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Types of bettas?

566 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Kaidacat 
#1 ·
Good morning, all! I think this is the right spot for a post like this...
I seem to have my aquarium pretty well established by this point, haven't had anymore illnesses or odd behavior out of my little ones. But I have been finding myself curious as to what, exactly, my bettas are. They were all bought as "Petco Baby Betta"s, so they could be the strangest little mutts of all, but to be honest, I don't even know for certain what genders they are.

Gizmo
Gizmo I'm fairly certain is a female, because she has the thick body like people usually mention. I'm also fairly certain that she shares at least one parent with Shift(who I'll show next), but they were definitely different ages when I bought them at the same time(Shift was twice Gizmo's size at purchase). Gizmo is roughly 2.5" at the moment, all the others will be decreasing in size as we go.


Shift
Shift MIGHT have a little crowntail in her, but the spikes aren't extremely obvious. She has that double tip on her tail, though. Again, I say female because of the body shape, but I would love some input.


Apollo
The name on this one was a little more obvious before he got all red. He has this beautiful iridescence on him in the right lighting, though it can usually be seen at the base of his tail and fins. I can't quite decide if this one is male or female, but the veiltail is fairly obvious in him. I refer to him as male because of the shape of his fins and his attitude towards the others. He's not so much aggressive as he likes to show off. Also, he's very active, and has actually jumped out of the aquarium before during feeding, thank god I saw it happen. Sorry for the less than great picture quality here. He does NOT sit still for long.
I believe that's Gizmo along the bottom.

And finally Skidjet. Possible veiltail with a recessive doubletail gene, but otherwise, NOT A CLUE. xD I'm referring to her as a she, but she's only an inch and a half long, so it might not be obvious for a while longer.


So, any ideas or theories as to what my little ones might be are welcome. FYI, yes, they are all in the same 20G high aquarium, along with 3 Cories and 5 Glowlight tetras. Initially it was out of necessity for the heated water, and the new betta would be isolated in a meshed off area. After some curiosity and flaring, they would seem to stop caring. As of now, Gizmo seems to be the queen bee, but everyone else seems to give and take, and I never have anything worse than a nipped fin. They will happily swim right up to eachother and almost seem to be schooling at times, especially if my hands are in the aquarium for any reason, so while I know some might be worried about having multiple bettas in the same aquarium, I SEEM to have a functioning sorority.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
I just want to say right off the bat that combining male(s) and female(s) is extremely dangerous. Regardless of how mellow the fish seem, they can snap at any second and that could be disasterous. Either the male attacks a female, severely injuring or killing her, or the females, feeling threatened, will gang up on the male and do the same. I strongly urge you to reconsider putting the two genders together except temporarily for breeding after proper conditioning. Thank you.

With that being said, I am fairly certain you have all females.

Gizmo: Plakat female. Possibly a giant or a half giant based on how large you say she is.

Shift: Veiltail and/or plakat female (maybe a mutt of the two). Possibly some CT blood, but that's anybody's guess. Some fish just have fin rays that extend out a little more.

Apollo: Long finned veiltail female. We have a girl with long fins like that.

Skidjet: Veiltail female.
 
#3 ·
I do hear what you're saying, and that is part of the reason I was curious. I have seen a tiny amount of bubbles on the surface of the water before, as if one of them were maybe trying, but it was nothing that could have come even close to being a nest, and I haven't seen them since. I've heard females will sometimes do that when they want to nest, whether there's a male around or not.

Thank you for your help in identifying them. I do feel better knowing I don't need to worry as much about the male/female thing. They're all amusing, though. I have a friend who insists that they're "cuddle fish", because if I stick my hands in there, they'll swim through my fingers and float in my hands.
 
#4 ·
Females do build bubble nests. There are even insistences where people have observed females laying and putting their own unfertilized eggs in bubblenest. Some bettas are just gender benders like that. xD

Apollo is the only one I am not completely sure about. I think it's a she, but you should probably get a second or third opinion just in case.
 
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