Many of you have emailed me to ask me how to tell a betta Monsieur from a betta Madame. In other words (plain English, and pardon my French :) ) how to tell a male from a female. Ahhhh the precious eye of the experienced breeder! That eye only can tell without a doubt the settle differences between a female and a young male who is trying to pass as a female, or a young male and a female who is trying to pass herself as a male… I guess what I am trying to say is that it is often hard to sex young bettas (or that bettas are transvestites? :P). Usually, you can look up closely to a betta and if it is wearing lipstick, it is a female. If, however, it has lipstick on it’s gill covers, then it is a male. LOL OK, so I’m pulling your leg, bettas don’t wear lipstick (sheeesh, I wish they did, it would sure make our sexing job easier!!). However, since they don’t, here are a few other pointers to help you out (for real this time):
PHILOSIOGICAL DIFFERENCES:
| Males have long
fins, usually
about two to four times the length of a female’s fins. So that is
the most obvious way to tell them apart. To illustrate, here are two
photos: Notice the male’s fins (left) as opposed to the female’s
(pictured right). Since only fully grown males have long fins, and
since young male bettas have very short fins, this technique may not
come handy when trying to sex young immature bettas. (well darn!)
Examine the anal fin of young bettas. If it is starting to look longer than it did before, and kinda pointy at the end, then you could be in the presence of a future macho male betta :). |
| Male’s bodies are less wide, and more elongated. Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds like Chinese. It did sound like Chinese to me to when I first started breeding bettas. Now I get it. It is true that the body shapes look slightly different. But it is not the easiest way to sex bettas. After looking at thousands and thousands of bettas, you too will see it. (or need glasses). |
| Females have egg
spots. Males
usually don’t (though I’ve seen some who did). Hmmm? What is an
egg spot you ask? Oh yes, more Chinese :)). OK, an egg spot (not egg
roll!) is a tiny white speck, like a grain of salt, located under
the female’s belly, between her ventrals and her anal fin. The
spot is none other than the ovipositor tube, which the female drops
during spawning, and out of which the eggs will come out (or so you
hope :) ). Sometimes young males have an egg spot (just to confuse
us further :P ), but usually they don’t, especially when mature.
|
| Males have more
beard. (some
females do too, but they usually wax it) (oh, just kidding you
guys!). The “beard” as I call it, is a membrane located under
the gill covers. When the betta flares, he opens his covers and
displays his membrane. When the gills are closed, the beard is
tucked under, but I have noticed that it usually will stick out a
bit, as though it is too big. Now be careful, females also have a
membrane (but of course, it couldn’t possibly be simple :) ). It
just is not as big and usually will not stick out when the gills are
closed. Below, see a close up of what an ‘Apache’ male’s
beard, “sticking” out, looks like.
|
BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES
| Males blow bubble
nests. (hopefully
:) ). Females don’t. If you are unsure of a betta’s sex, you
might want to jar it. If it blows a nest (see photo below) a few
days later, then it was a male. If it doesn’t, it could still be a
male who just is too darn lazy for his own good :).
|
|
Males flare at each other and “display”, while female usually won’t. But then again, I have females who are very aggressive and they will flare and look nasty and all. They are emancipated betta gals, hehehe. (or maybe they are plain PMSing) |
Well, you are probably just as confused (if not more) now than you were
before. It takes time to sex bettas with accuracy. Hell, I was trying to
breed two males together just a year ago!! SHAME ON ME!!! Shame shame
shame shame. trust me when I say even the expert eyes could not have told
this was not a female! So don’t be discouraged if you fail at first,
practice makes perfect!!
One system that has always worked well for me is the following: Turn on the TV, place the jar in front of it. Tune in to one of the shopping channels.
If the betta falls asleep, it’s a male. If it jumps out of the jar with a little wallet in its fin, then you definitely have a female!!! LOL
Of course, I’m only kidding about the TV thang. You don’t have to believe every silly thing I say :))
Goodluck (you’re gonna need it!) LOL
