sex change?

[bettasandbeads]

Hi Everyone
In Dec, Hung gave me 5 little females, 2 pastels, 2 blue and one red/blue.  I had asked him  if he had any blue girls.
Well, Hung, do you remember the 2 pastels.  One is not a GIRL http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' />
I was beginning to wander why she was getting so much bigger then the others and she developed the most beutifull tail. A full Half Moon. http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />
Needless to say she is a he and has started to build a very large bubble nest.
I have removed the 2 blue females from the tank and placed them in a all girl tank. It took them at least a day to realize that they could swim around the tank without being chased into a corner and not let out
I'm not to sure weither the other one is a plaket male or female.
Marble seems to like her so I have left them together.
I am getting the female marble back from Ian ( he needed a female to go with his new blue HM I had given him)  Ian has already gotten a spawn from them.
So I may very soon have a marble spawn of my own.
Stranger things have happened.
Catherine  

[zenafish]

I have had that happen to me. I sexed one as female one week, then next thing you know she turns into a he.

Usually those are the runts that are determined to grow ever-so-slowly just to confuse us.

But I'm sure some were definitely females (egg sac and all) ina sorority, and then decide to turn into a male.

My theory is that it has to do with hormone levels in the water in growout tanks. Similar to that larger fry would release a hormone to stunt the growth of other tankmates, perhaps the large female to male ratio in juvenile bettas would trigger a sex-reversal, or simply influence the development of unsexed juveniles.

I have no proof though...maybe I can do a PhD on it, LOL...I might just enjoy that more than on polymer engineering

[baycitybettas]

Just ask Ian- I do it ALL THE TIME!  Amazing things can happen once they are jarred.  I have had more then a few "girls" turn out to be "boys" lol

In my experience, males that are subjected to female hormones in the grow out tank, take on some very female characteristics.  I made this mistake a few years ago with a male.  For an entire year he lived with a bunch of girls.  Once day he decided to start blowing a bubble nest.  It was then that I realised my error.  

I immediately removed him and isolated him.  Within 3 weeks his fins had tripled in size and he looked every bit a male.  He even went on to breed and raise fry.  Although he was not a huge fish and his fins were not quite as large, he most likely gained 85-90% of a "likely" fin length.  I was suprised that the damage has been so easily reversed so quickly.    

[Feathers]

Finally have the 20 gal. tank set up and toss in 4 female bettas (at least that is what I bought) 1 blue, 1 green, 1 marble and 1 just has red fins in with some tetras. The blue one is bigger figured she was just older.
Not....  Blue chases the green one to the point she hides. So I go fishing. Where ever the net is Blue is not, til Blue is gloating over killing a lemon terta that is in the tank. Got her, him, IT.  Could this mean that my green one is a male also?
Blue liked the other 2. I don't need any more males. Have not seen bubbles from eather. But my males know how to make a bubble nest.
Will post picture late.

[zenafish]

Hey Feather.

You might simply have an agressive females. These are "fighting fish" afterall. Community tank is a very tricky thing for bettas, with everything depending on a very delicate balance. If you've just started the tank, Blue may only be establishing the alpha status, and boss over everyone else in the tank.

Why don't you try take a picture of Blue and post it up, we might be able to sex him/her for you.

[Feathers]

Well I have a picture. Just don't know how to put it in the gallary.
After taking a few doz pictures I do think I have a male.
Being boss hog in the tank is one thing but killing off the other fish is something else.

[baycitybettas]

Hi Feathers http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />  Posting to the gallery is easy.  If you donot have a pic hosted "offsite", you can just "add an attachment" within a post.  You will see a box with a "browse" button under the "Post in icons" a reply window.  Find the file you want and upload it.

IGNORE THIS POST.  Apparently file attachments are an Administrative "perk".  

[Feathers]

Sorry but I can not find a attachment icon or a browse button
there is nothing under post icons
I am still trying LOL

[Feathers]

I have placed in in my profile see if it shows up with this post

[KillBill]

Are you serious? I've only heard about sex change happening in Swordtail schools when there is no male present and the continuation of the species looks endangered.. But bettas?...

Feathers, the picture shows up, but it's so small I don't think anybody can tell the sex from it. It's a nice fish though!

[crazy4bettas]

Hi Feathers,

Probably the easiest way to post images is to save them to a profile in a hosting site like Photobucket.com.  It is free and easy to figure out.  Once you have uploaded them into photobucket, you select the pictures you want to post and click on the "generate html" button at the bottom.  Then select the IMG code for forums, copy and paste it into your post here, and we can all see good sized pictures.  It's free, it's easy and it's (relatively) fast.

Can't wait to see him/her/it!  http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />  

[Ian Turkstra]

haha.  I was about to post about my story when I noticed Kim already mentioned it.  I got three "females" from Kim in the summer and she was quite upset that her spawn was mostly females.  I had to leave them in a little container overnight and one was dead the next morning.

So, I had two apparent females in a container and I noticed one was way more aggressive towards the second.  The tail was also slightly larger.  I mentioned this to Kim and she said to separate them and that the longer-finned one would soon grow out the tail (she already suspected based on the story).  So, I separated it and it turns out it WAS a male the whole time.  Within a few weeks the tail was WAY bigger and he turned out to be a beautiful full halfmoon to boot!

Another cool bonus is that they were both almost pure white when I got them and they eventually turned out to be royal blue marbles with redwash!  Quite impressive fish.  Unfortunately the spawn of them never made it too far and eventually died out.  My male has started to turn that horrible patchy grey colour that you see before they eventually die.  I have tried several options including aquarium salt as well as indian almond leaf and neither worked but he's eating well.  This has been over at least a month since it started so I am hoping (fingers crossed) that it may just be another evolution of his marble trait (though not really expecting this to be the case.

I'll try to find pictures if I can.  The transformation from a white "female" to a royal blue/red bicolour marble HM male was impressive http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />  

[Bettamorris]

I had something similar happen. I once owned a marble who was almost completely white with red fins. Over time she acquired blue coloring and her fins went white http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /> Someone who is better versed in Genetics could probably confirm this, but I believe marbles colors are ever changing.

[baycitybettas]

As far as my own experience goes, my marbles have always changed- often starting out solid, then changing into a marble  http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />  

I think when we talk about the concept of "sex change" we dont literally mean a total genetic change, but rather males (in particular) that take on female characteristics.  These males are not actually females, but they are not male looking in appearance.  

I read a study done by Dr. David Suzuki (years ago) regarding the effects of the tons of female hormones (from birth control pills) that are in the Great lakes via the sewer system.  Lets just say his findings were not favorable in regards to males and penis size if they were raised in the Great Lakes Region... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!  http://209.85.62.26/html/emoticons/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />  

[baycitybettas]

Definitely a female Feathers.   She may be a bossy Alpha gal, but definitely a girl.

But, given my past track record, dont trust me lol!