# What Sex are your fish



## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Now I know that you can get sexed pairs of anything you want somehow or another, but on the normal. If I were to go to an LFS and get some fish, or order them online. Usually I dont see a specification on what sex they are.

The only reason I ask is, I bought some guppies that were for my turtles at the time, which I no longer have, but none the less, the guppies are reproducing like madd. They had babies on christmas, and then babies a few nights ago. 

Ontop of this question, I have a follow-up. If say i did want to bread a certain fish in my tank, is there a chance that she would cross bread if introduced into the tank? If so how do you conquer this? Put them in a separate tank I assume is the answer here?

Lastly for now, What about Betta fish. You know "fighting fish" I've read on here that you can have them in a tank, if big enough, and if you only have one? Or is there some guideline i can be pointed to? I want something that's a great blue, or vivid red.

Oh yes, just so you know. I'm planning to have:
- Zibra Dano's 
- Endlers 
- Fancy Guppies (maybe)
- Betta (I hope)
- Future inverts as well

My tank is a 55gal, and will be a NPT.


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## blyxa (Jan 1, 2007)

*Multiple Bettas*

I have multiple bettas in tanks but have only seen two males together in a huge tank (90 gal I believe). I have a male and 2 females in a tank and they do just fine. However, you have to introduce the females to each other first. Some females hit it off with no problems, others constantly fight each other and sometimes one is a bully. The females need to work out their order first and then have the male added. If he is introduced first then the females, generally mine developed a high preference to one female and viciously attack the other. Mine were kept in a 10 gallon with no problems so a 55 will be fine.

Good Luck!


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## blyxa (Jan 1, 2007)

Okay one more thing! If you go to your LFS and pick a betta, pick a smaller male. They are younger, spunkier and generally are in better health. I picked a huge male betta once and he was a very boring fish. He wouldn't even flirt with the ladies.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Which breed of betta has the vivid colors? I've only seen one and it was very very red. Now I understand it's mature but which kind is it. 

Also, for example if I have tetras, danios, and fancy guppies. Will they cross breed? Or normally do you get shipped all males?

And how do i make sure i'm getting a female betta? My LFS's suck, so it's almost looking like aquabid for me. It'll just work out better.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

You don't want to mix the Endlers and Guppies for sure, because they will cross breed and make "mutts" in the fish world. I guess that's okay if you never ever plan to sell them, but they are trying to keep the Endler strains pure, so you don't want to mix them up and get them out in the market.

I don't know what you mean about "cross" breeding with the other fish you're talking about. It's only considered cross breeding if two different sub-species breed with one another (like different Cichlids of the same sub-species or different color strains and body types of Guppies or Bettas), but not two of the same type of fish.

I also do not recommend keeping more than one of the usual store bought male Bettas (Betta splendons) in the same tank. Even though a few have had success with it in large tanks, it usually leads to one of them either being harassed to death, or having ripped fins that have a chance of becoming fungused and causing other problems in your tank. You can keep several females though.
There are also a few species of Betta, like the imbellis that are peaceful enough to keep together in either sex, but they aren't that easy to come by, and some are mislabeled, so you may still get fighting fish.

On a last note, Bettas and Guppies usually aren't recommended in the same tank because the Guppies are usually harassed by the Bettas, since they are so colorful and the Betta sees them as competition.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Jan thank you for your help as well. When i say "cross breading" i mean like endlers and guppies. I'm all set with having "mutts" of the fish world to be honest. Endlers are real nice and i dont want to try having some "oddball" fish be born as a result of something that could have been avoided.

But the thing is my LFS suck real bad. Like they have the usual few types of fish, but they know next to nothing, the tanks can have lights that go out for a few days/weeks and they dont replace them. So i'll be looking to Aquabid, and a few places online i've looked at. But do most places ship male and female fish? Or do they ship primarly just one sex? I Have seen places that label the fish "male only" but not everywhere.

I dont mind if I can only have 1 Betta, I'll just make sure that it's the most vivid i can find. I want him to stand out and people to say... "WAIT A BETTA, you cant do that". So bright colors on him (or the hers as well are a must) If i did find bettas that suit my needs, and i did want them to breed, i could always get the 2 females first, and put them with the one male... Is it recommended to do 1 male and 1 female? 

