# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Questions on Betta rutilans

## leeruisheng

Care to share pointers on how to differentiate the sex of _Betta rutilans_?

Is it possible to house them together with _Sphaerichthys vaillanti_?

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## CK Yeo

From what I read, they look similar. Does that mean we have to buy a few and let them sort it out themselves? 

ck

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## leeruisheng

From Labyrinth Fish - The Bubble-Nest-Builders by Horst Linke, this how to differentiate between the sexes for Betta macrostoma. The females are likely to retain their longitudinal stripes, while the male are more vividly coloured without any longitudinal stripes. 

My rutilans have already settle down and displaying their reddness from head to tail. I've a couple of them who are as red as the others but with quite prominent longitudinal stripes. Not sure if this is an indication that they are females.

I've bought 9 pieces, so hopefully have higher chances of getting both sexes.

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## leeruisheng

The lower piece has a longitudinal stripe. So could be a female.

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## Quixotic

Hmm... I am not sure if that is some kind of sexual dimorphism. Longitudinal stripes may be a sign of stress. My male _B. coccina_ do show such stripes from time to time. *shrug*

I have read that _B. rutilans_ seem to be intolerant of their own type, rather aggressive too. How are the 9 of them co-existing together?
http://iglnl.netfirms.com/Artikelen/...ns_artikel.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=Yxy...dDtp_076XXh5Bw

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## leeruisheng

Haven't seen any confrontation yet. But all of them don't seem to swim close to each other. Everytime when one crosses another's path, it will avoid and swim away in other directions.

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## johannes

hey bro i have rutilans myself...

to tell the differences:

male has longer ventral fins and dorsal, anal fins too, in female these fins are considerable shorter...

hope it helps... :Smile:

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## valice

> I have read that _B. rutilans_ seem to be intolerant of their own type, rather aggressive too. How are the 9 of them co-existing together?



Think as with most territorial species, as more pairs are placed together, the aggressive is very much spread out among them. So should have no issue housing them in a large group together to get them paired up together.

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## ZaZ

I have a pair myself and they are a true pair because of this ...



The female seems to have slightly shorter dorsal fin (one of the easier way in other species as well). At times the body colour is less intense and the belly region is pale (vs uniformly red male).


(the male fish)

Now they are into 4th spawn but unfortunately no fry yet.

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## benny

Wow!! That's such a beautiful fish! The photo does give it justice.

Cheers,

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## leeruisheng

Hi Zaz, very professionally taken photo. :Well done:  Thanks to all for the inputs. I also have those bubble foaming but I dont expect much cause they are housed together with a pair of macrostoma.

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## ZaZ

As for other small fishes, they are best kept in species tank preferably in pairs. If you can ID them.

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## ZaZ

> (the male fish)


Finally got a decent shot of the female. No gross difference compared with the male. Even the fin length is similar.

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## leeruisheng

I was looking at these photos 

http://www.ibc-smp.org/images/rutilans/rutilans15.jpg 
http://www.ibc-smp.org/images/rutilans/rutilans14.jpg  

and it suggest to me like the male is mouthbrooding. There were records mentioning that they mouthbrooders. 
Wonder if they did evolve from mouthbrooding to becoming a bubble nester.

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## eeeeemo

hey ruisheng! care to share a few pics of *YOUR* setup??
i recently grabbed up the remaining 4 @ c328.. a lady got 2 healthier ones before me! but im confident to bring them back to their prime..

this is my first with bubblenesters.. love their body shape..

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## leeruisheng

Just sold off my _B. rutilans_ to raise _B. rubra_ fries. Setup nothing interesting. Just some branches and ADA soil. I've not breed them before and my setup may not be ideal.

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## ZaZ

Finally got fry. this one came from the same female but an older male.



The original photo was extremely dirty do was cleaned up.

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