# What do these stripes mean?



## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

I have a group of females waiting to be placed in their new tank. Right now I'm keeping them in cups and betta bowls which I have placed together so they can see each other and hopefully get used to each other. 

One of the "female" bettas is, I strongly suspect, a male. This morning I noticed him and his nearest female neighbour sitting nose to nose. Both are striped now; they weren't before. I think the female's vertical stripes indicate she's ready to breed, but I've never seen such vivid horizontal stripes on a male before. Neither fish is flaring or "dancing", they just stare at each other. Here are pics:


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## Sheldon31 (Mar 21, 2012)

The horizontal stripe on the one you suspect to be male is a stress stripe. Something has upset him maybe being able to see the females or being in the cup for too long.

EDIT! just noticed "he" has an egg spot..


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## AdamMZ (May 17, 2012)

I think she's stress because she feels uncomfortable in that cup.


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## Sheldon31 (Mar 21, 2012)

She's waiting to be put in her new home  But I agree, when they get into their perminant tank she or he might be much happier. Although, Ky get's a stripe for no apparent reason sometimes. He's a pretty grumpy guy sometimes.


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

Everyone is out of their cups now and my "male" doesn't have any stress stripes anymore. in fact, SHE is one of the alpha fish. 

I decided once and for all to cup her (she was in a betta bowl) and take a closer look, sure enough she has an egg spot, so I put her in the big tank with the other females. Now she patrols around the tank and most of the other fish rush away when she approaches them. The other two alphas (red 1 and red 2) flare and swim off more slowly.


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## BeckyFish97 (Apr 9, 2012)

I would say they're stress stripes on the male/female


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## Sheldon31 (Mar 21, 2012)

Could "she" be a juvi male. Someone on here (I think it was bomba) said sometimes juvi males have oviposters.. Or she's just a very aggresive female. But they are very long fins for a female.


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## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

i have an OLD male with an egg spot


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

Besides the egg spot, she also has a rounder belly than the other males I have. She's now in with the others. She seems to be able to take care of herself and not let them push her around, and doesn't have stress stripes anymore. If she turns out to be male, what could/will happen?


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

What could happen is that the females will gang up on the male and tear him apart. Alternatively, he will pick the females off one by one. He is a male, and he does need to be removed ASAP.


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## Crazykat (Nov 23, 2010)

The fish in the first and second photo is definitely a male. Look at those fins! Younger males often have that egg spot, and young fish get more of a little belly when you feed them, which is why he might look rounder than your other males.
You definitely need to get him out of the girls' tank.


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## Sheldon31 (Mar 21, 2012)

I would remove him before anything can happen. Even if he does turn out to be female after all at least then you took the precautions to prevent any fish loss.


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## Cattitude (Apr 19, 2012)

Bombalurina said:


> What could happen is that the females will gang up on the male and tear him apart. Alternatively, he will pick the females off one by one. He is a male, and he does need to be removed ASAP.


Thank you! I observed them closely and noted that he was roaming around the tank constantly, looking for others to chase and flaring at everyone. I scooped him out yesterday and he's destined to live out his days as a solitary male. 

Another stripe question - a couple of my females seem to always have stress bars, will this go away once the pecking order is established? Or is it a sign that these females are low in the pecking order?


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## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

mine keep it


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

I think it depends on the girls. None of my girls display stripes apart from Circe, who I *think* is 4th in the hierarchy of my tank (though it's difficult to tell, since none of my girls are aggressive). She has them all the time.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I had a girl, Suki, that was my pride and joy and she was a ball to watch ONLY if she couldn't see me. She would always come to the front and dance, but whenever I was near the tank she would stripe out in stress stripes. I walk away and she would return back to beautiful lavender. I think some are just nervous nellies. But another thing is these girls are a new sorority, so there's bound to be some stress going on. 

Yeah, that first one is totally a male hehe Beautiful too!


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