# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Female Betta splendens flaring?

## DazzleDiscus

This is the first time I have found a nice female betta whose coloring I like. Anyway, she is in my 30gal planted tank, and I wanted to put the male in one of those hang-on compartments. When I did though, the "female" stared flaring her gills at the poor guy. I took him out because he was skittish. My question is this: Can female bettas (spendens) flare their gills? I thought that was only restricted to the males. When I looked on the US websites... I found nothing on this subject. If I keep the male in the divided tank, will his presence make her aggressive to the guppies I have with her? She is so sweet now that I would hate to have her flare and chase them like the males do...

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## cairocks

I have a similar problem too, got 3 young female betta and I tried to let one of them mate with my male betta. But they seems to turn somewhat aggressive towards each other. So I just place it in 2 seperate small tanks beside each other. They just flare at each other everyday. And on some days, the supposed female betta even built a bubble nest :Shocked: . So I just take it as the seller had mistaken a male betta as a female one. Btw, I had them placed side by side for almost 9 months now and till today, both of them still flare and built bubble nests. But the supposing 'female' fish never look as nice as the confirmed male fish...Maybe it is trans-sexual???? :Exasperated:  :Exasperated:  :Laughing:  :Laughing:

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## DazzleDiscus

Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one seeing this annoying behavior! Do you know of a different way (besides the long/short fin tactic) to tell the difference between male/female? And another thing: If I keep her in that tank, I can't add any species of gourami correct? Say if I added a Pearl Gourami (_Trichogaster leeri_) then they would fight- right? Thanks for commenting cairocks!

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## biweilow

> This is the first time I have found a nice female betta whose coloring I like. Anyway, she is in my 30gal planted tank, and I wanted to put the male in one of those hang-on compartments. When I did though, the "female" stared flaring her gills at the poor guy. I took him out because he was skittish. My question is this: Can female bettas (spendens) flare their gills? I thought that was only restricted to the males. When I looked on the US websites... I found nothing on this subject. If I keep the male in the divided tank, will his presence make her aggressive to the guppies I have with her? She is so sweet now that I would hate to have her flare and chase them like the males do...


Female bettas can and DO actually flare. Bettas display aggression only to members of the same species, so they do reasonably well in the community tank. I should think your guppies will be fine.




> I have a similar problem too, got 3 young female betta and I tried to let one of them mate with my male betta. But they seems to turn somewhat aggressive towards each other. So I just place it in 2 seperate small tanks beside each other. They just flare at each other everyday. And on some days, the supposed female betta even built a bubble nest. So I just take it as the seller had mistaken a male betta as a female one. Btw, I had them placed side by side for almost 9 months now and till today, both of them still flare and built bubble nests. But the supposing 'female' fish never look as nice as the confirmed male fish...Maybe it is trans-sexual????





> Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one seeing this annoying behavior! Do you know of a different way (besides the long/short fin tactic) to tell the difference between male/female? And another thing: If I keep her in that tank, I can't add any species of gourami correct? Say if I added a Pearl Gourami (_Trichogaster leeri_) then they would fight- right? Thanks for commenting cairocks!


Female bettas are semi-aggressive. They do flare at each other and nip occasionally, but it seldom cause any serious damage if the tank is big enough and there are hiding places. 

Some females do build bubblenests. The best way to differenciate the sexes is to look out for the triangular egg sac of the females. This might not be so obvious in darker colour bettas.

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## fish_person51423

of course, they can flare there gills. my female bettas are still getting used to each other, and the bigger one usualy flares when they try and go after the food. it just means that she feels scared or intimidated, its fine, just something the do :Grin: 




> I have a similar problem too, got 3 young female betta and I tried to let one of them mate with my male betta. But they seems to turn somewhat aggressive towards each other. So I just place it in 2 seperate small tanks beside each other. They just flare at each other everyday. And on some days, the supposed female betta even built a bubble nest. So I just take it as the seller had mistaken a male betta as a female one. Btw, I had them placed side by side for almost 9 months now and till today, both of them still flare and built bubble nests. But the supposing 'female' fish never look as nice as the confirmed male fish...Maybe it is trans-sexual????


dont think that they're transexual they're just semi-aggresive and sometimes blow bubbles, the seller didn't make a mistake, you just need to brush up on your betta facts

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## DazzleDiscus

Ah thanks guys! I've actually experimented with them yesterday and this morning. I took the female out and put her in a gallon jar, with the male by himself too. the next morning I fed them and put them both in the big tank. I put the male first and then a few minutes later I let the female back in. So far I havn't found them staying near each other. When one moves to the other side of the tank, the other switches places. The female isn't as aggressive towards him as she was the day before. We'll see how it goes. 




> Some females do build bubblenests. The best way to differenciate the sexes is to look out for the triangular egg sac of the females. This might not be so obvious in darker colour bettas.


egg sac? Are you refering to the small white speck around her anal area? If so- I can see it on the female- the male does not have one.

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## biweilow

check this out.

there is a picture of a betta with egg sac at the bottom.

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## DazzleDiscus

hmm... sorry~ I couldn't see the pictures. There are two white boxes with a red X in them. Technical thing I guess? 
Did a search on betta egg sacs and found this. It's a webpage that talks of bettafish anatomy. Looking at my fish with that info in mind- then yes, my betta is a female. 
Thanks everyone for your help!  :Very Happy:

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