Gender
Identification
|
Female Betta Splenden |
Male Betta Splenden |
| The female Betta Splenden will exhibit much shorter finnage than the male. Some females will exhibit longer fins than other females, but rarely as long as the male. The female will also exhibit a ovipositor, which is a small white spot on their belly side right behind and between their ventral fins. This is where the eggs are released during spawning. | A male Betta Splenden will exhibit long finnage. Their tails will vary in length depending on the type of tail they have, but they will nearly always be longer than females. Male are usually also larger in body length and overall size. Although in older age, females have been known to get quite large. |
Females also tend to get "fear" stripes more often than males. These are the horizontal stripes that appear along their body when they become stressed. Females also exhibit vertical stripes when they are near males and ready for breeding. At times, a male can exhibit these stripes, but it is far less often than in females. A male will hold his color more so than the females, who often will get stressed and fade their colors into stripes. The stripes are not visible in light bodied bettas such as some Cambodians, opaques and pastels.