Dude looks like a lady?

[TheKingsFish]

About a week ago (roughly the 9th according to my Betta journal) we picked up this lovely Cambodia coloured female from Petland. We kept her by herself for a little while so we could introduce her to the rest of the sorority after the water change. This has worked for us in the past because we take the females out when we change the water and it leaves them a little disoriented at first and more receptive to a new arrival. It is now the 17th and we are beginning to notice some strange new behaviour traits and a few physical changes...

When we first introduced Kate to the tank, she was very pale coloured and meek. Whenever Cordelia (the alpha in the absence of Hero) flared, Kate ran. Corde's response in itself was odd. Now Kate flares and bites at everyone, living up to the measure of her Shakespearean namesake.
-when she displays she has a full beard (I think...will post a pic of this when I can get one where she co-operates)
-where once she was plain and pale, she now has fuchsia marbling with a chocolate head
-she seems to have staked out one corner of the tank (the one where we feed them, no less) and started blowing bubbles. I have heard of females doing this on occasion, but it's new for Kate.
-her pectoral fins seem to have elongated compared to previous pictures (see Avatar)

After Cordelia died and Hero was re-introduced after a brief quarantine (where we introduced Kate) all of our females became more aggressive toward each other, developed more obvious egg-bloats (except for Kate) and have darker colouring than before she (?) was introduced.
-it wasn't until we intro'd Kate that the colour changes occured
-our once peaceful sorority has become a game of cat-and-mouse

Now that we have removed Kate the others seem to be calming down and coming out of hiding...this leaves us wondering if Kate is male or female since her behaviour is a little ambiguous. See pictures...

[beat2020]

Looks like you have a plakat male!

[StarvingPoet]

She(he?) is very unhappy about being in her(his?) jar and not in the big tank anymore. If she(he?) is a male she(he?) must either be a very small or quite immature one. She(he?) is only about an inch and a half long(including tail).

[TheKingsFish]

How would this affect our females in terms of egg ripeness? One of our females was only beginning to look like she was ready for breeding, but we learned through the forum that she would drop her unripe eggs if she didn't breed (she is so egg heavy her nose often points downward). Eggs ripen when the female is exposed to testosterone and male pheromones...

What does this mean for Hero if Kate is really Petruchio?

[TheKingsFish]

We do need to know whether or not we can put her (?) back with the sorority...accommodation might be an issue otherwise. Answers might also help in case he (?) needs a new name. Looking at Shakespeare characters D.R.A.G. and what names were used lol.

[LittleBettaFish]

I'm was in the exact same situation with two of my Cambodian 'females'. One of them has an egg-spot, but I think she is actually a male (was displaying before, and has built a couple of tiny bubblenests), while the other tried jumping in and breeding with the female on the other side of the divider.


Here was my male when I first purchased him as a female. Took a month or so of good food and clean water before I realised I had a male.

I would be very hesitant to put a male back in a sorority. I feel unless it is a very large tank (at least 30-40 gallons) and massively planted, it would lead to either the death of your male, or the death of one or more of your females.

[StarvingPoet]

You misunderstand, LittleBettaFish. We meant that we need to know whether or not she(?) is a female so that if she(?) is female we can put her back in the sorority or if she(?) is male we can find a different place for her. We wouldn't put a male in with our girls.
Hence us needing an answer as we are running out of separate containers for everyone.

[LittleBettaFish]

Ah okay, sorry for the misunderstanding . I'm no expert on sexing betta fish since I'm just a pet owner and not a breeder. However personally, I think it's more than possible this is a young male. I always thought mine was just an over-aggressive female, and it wasn't until it started bubblenesting (which it sounds like yours is doing) that I realised it was a male.

If it were me, I wouldn't put him/her back into the sorority just to be on the safe side. Sororities can be turbulent at the best of times, and I wouldn't want to chance something happening in the case that it is a male.

[StarvingPoet]

No, don't worry. We're going to be keeping "Androgy-fish" in one of our QT jars until we figure her(?) out.

[TheKingsFish]

This just in: the she-male enjoys flaring at the mirror. Either aggression or extreme vanity.