[MadameDesu]

Hello all!

I introduced my veiltail betta in the picture category a few days ago, and some people pointed out that SHE actually could be a HE!!! I decided to make a formal thread about her gender so more people could get a good look at her.

The problem is that she has characteristics of both males and females ...

Fins: Longer than your average female veiltails, but not as long as a male's.
Ventrals: On the longer side, but very slender.
Body Shape: Thin head with a round middle tapering off to her tail. Like a kite shape almost.
Egg Spot: Yessir! Very noticeable.
Beard: Not visible unless breathing or flaring, but even then it's not "puffing up". More like "peeking out".
Bubble Nest: None yet, but who knows? She has accidentally blown bubbles before, but doesn't seem to realize it. She chased them around like she had no idea where they came from -__-
Flaring: She does flare, mostly at her heater, which is shiny. She flares head on, mostly.
Ovary: She does have a light patch where her ovary should be. It's hard to tell, though, because she's so vividly colored.

She's a little under 2 inches, tail to mouth, so I think she's full-grown or at least old enough to sex.

Thanks! Here are a few pictures that may be helpful. Some are better than others.

-MadameDesu

 

[EmilyN]

I would say a young male but don't quote me on that lol

 

[lyricaraven]

Same here.

 

[Myates]

Male- the ventrals are way too long to be female.

May have a spade tail (which is rare- but sometimes pop up), or a very young VT who hasn't grown out the tail yet. It takes 7 months of age until the tail is full length.

 

[HatsuneMiku]

i'm with myates ..

very much looks like a male with a spade tail =D

 

[indjo]

1. Does she have an ovipositor (white egg spot under the belly) - probably a female
2. Look at her flare, Does her gills open 90* and does she have a large sort of beard? - probably a male.
Females usually have smaller beard and her gill doesn't open 90*

 

[chrissylee13]

i have a female that looks similar to your fishy. her body is about 1 3/4 in long. so she's definitely not young. and she displays breeding stripes as well.

i'm unsure though if yours is male or female. it looks like it could be either!

here's my female btw.

 

[lvandert]

Keep in mind young males can have a false egg spot. IMO it looks like a boy. If you could get a picture of him/her flaring it tells a lot about a fish

 

[MadameDesu]

i have a female that looks similar to your fishy. her body is about 1 3/4 in long. so she's definitely not young. and she displays breeding stripes as well.

i'm unsure though if yours is male or female. it looks like it could be either!

here's my female btw.

Oh wow! She really does look a lot like mine!

1. Does she have an ovipositor (white egg spot under the belly) - probably a female
2. Look at her flare, Does her gills open 90* and does she have a large sort of beard? - probably a male.
Females usually have smaller beard and her gill doesn't open 90*

She has an egg spot!
WHOA! I just got her to flare a bit and her beard popped out further than I've seen it pop out before. It's not really a dark color, about the same as the rest of the red on her.
It wasn't like any of the pictures of males that I've seen (like this: http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ln3kunUqVF1qisydyo1_500.jpg:)

More like this: http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/157/c/4/Flare_Flare_Flare_by_BettaPhotographer.jpg

You can't see it when she isn't flaring, though.

Keep in mind young males can have a false egg spot. IMO it looks like a boy. If you could get a picture of him/her flaring it tells a lot about a fish

I'll try, but she is very quick and doesn't like pictures, hahaha.

 

[chrissylee13]

well the female i have posted above actually has the smallest beard out of any of my females. my other females have a wider more noticeable beard when they flare. but they don't spread out like a male's beard.

 

[MadameDesu]

I think that if she doesn't grow within about 2-3 months, I'll finally be comfortable calling her a female. Well, I'm calling her a girl now because I've bonded with a "her"
If it becomes obvious that she is actually a he, I'll worry about it then.
It's just kinda spooky that yours looks SO much similar to mine! Is she a spadetail? I think mine might be. She's not a veiltail, I think.

 

[chrissylee13]

the other thing is.. do you have a male you could compare this fishy to? males and females have slightly different body shapes.

 

[chrissylee13]

well i wanna say she's a spade tail. but i actually didn't notice until someone said something in the thread i posted about her. but she does look it! lol

 

[MadameDesu]

the other thing is.. do you have a male you could compare this fishy to? males and females have slightly different body shapes.

Nope, she's my only one as of now.

 

[chrissylee13]

okay! lol well maybe look at pictures of males and compare. thats what mostly sold me on the fact mine was female. her body was just so different than the males i have. oh, and the breeding stripes. lol

 

[MadameDesu]

If she really is a spadetail, then the few pictures I'm finding of male spadetails have a much different body shape.
There's still a possibility that she's a young male veiltail, but I can't find any pictures of those for comparison. Also, I'm not entirely sure of her age, but she is about 2 inches, so she may be done growing or close to it.
I wish she would just lay eggs or something, lol.

 

[chrissylee13]

here's my fish. top is male. bottom 2 are female. if it helps.

 

[chrissylee13]

you said previously that she's 2 inches nose to tip of tail right? usually you measure from nose to where the tail begins. like my blue female is about 1 3/4 in from nose to where tail begins. my smallest female is only about 1 1/4 in.

 

[MadameDesu]

you said previously that she's 2 inches nose to tip of tail right? usually you measure from nose to where the tail begins. like my blue female is about 1 3/4 in from nose to where tail begins. my smallest female is only about 1 1/4 in.

Oh! In that case she's probably a little under 1.5". She's not really the kind of fish to sit still and be measured :roll:

And those pictures helped! The male's body looks more broad than hers. She looks more like the bottom two.

 

[chrissylee13]

cool! i personally think she looks like a girl. i mean the ventral fins will be longer if she has longer fins in general. i would just keep comparing pictures of males and females to her.