# Female Petco Baby Betta



## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Hello, I just wanted to share this amazing baby with you guys, I'm very engrossed in her growth. So far I love her because I'm not really into the red colors, however, there are some nice red bettas that I like. Although, I find non-reds to be more beautiful in my opinion. I think that she's a crowntail, or seems like it based on her caudal fin having webs and spikes. She's still young, but I can't wait to see her grow up. I do have a question for anyone in this forum to help me identity her colors. I'm thinking maybe she is a marble, but I'm not too sure yet. I'm inexperienced so please give me some information regarding my baby betta.

Sorry for the bad camera, I'm just using my phone.

Day 1 (1/22/17)


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Week 1 (1/27/17)

I don't know why they're rotated like that... On my desktop they look fine.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Week 2.5 (2/8/17)

She was bloated out of the blue. I starved her the whole night and she was back to normal the next day.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Week 4 (2/22/17)
I'm going to put her in the container in the future for photos also. It helps with the focus of my phone.

I'll be updating once in a while to show her growth! 

Please leave some thoughts or comments. Thanks!


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## Wildsho (Jan 24, 2016)

She is very cute, i have a female koi who is small also, i have had her for about 2 months and still tiny compared to my male.

It is possible that she could be a marble.


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## Hopefish (Feb 9, 2016)

Well, she is sort of green? I bet she is going to change like crazy.
Any idea what caused the bloat? What are you feeding her?


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Thanks for the comments. I have no clue why she was bloated that 1 night, but I've been feeding her frozen brine shrimps, dried blood worms, surprisingly she eats some flakes which is for my ghost shrimps. I sometimes feed her some dried brine shrimp, but she doesn't really eat them.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Here's some photos without the flash.


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## sarodesu (Feb 22, 2017)

So cute! I look forward to seeing how she looks in the future!


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## Hopefish (Feb 9, 2016)

Be sure to reconstitute dried foods with a little tank water before you feed them, as dried/freezedried foods have been known to cause bloat.


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## Bettaloveee (Jan 30, 2017)

Oh wow, she is beautiful! Her colors are truly stunning! Can't wait to see what she looks like grown. Keep us updated!:grin2:


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

I hate to crush your bubble, but _she_ is actually a _he_....  Still cute, though! She will for sure marble, most likely turning all blue or blue/cellophane/white.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Hopefish said:


> Be sure to reconstitute dried foods with a little tank water before you feed them, as dried/freezedried foods have been known to cause bloat.


Ah, thanks!! I did not do that, I fed her dried food directly. I'll start doing that next time I feed her dried foods.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

ThatFishThough said:


> I hate to crush your bubble, but _she_ is actually a _he_....  Still cute, though! She will for sure marble, most likely turning all blue or blue/cellophane/white.



I'm not sure, I think its a female cause she has a white dot. I'm assuming that is an egg sac? 

But thanks for the comment! I can't wait for her to be fully grown. :grin2:


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Bettaloveee said:


> Oh wow, she is beautiful! Her colors are truly stunning! Can't wait to see what she looks like grown. Keep us updated!:grin2:


I will definitely keep you guys updated!! :grin2:


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

leed said:


> I'm not sure, I think its a female cause she has a white dot. I'm assuming that is an egg sac?
> 
> But thanks for the comment! I can't wait for her to be fully grown. :grin2:



The white dot is called an oviposter. Many fishkeepers sex their bettas wrong because of them. The only accurate way to tell is to shine a light behind the fish (or, sometimes you can see them without) and look for a yellow triangle behind the stomach. Tho are ovaries. If he has them, the he is a she. If not, she is a he, LOL.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

It won't let me edit to add pictures, but here's a good example. I'm not seeing ovaries in any of the pictures.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

ThatFishThough said:


> It won't let me edit to add pictures, but here's a good example. I'm not seeing ovaries in any of the pictures.


So I did a bit of researching since I was still unaware of what you said, but you are correct, ovipositors are unreliable. I never knew that, but thank you for informing me! I will take a look at her later, I wasn't sure what the triangle you were talking about was til I researched a little more. Thank you!! Your photo has a perfect example. Hopefully I can get a better photo for you to take a look too. It's hard to tell. I also have my siblings female bettas in the fish room, however, I don't remember seeing a triangle. Well one of them is a super dark body, and the other one is like pastel Cambodian. I'll try to take better photos for you to help me identify her sex. :grin2:


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## halleyana (May 25, 2016)

Sometimes it's really hard to tell in real life, and it can be easier to see the ovaries in pictures. I'd take some with and without flash, just to make sure.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

^ With flash can help, sometimes, too. Just depends. If you see a picture that you think looks like ovaries or one without, post it herer and we can help.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Alright, so after a long day, I finally got some photos. Hopefully you guys can help me identity the sex. I see a pinkish triangle, but I'm not sure if that is the ovaries. It was hard trying to get a good photo, but I tried. She just keeps moving to much so it took a while to focus without flash.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Here's an update on week 5. S/he ( still in the process of identifying the sex ) has nice variations of colors due to the lighting. Green to a sky blue to a completely solid blue. Its even more interesting to see it all turn clear. S/he seem to building more iridescent scales at the top. Don't mind the male in the back, he's super friendly, and likes to photo bomb her a lot. I know people worry about keeping bettas together, but these two seem fine together. Of course I'm monitoring their behaviors also, if they start to get aggressive then I will separate them, but they've been in there like that for a couple of weeks already.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Still going with male.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

ThatFishThough said:


> Still going with male.


