uprightandlocked

Hello All!

I have some questions about female bettas. I always see them at the store and they seem to languish in those little cups longer than the boys do but I've never brought one home before!

My main concern with female bettas is do they always develop eggs regardless of whether or not a male is present? I've read about them becoming egg-bound and would like to know how common this is?

Are there any other differences in care between males and females?

Thank you!

-Tony

hooxeii

First off: Female bettas are highly enjoyable! My girls have always had as much or more fiesty personality than the boys, and boy are they cute! Their little dorsal fins always seem to twist and bend with their mood.

I suppose they could become eggbound, but I've never had that happen. They do seem to get fat easily, though! My girls have both been piggies!

Overall the care is the same as with the males. You can supposedly have them in groups, but both of my girlies have been super fiesty and probably wouldn't do well with others. Not that I've tried. My current girl, Lily, lives peacefully with a cory, an oto, and a ghost shrimp, but she hates any fish that swim near her level (like the dearly departed tetras.)

socks2009

i have 9 female bettas in a community tank (guppies, neons, cardinal, chain loaches, pleco khuli loaches) 5 youngsters approx6 months, others about 9-10 months. at first i had a single female in the tank and she kept 'eating' my guppies tails. as soon as i added more females the guppies have kept their tails.
they are brilliant fish and work well in my community tank. they do tend to pig out at food time. i have plenty of places for them to hide or get away from each other, but all in all hey are good with each other.
it is fun to watch them size up with each other but it has never LED to any fights. they all have great unique personalities.

whisper

I have heard that the eggs will reabsorb in to the females body. I'm sure MM could tell you more on this subject.

Mystic54

I've never had any problems with my females becoming egg bound. I have 2 female bettas in a divided 5.5 gallon tank. I love my bettas, I've had them for about 1.5 years and they have been wonderful!

Also, from my experience females are just as aggressive as the males. My two would fight to the death if I put them in the same tank and they are sisters.

Gouramiguy17

I have a single female in my 55 gallon and she is the sweetest thing. The only time she shows aggression is during feeding time when fish take food from her mouth. The worst she has ever done is take the occasional notch out of my guppies tail during feeding time

uprightandlocked

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm not currently in the market for more bettas ... but I do make frequent PetSmart trips ;-)

Zenandra

Females are fantastic! Sometimes I think they have even more personality then the males, lol. And they're great because in most cases they can live together! It's rare for one to become eggbound, most of the time they will either reabsorb the eggs or lay them and eat them.

Martinismommy

In all my grils I have only had 2 that became egg bound and they were Mother and Daughter...hummmmmm Females are awesome! They are little balls of fire! My females look like males so it's like having a boy lol...

Another thing you may want to know is females usually drop their eggs even when there is no male around.....They have an all night buffet lol

whisper

WOW MM I didn't know that. Thanks.