Betta question. I need 2 know...breeding, possible the store was wrong...?

Question

I hanve 3 bettas bought from the store at the same date, all three are in identical bowls, with identical plants and gravel, two of my betta's are long and flowing with their fins, they are making bubble nests, it's been 2 weeks, the other is dark blue and has a much more "chinese fan" shape to it's tail, and is generally more activethan the other to, is it possible that this fish was sexed wrong?, i have all three in 2 gallon fish bowls with pothos and i feed them properly 50%bloodworm and 50%tropical betta flakes i hand powder my mix? i'd love to breed them i have a 10 gallon empty tank, and we have well water, so no chance of chlorine poisoning, the other 2 have long flowing bisected fins, but the dark blue one has a fan shape tail and is way more active...

excuse the typo's. I just want to know about the physical characteristics between the males and females of this species, i have successfully bred many guppies and mollies, but bettas are my new challenge, also if i am successful any breeders in the Virginia USA area will be able to hane any fish they desire free these colors are rare, i have green with white fins and red spots, solid red with white fringe, and a cobalt blue i suspect to be female

flirtyme thank you you get 10 points!

Answer 1

It's posiible it's a female or it could be a short-finned male (called a plakat) which resembles the wild bettas they're descended from. Even breeders can have a hard time telling the two apart.

See this link for the characteristics that can be used to separate them: http://www.flippersandfins.net/faq.htm#malefemale Even though a characteristic like fin length or presence of an ovipositor ("egg spot") are generally reliable, some fish will be exceptions to the rules. It's best to look at 3-5 of the characterisics together and decide which gender is indicated most often.

See this link for information about breeding and raising the fry: http://www.bettatalk.com/

Answer 2

female bettas do NOT have flowing fins at all. they have short fins and are generally much smaller in body size than males. most pet stores don't sell females either, since they're less attractive.

if you are interested in breeding, please do a LOT of research before hand, they are rather difficult to breed and require more than just tossing a male and female together.

they do and will fight, the male will kill the female even after a successfull mating. and when the babies are born, their mouths are sooo tiny you have to harvest your own micro-food to feed them - store bought food won't do.

p.s.

it sounds like you have 3 males - one regular (or possibly a crown tail by your "fan shape" decription) while the other 2 are double tails. just different types of male bettas.

Answer 3

color doesn't really say if it is a male or female, i have seen some gorgeous females. the size of the fins do. if the fish all have long fins then they are males. but if that dark blue one has very short fins like most fish then it is likely female.

Answer 4

there is one breed of bettas that the male and female are the same size,but i dint think you got that so ask the pet tore

Answer 5

well, females usually arent more attractive than males. they're usually very dull in color, very plain and are a little bit smaller. maybe you have 3 males instead of 2 and a female

Answer 6

Pics of some beta

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/fishphotos/ss/bettatour01_7.htm (female)

http://www.oneworldinternetcafe.com/betta/ (male)

Hope that helps you out

Good luck