I think he's a she, but it's a little... complicated.

[finney]

Here is my original post about my new at-least-partially-albino fish (and my avatar, Kaspar).

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=83708

I... think he may be a she.

S/he gorged him/herself on frozen brine shrimp tonight, and I thought I saw an egg spot. S/he also doesn't have a visible beard, but s/he is a very young fish. About as big across as a US nickel, not counting caudal fin.

I mean... I know how to sex bettas. But this one has me baffled. I've never had one this young before. How can I tell? Might his/her light color make it more difficult?

This fish is also blind. I've heard that one can put a sighted male in with a blind male, as the blind male is no threat because he doesn't have a visual territory. I have two other males, but that still wouldn't prove anything, I don't think, because a male will fight a female if either one isn't ready for breeding.

HALP???

[LittleBettaFish]

His body shape and anal fin suggest male to me.

I've found that my plakat males tend to have a more angulated anal fin than my females.

You can always just wait until that tail grows back in to get a more definite answer.

[Sena Hansler]

My friend's betta is blind from genetics... Definitely no threat to anything :)

And to me it looks like a female. Usually by the time they are 3-4 months males make themselves out to be.. Well.. Males by flaring, showing off, and having longer fins and a lot more color. Which then it makes him/her look male because there are colors showing vividly. But because of the blindness it makes it more difficult! Lol

[finney]

I thought that too (looks male) but s/he IS a very young fish.

And someone on the other thread suggested s/he may be a lyretail. If the tail has been bitten, it looks AWFULLY symmetrical. Not to say it wasn't bitten, but it seems to me that if it was, it would look more raggy and torn up like all fins do when they get roughed up (my delta, Angelo) is always tearing his fins, so unfortunately that's something I have a lot of experience with.

[finney]

Originally Posted by Sena Hansler

My friend's betta is blind from genetics... Definitely no threat to anything :)

And to me it looks like a female. Usually by the time they are 3-4 months males make themselves out to be.. Well.. Males by flaring, showing off, and having longer fins and a lot more color. Which then it makes him/her look male because there are colors showing vividly. But because of the blindness it makes it more difficult! Lol

S/he is ablino (at least partially)... s/he doesn't *have* color to show. LOL.

[LittleBettaFish]

He might be a runt, particularly if as you mentioned he is blind and shows some sort of albinism.

You'll have to keep us updated on whether that tail comes back in or not.

[finney]

Originally Posted by LittleBettaFish

He might be a runt, particularly if as you mentioned he is blind and shows some sort of albinism.

You'll have to keep us updated on whether that tail comes back in or not.

Oh, I will. I love Sunny and Angelo dearly, but this little one is INTERESTING.

Part of me wants to try like hell to breed it, regardless of what gender it is. I have 2 males that would "go" great with her if she's a she, and I have a source for awesome females as well.

There was guy in Germany in 1960-something that bred an albino male, and another one did it in 1994. I *can* be done, and I'm persistent.

[indjo]

IMO that's a guy - his dorsal and ventrals says so.

I wouldn't call him an albino because he has color - half of his body and all of his fins has irrids. He is quite common around here - a mix between white/cellophane and green.

You need to be extra careful when you breed blind bettas, they might get killed. Mine was only half blind, but she is still difficult to breed- she always gets beaten up too much regardless of how I set up the breeding tub.

[finney]

Originally Posted by indjo

IMO that's a guy - his dorsal and ventrals says so.

I wouldn't call him an albino because he has color - half of his body and all of his fins has irrids. He is quite common around here - a mix between white/cellophane and green.

You need to be extra careful when you breed blind bettas, they might get killed. Mine was only half blind, but she is still difficult to breed- she always gets beaten up too much regardless of how I set up the breeding tub.

You guys have the red-eyed ones too?

And yep, I get that. There's a risk of losing one or both fish anyway, but moreso when one doesn't know all of what's going on.

[DarkMoon17]

I agree with male. He's probably underdeveloped since he couldn't find food well or compete with his siblings and etc.. He's really cute.
I'd be careful breeding him though. His blindness is likely due to genetics which means he'll pass it on to his fry. Albino is cool and all but albino animals (no matter the species) are more prone to illnesses, blindness and unhealthy recessive traits. Let's just say, they are generally unhealthy compared to their pigmented counterparts... There are reasons that there aren't any albino betta strains out there atm...