ex-fighter Giant girl (I rescued the second). I really want a dragon scale HMPK girl.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

ok New update with my confused one. I think he's pulling a color change on me lol. It looks like he's getting darker/redder on his anal fin. I'm also going to give him a try with Velvet at breeding. He's younger than Walter for sure but I don't know how well of a dad he'll be. But he's going to get a chance regardless. Here's a pic of his "color change"


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Delta right now. His rays have come in.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

I was thinking delta lmao! I really wish he would make up his mind  Changing genders, changing breeds, changing colors...


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

He's just a slow grower. Usually males look like females for awhile.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Lol either way I loves my silly boy


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## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

very lovely fish you have ^-^


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Thanks!! I loves them more and more everyday


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

dang-nabbit he's doing it again! More color changes...lol silly fish. Although with this most recent development I'm thinking he might have a marble gene. His anal fin is developing this streak of red, from his body all the way down to the end of his tail...it only shows in the right light but its there, about second or third ray in from the tail end. Also his fins have made another growth spurt. I can see a duller greyish color at the ends that haven't developed color yet. Also if I didn't know better I'd say he has a butterfly effect going


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

It is possible, after all, butterfly comes from marbles LOL.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

he is such a wildcard... omg, I bought the perfect girl for him. another wildcard from basement bettas. Who knows what babies i'll get from those two


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

well another week another color change... The anal fin has developed streaks of red all through out the whole thing. Almost in a butterfly patter but a ring. Along with his Tail fin. Also developing a ring or red in his tail. LOL. Also some spots have made themselves real prominent in his dorsal. I think its called a peacock effect?


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Also could I get the *Moderator* to change the title of this thread to "The every changing Smitty" ?


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

^^
Definately. :3


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

He is developing into a very pretty boy! Blue is my favorite color, and royal blue is the best IMO.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

I agree! He has such a dark head though, makes getting a picture or his pretty blue and red eyes hard. I find myself wanting to speed up time to see the changes. I can't wait to give him a go with my new female.


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## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

Royal Blues are beautiful. My old VT was a royal blue. D:


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

well this guy started out a light blue/green and now he's a royal with red and blue/green accents.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

well here's a new one. He's developing spots/lines on his dorsal and tail fin. I'll try to get a pic tonight, but he's so busy flirting with Popcorn he never stays still


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## Leeniex (Aug 14, 2011)

He really turned into a handsome guy!


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