# Male or female??



## madmonahan (Aug 26, 2012)

I've had Ollie for a week and (s)he has colored up alot! I can't tell if Ollie is male or female, so I wanted to ask some of you experts ;-)

Here are some pictures, if you need anymore I have plenty

View attachment 206209


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## lottieBendie (Jul 19, 2013)

The most reliable way to tell the gender of a betta is to find the egg spot, located in between the Claudial fins and anal fin (the bottom fin and the little dangly fins under the chin). It looks like a little bump, and (of course, is only on females). You may need to wait for your betta to age a bit, but good luck! :-D


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## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

Actually, that isn't a reliable way to tell the gender. Young males can also display an egg spot and some keep it into adulthood. My boy Xerxes still has his.

Honestly the best way to tell gender is by shining a light through your betta and seeing if you can find the ovaries.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Looks like a little boy to me ;-)

The ONLY reliable way to tell gender on Betta's is to look for the ovaries which is not what the egg spot is, a.k.a. ovipositer. Ovaries are a cone shape behind the circular mass of stomach and other organs. In the second picture you can see the circular stomach/organs and there's nothing behind it, no ovaries which makes it male. 

However, sometimes it's too early to tell since the ovaries grow in a few weeks after hatching, I don't know exactly how long/how many weeks but generally the babies we get from PetCo are already sexable if you know what to look for.


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

Rosencrantz32 said:


> Actually, that isn't a reliable way to tell the gender. Young males can also display an egg spot and some keep it into adulthood. My boy Xerxes still has his.
> 
> Honestly the best way to tell gender is by shining a light through your betta and seeing if you can find the ovaries.


yup i agree. Thats how I sexed sparkeling Gouramis. 

Also look at the body shape. males are slimmer and longer. Females will be more round. Not all I know will be easy to sex by the shape of the body. 

where did you get the fish?


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## madmonahan (Aug 26, 2012)

I know about about the egg spot and how young males often have them, but I didn't know as much about the ovaries.
Always learning some thing new from you guys ;-)

Here's Ollie with the flashlight, the pictures aren't very good
I got him at Petco last week

View attachment 206345


He had just eaten so he's got a little belly


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## lottieBendie (Jul 19, 2013)

Rosencrantz32 said:


> Actually, that isn't a reliable way to tell the gender. Young males can also display an egg spot and some keep it into adulthood. My boy Xerxes still has his.
> 
> Honestly the best way to tell gender is by shining a light through your betta and seeing if you can find the ovaries.


Alrighty! Wow, I didn't know that males had egg spots too!


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Rosencrantz32 said:


> Actually, that isn't a reliable way to tell the gender. Young males can also display an egg spot and some keep it into adulthood. My boy Xerxes still has his.


How old is Xerxes? I still question the sex of one of my females because she's shaped like a male, she's my largest female (she's one of seven in my sorority), and has very long fins for a female (though not as long as a "typical" male). But she has an egg spot. Because of her color I can't tell if she has ovaries or not. I've had her for a year. Should she be full grown by now and have lost the egg spot if she were a he?


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## jesssan2442 (Feb 19, 2013)

I'm going for male!


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## Rosencrantz32 (May 12, 2013)

OrangeAugust - Honestly I'm not sure how old Xerxes is. My avatar is from when I brought him home in April. But I remember being really confused when I noticed his "egg spot" about 2 months in, 'cause there's no way he's female. So, I've been paying real close attention to any thread dealing with males and egg spots. 

Unfortunately, other than that little bit of information, I really can't help you on whether your girl is a girl or not. Have you tried uploading a photo of her and asking for help on here?


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## Canis (Apr 15, 2013)

Looks like a boy to me, and an adorable one at that ^^


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Rosencrantz32 said:


> OrangeAugust - Honestly I'm not sure how old Xerxes is. My avatar is from when I brought him home in April. But I remember being really confused when I noticed his "egg spot" about 2 months in, 'cause there's no way he's female. So, I've been paying real close attention to any thread dealing with males and egg spots.
> 
> Unfortunately, other than that little bit of information, I really can't help you on whether your girl is a girl or not. Have you tried uploading a photo of her and asking for help on here?


Yeah, I have posted pics of her. lilnaugrim said she looks like a girl, but she was also surprised at the length of her fins and still wasn't 100% sure because I couldn't see her ovaries. Anyway, it's not a big deal- I was just curious if a male with a false ovipositor would still have one after being at least a year old. That's why I asked about your guy.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

OrangeAugust said:


> Yeah, I have posted pics of her. lilnaugrim said she looks like a girl, but she was also surprised at the length of her fins and still wasn't 100% sure because I couldn't see her ovaries. Anyway, it's not a big deal- I was just curious if a male with a false ovipositor would still have one after being at least a year old. That's why I asked about your guy.


Yeah actually one of my boy's who is well over a year old still has his imitator ovipositer ^_^ he's quite the feminine fish anyway haha


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Not to hijack this thread, but at what age is a betta considered to be "fully grown"?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It depends on their upbringing, if the breeder does a good job at raising then a good 3-4 months will be considered full grown. But with PetCo babies it takes a lot longer. I've had mine for just over 3 months I believe and they're still like only half grown if even so they have a long way to go still.


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

I just saw some old pictures of the betta in question and I had totally forgotten that she used to get breeding stripes when she got excited at feeding time! So she's definitely a female then.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

OrangeAugust said:


> I just saw some old pictures of the betta in question and I had totally forgotten that she used to get breeding stripes when she got excited at feeding time! So she's definitely a female then.


Those are also not indicative of females sorry >.< More often than not vertical stripes are actually submission stripes, not breeding stripes as they are not old enough to be sexually mature. Routinely my male babies actually would get submission stripes when he could see his "boyfriend" through the mesh.

Here's a picture actually of my boy Steve who had submission stripes


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