Sounds good! I was really hoping for a female, but its fine. I think he'll be gorgeous when he is fully grown. I can't wait. 

Well, after doing a water change yesterday. This morning I noticed that the dorsal fins had clear spikes, but I didn't noticed before that. Only 2 were visible and curly. I'm not sure if its the water or genetics from petco. I'm currently putting him in a small container with a piece of Indian Almond Leaf. I was researching the curly fins for crowntail. Someone said that IAL can help straighten out the fins. Let's see what happens tomorrow. 

(There is a whole leaf in the 5.5 gallon, however, its still in the process of spreading throughout the whole tank.)


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## Kirasa (Jan 29, 2017)

Is it normal for a red marble koi male to be so big? Mochi's body is like the size of my thumb... o.o


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## Lumirecia (Mar 8, 2017)

So pretty! She has a pretty cellophane in her tails. I recently bought a better last week. Hope s/he will turn out to be as pretty as yours.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Kirasa said:


> Is it normal for a red marble koi male to be so big? Mochi's body is like the size of my thumb... o.o


Sorry for the late replies, but I have no clue how big your thumb is, but there are different sized bettas. Normal, semi-giants, and giants. So I don't know. Just do a bit of researches as to what kind of betta you have? I don't know the measurements off my head.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Lumirecia said:


> So pretty! She has a pretty cellophane in her tails. I recently bought a better last week. Hope s/he will turn out to be as pretty as yours.


All bettas are pretty to me!  Especially when you grow them from babies. I never bred before, but I can tell you that it's very interesting to watch my baby betta grow up. You never know what they'll really be until they mature. :grin2:


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Been pretty busy, but here's an update of 6.5 week. I really do not know why they keep ending up sideways. I think I'm getting better at taking photos. Trying a lot of new things and he has gotten bigger too. I'm pretty sure he will be a combtail. Don't know if it will be a veiltail or plakat. I don't know how long it takes for for long fins to grow out, but the tail is pretty consistent so far. There's only 2 rays, so I'm just assuming veiltail or plakat.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Still looks female to me. Looks like she just doesn't have any eggs yet. Fins are too short and round to be male at this point, even a PK.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

@lilnaugrim, but I haven't seen ovaries in any of the pictures? Is the only way we can see them is via eggs?

... Kumo had that short of fins his entire life, and I am 100% sure he was male.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Some females don't develop ovaries until later in their life; or rather, they simply don't make eggs right away and fill them up for you to see. They're like little sacs and when they're deflated as youngin's, you might not see them. Then as they age and might be around other females or males, they will start their productions from there. Even still, some females do have smaller ovaries than others.

Also, the ventral fins are too short and stubby, eyes are small compared to body and dorsal is too far from caudal.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

lilnaugrim said:


> Still looks female to me. Looks like she just doesn't have any eggs yet. Fins are too short and round to be male at this point, even a PK.


Alright! I was hoping for a female. :grin2:


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## dennythebetta (Mar 8, 2017)

She's really cute! What's her name?


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

dennythebetta said:


> She's really cute! What's her name?


Thank you! I was thinking maybe Azura like the azure colors or maybe Aqua, because she looks aqua to me.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

New update 10 weeks since I bought her from petco. I started making her flare, but she hardly flares. Beautiful round tail when she flares.


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

Female's beards aren't as big as males, so they aren't as visible, even when they flare. She's really pretty!


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## BettaStarter24 (Mar 24, 2014)

I say female too. Can't see ovaries yet but as Lil mentioned, the fin shape and eyes say girl to me.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

moodynarwhal said:


> Female's beards aren't as big as males, so they aren't as visible, even when they flare. She's really pretty!


Thank you!! :grin2:


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Week12 - shes doing great! I'm uploading with my phone, so idk how good the quality will be, since it has to be resized. Week 11 photo was kind of blurry. Well she's been eating a lot... stealing food from the guppies and catfish cories.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

Time for an update!!! It's now week 17 since I bought her as a baby. I love her a lot, well I have a questions for you guys, she is not a veil tail right? 000


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## ReticentTeacup (May 7, 2017)

No, she definitely is not! What a pretty girl! I'd say she's a combtail but I am not always spot-on with tail types.


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## leed (Feb 22, 2017)

ReticentTeacup said:


> No, she definitely is not! What a pretty girl! I'd say she's a combtail but I am not always spot-on with tail types.



Thank you! I also thought that she wasn't going to be a veil tail too! I thought she might be a combtail a long time ago! Since she shows some spikeness, but not a crowntail. Or maybe she isn't a combtail but with some spikeness phenotype. I'm kind of interested to see what she really is..if she's a plakat, she's definitely a keeper. I would want to get a crown tail plakat male and try breeding. I love the way ctpk look! I've checked out some blogs regarding to ctpk. If she does carry the plakat gene. That would be awesome! I'll keep you guys updated. Maybe you guys can help me minimize what her tail type is. I believe she's about 5 months right now.


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