Is there any other types of fish that keeping them together could result in mutts? So far i have endlers (unless i can get all males of each kind)


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## blyxa (Jan 1, 2007)

If you plan to breed bettas, put only 1 female in because the male will breed with one and defend the nest from the other (that could get messy). My LFS and Petco sell wonderfully colored bettas. I have had blues, reds, a few whites, and a teal! There are great fish and can sometimes live for several years!


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## blyxa (Jan 1, 2007)

*Guppies*

I know for a fact that if you put a male guppy in a tank with female fish, he will try and breed, anytime and anywhere. I am not sure about Endlers. Guppies have live babies so some may get eaten by the other fish but no matter you will have more babies in the blink of an eye!:mrgreen:


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## riverspryte (Sep 16, 2006)

*Careful*

Be careful if you put 2 bettas (male & female) together. Even in a planted tank with lots of foliage to hide in, you should keep a careful watch. The males can get very excited when they see a female, and they will harass them. Males will often bite the female in an attempt to herd them towards their bubblenest. The injuies sustained by the female can lead to weakened immune systems that can leave them exposed to disease, and sometimes the males can inadvertently kill the female (although once, my friend's female killed her male).

:mrgreen:​


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Hey question. The common feeder guppie (and all others i assume) do they lay eggs? I'm just trying to think of all of this, because my feeder guppies are breading like crazy, and i'm not doing anyting special. 

The thing is, i'm looking at a small school of Dwarf Puffers for my tank, probably 3 or 4, sense they are small and with dence folliage they should be ok. 

And maybe just 1 betta for now, something with crazy colorings.


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## riverspryte (Sep 16, 2006)

*Guppies*

All guppies are livebearers. A betta would probably eat some of the babies, I'm not sure if the Dwarf Puffers would.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

I'm thinking the puffers would. BUT, at the rate these guppies are producing it may be a good thing. I've had 3 batches of guppie babies sense christmas. Talk about pumpin them out huh? Anyone need feeder guppies?!?! haha.

Is there a site or somewhere i can find out whats egg bering? and whats livebearers.


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## riverspryte (Sep 16, 2006)

*Fish sites*

Try posting a question in the fish part of this forum. The only livebearers that I have heard about are mollys, platies, and guppies, but I'm sure there are others. Bettas lay eggs.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Riverspryte just mentioned a good share of the livebearers, and there are also Endlers, Swordtails, Mosquitoe fish, and the following are from a book, so I know nothing about them, and they are not very common - Alfaro cultratus, Giradinus metallicus (metalic livebearer), Priapella intermedia, Ameca splendons, Xenotoca eiseni, Malayan or Wrestling half-beak, Nomorhamphus liemi, Characodon lateralis, Ilyodon furcidens, Phalloceros caudimaculatus, Phallichthys amates, Lima nigrofasciata, Belonesox beilizanus and Hemirhamphodon pogonognathus. 

At any rate, about 99%+ of the fish we commonly see out there are egg bearers.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Thanks for the list JanS! So how does everyone deal with having different types of fish in the aquarium? It just seems to me that if i put say Cardnal tetras and fancy guppies together, i dont want to have a F^ed up Fancy Tetra with a Cardnal head you know? 

But i did notice at my local PetSmart they sell "Males" and "Females" seperatley. So this could maybe help... Then again i run into the problem with, if i get say 10 Zibra Dannos, and 5 Fancy guppies, and persay i got male and female dannos in hope the bread, I dont want them all to be male, but getting the female i run the risk of having the guppies touching my dannos haha.


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## 247Plants (Mar 23, 2006)

Fish will only breed within their species..

i.e. Fancy guppys with endlers and so forth, you wont catch your cardinals trying to get some guppy love


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

haha, so how do i determine which fish are at risk with breading with other like fish? Endlers may be in my future, but i dont want a fancy endler haha. Any guides to this or just a rule of thumb?


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Here let me see if i can answer my own question.

Fancy guppies are: Poecilia reticulata
Endlers are: Poecelia endlers

Sense both are species Poecelia then thats why they will mixbread. BUT 
Cardinal Tetras are: Paracheirodon axelrodi

Since the Tetras are Paracheirodon they wont mix. Am i correct here?


