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Female with ovipositor made a BIG bubble nest, is she really a female?

9K views 29 replies 14 participants last post by  MoonShadow 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,
I got my supposed little girl I named Fae from petsmart this weekend. I was surprised to see a considerably sized bubble nest when I checked on her tonight. Her anal fin was tattered when I bought her so i have no idea how long it's supposed to be. She has a very clear egg spot. What do you guys think, is she male or female? She looks female to me.

This is the nest, part of it is covered by the filter.




 
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#2 ·
It could be a young male but girls can blow bubble nests too. I would isolate until you can tell if she isn't already. also if you can make he/she flare that could help. Females flare barely and males flare big.
 
#4 ·
I have heard of a female that made a bubble nest, released her eggs, then tended them, even though they hadn't been fertilized. I've heard of many other females making nests. Mine doesn't, but she does blow bubbles in one corner of the tank by the heater, just not large nests. Just a few of bubbles at a time.
 
#9 ·
That's what is confusing in cases like this. Boys can have an ovipositur and girls can build bubble nests. You will prob have to wait til it grows a bit. Best guess I think girl. But I could be wrong.
 
#13 ·
Really? Because it looks nothing like my female at that age and it looks JUST like the little boy someone has here around that age. The fins are sooooo long for a girl. I would say if you are thinking of breeding that fish don't put it in with another male. You might end up with a dead little boy.
 
#15 ·
The water coming out isn't very strong. Actually, there are bubbles in different spots around the tank. There is a small accumulation on the opposite side of the filter and sparse bubbles in other random places. I'm pretty sure I saw her make some bubbles in one of the random places but I can't say for certain, she may have just been taking a breath.

I don't have any plans to breed Fae, but I did want to start up a sorority. If Fae turns out to be a boy, that's not happening, and that's fine I'm totally in love with whatever he/she is. How much bigger will Fae need to be in order to tell for sure one way or the other?
 
#26 ·
UPDATE***
Fae looks exactly the same now. I guess his/her anal fin is deformed because it never grew in, it's still jagged looking. I really want to start a sorority so I'm still trying to figure out what he or she is. No more huge bubble nests but their are sparse random bubbles around the tank. I got a female today and I put her in the 10gal with Fae and watched very closely to see what happened. They didn't react to each other when she was acclimating. So I put her in and they pretty much ignored each other. There was some following and flaring by Fae. Fae would spread out all his/her fins and flared but the beard hardly came out at all. Any ideas as to the sex? They are separated now. Help??
 
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