He or She?

[MidnightAngel]

So I bought these two bettas at petsmart today, under the impression that they're females. They're noticably bigger than my other females, and when they were introduced into the tank, they were very noticably more aggressive. They tried picking fights with everyone, and once they got to each other they wouldn't quit. I'm beginning to wonder if my lack of knowledge on identifying females has caught up to me. Can anyone tell if these are just nasty females or plakat males?

[BettaxFishxCrazy]

Do they have an oviposer I think it's called? It's a white spot under their belly. If they do, than it's a female.

[AngelicScars]

Yep, the best way to check is look at their belly, if they have the egg spot there, they are females.

[MidnightAngel]

They both have the white spot, so how do I get them to play nice? Or will they just always need to be housed on their own?

[doggyhog]

I've heard that you can get a breeder trap, and keep them in that, and they might get used to the other girls. But, some girls are just too aggressive to play nicely with other girls. :(

[AlexXx]

Beautiful girls! The first one looks like a mustard gas! and i love the 2nd ones fins!

They are both females, it looks like, but do you just have two females in the tank? and how big?

you need to have more then 2... id say at least 4, so they can develop a pecking order, otherwise they will bully each other!

[Jupiter]

Ooh, they are so pretty! But you know, you need to keep them together for a few days until they settle down. When i first put Aigis in, she actually flared! And she'd chase and push my other girls around. But now she's great.

[MidnightAngel]

Originally Posted by AlexXx

Beautiful girls! The first one looks like a mustard gas! and i love the 2nd ones fins!

They are both females, it looks like, but do you just have two females in the tank? and how big?

you need to have more then 2... id say at least 4, so they can develop a pecking order, otherwise they will bully each other!

At the time I had five other females in the tank, four were the average size for females at the pet stores, one was a tiny crowntail. They left the CT alone, just going after the others and then each other. After reading your message though, it sounds like I just interrupted setting up the pecking order. Also, once I removed those two the others all turned together on the CT...So I removed her too. I think I can justly say I'm clueless about females lol

[ChristinaRoss]

you need to reintroduce all of them at once and change some plants or something around in the tank so they can all readjust to a "new" setting. they will fight for a few days or so until they reestablish the pecking order. i would say give it 4 or 5 days. if it doesnt lighten up take the mean one out and put her on a time out. lol really.

then wait a week and reintroduce her. with my 33 female sorority tank, it works everytime.

[MidnightAngel]

Ok, I put them all back in after changing an ornament's local and adding a couple lil plants...they already seem to be angry lol hopefully it works :)