What Is my Betta?

[indjo]

IMO a female VT.

Don't show her the male.... just yet. Show her a mirror and let her flare. Make her aggressive. Then show her a male, preferably a flirting male. She should respond.

[lvandert]

Alrighty thanks. I'll mate her with my VT male. Walter is sure to love her

[styggian]

I was going to say at first that she had a somewhat "male-ish" body shape around the head, as they seem to have a bit of slope while females are more bullet shaped (or at least that's what I see in mine) but I see no sign of a beard beneath her chin. I'd say veiltail female, and agree that she may have a little bit of crowntail in her background.

[lvandert]

So I decided to make my girl flare against a mirror and then with another betta (don't worry I used a floating breeding cage to separate) and I'm just not sure she is a she. her beard looked pretty big for a female. I have another female and her beard isn't much bigger than her gills. i suppose i wont know unless a she develops breeding stripes from the brief 20 min encounter or if I try to breed her and it doesn't work. Pics are below.

[lvandert]

HmPK maybe?

[indjo]

Ok, my mistake....
That looks like a male. The gills open 90* - females usually don't open that far. And you're right, the beard looks too big for a female.
Does he/she have a white dot under the belly? Females (older) should show them clearly. So if it doesn't have one, then it should definitely be a male.

[lvandert]

Nope its not there although when I bought her she had the vertical white breeding bars of a female. this little one is just so confused. confused me too. But hey I'll take a hmpk for the price of a female :) thank you petco

[lvandert]

So I strategically fed her/him and got some shots of the underside. Pretty sure thats a male now...

[lvandert]

there is a white spot but it doesn't bump out like my other girl's. Well I guess this means his name is now Smith and I need to go get another girl ^^ YAY! I get to buy a fish. I need another one like a hole in my head but thats the betta craze :)

[indjo]

White spots on females are literally white - like milk/paper. That is just the anus. So IMO he should be a male..... Hi Smith.

BTW, he doesn't look PK. His fins (caudal) looks too long to be PK. That's what I would call a round tail. They are rather long, but not as long as a VT.