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## riverspryte (Sep 16, 2006)

You are correct, except that _Poecelia_ is the genus. Yay biology class!!! I am taking it right now.

The only reason that Fancy guppies and Endlers breed is because they are slight mutations of the same breed of fish, even though they are considered different species.

Be careful if you end up trusting Petsmart's "male" and "female" labels because guppies have been known to change sex.


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## moonstream (Oct 22, 2007)

there seems to be some confusion about bettas. every betta expert (not saying Im an expert here) will agree on at least one rule. ONLY KEEP MALE AND FEMALE BETTAS TOGETHER IF YOU WANT TO BREED! bettas are not fish that crave the company of there own kind. males will sometimes kill females during breeding, or vise versa. if you want multiple bettas then keeping a group of AT LEAST 4 females can be done, less then 4 females will work in rare cases, but is best avioded. 

male bettas can be kept in a community tank w/ some rules. first no fin nipping or aggressive fish. they will harrass and may eventually kill bettas (this leaves out dwarf puffers, they are known nippers) also, fast swimming fish or fish that look like bettas will also be a bad chioce (IMO that means danios, fish w/ vivid colors of blue or red, and gouramis are NOT to be found in the betta tank), and last remember that bettas can kill others at any time. many betta keepers have come home to find their beloved male betta has killed the other fish he has lived for for months or years. 

in a 55g I would keep 1 male betta, 15 harlequen rasboras (have had great luck keeping these w/ bettas), 5-7 cories, and ottos (srimp may or may not be regarded as food, larger snails like apple snails tend to be attacked). if you want dwarf puffers (keep in mind that a "school" of dwarf puffers dosent exist, they will attack each other if they see each other) then you could keep up to 10 (most people recommend no more then 1 dwarf puffer per 5 gallons), as well as maybe 6 zebra danios to distact the puffers from one another.

srry if this sounds like I am attacking anyone, and keep in mind that for more betta info you could always go to ultimate bettas forum, great place (tho IMO, this is far better for planted tank needs lol).


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

247Plants said:


> Fish will only breed within their species..


Not necessarily true  This is how we get endler/guppy mutts, Flowerhorns, "blood" parrots, certain sunfish hybrids, etc.


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## pawslover (Feb 22, 2006)

Jessie said:


> Not necessarily true  This is how we get endler/guppy mutts, Flowerhorns, "blood" parrots, certain sunfish hybrids, etc.


True, but fish generally seem to only cross breed within their own genus (not species), not across other fish families so danios wouldn't crossbreed with tetras nor guppies with cichlids.


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## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

I agree, Pawslover...Family being the key term.

For instance, Flowerhorns are noted to be a hodge podge between Festaes (_Chichlasoma_ genus), the Trimac (_Amhilophous_ genus), the Queztal (_Vieja_ genus), among others. Parrots, with _Heros_ and _Amphilophus_ blood, etc.

Danios and angelfish would never happen, but interbreeding IN their families does happen, but is definitely more exclusive to genus. Seems to be more prevalent with Cichlids and livebearers.

I could also be completely and utterly wrong thanks to Benedryl.


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Bingo! Everybody is correct.

One of the definitions of a species is no crossbreeding but this is not universal, sometimes they do. It has not been documented that dramatically different creatures can produce viable young but the Taxonomists are always reordering things.

It is also well documented that at times various species (not just fish) will, ostensibly change sex. This has driven farmers and fish keepers crazy for a long time. Just imagine trying to tell someone that one of your critters just changed sex. Just like telling some one about the little green men.

And then there is the possibility of spontaneous parthenogenisis.

And too in this day and age we have the fact of genetic monkeying around (gene splicing etc.) The bright colored Danios were supposedly created for a different purpose but they are now being sold for a lot more than the common Zebra in the LFSs.

And too some creatures seem to be able to store sperm for extended periods.

My goodness what an interesting world we live in. Wouldn’t it be great to understand even just a little of it?


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Remember that 'Species', 'Genus' and 'Family' are human artefacts that we use to classify the world around us. They don't always neatly apply to the 'real' world - in fact they rarely seem to!

I was looking at a cichlid yesterday called _Etroplus maculatus_, the Orange Chromide. It was originally described as _Chaetodon maculatus_, a genus today restricted to marine butterflyfish. As Cliff says we are always changing things based on our ideas...


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