I've had a male betta for a couple of years now in my community tank. He was always very placid, I've never seen him flare or bubble or anything, he just kinda mooches around 
.
As most of the books I've read say that female bettas make good community fish, I always kept one eye out for them and I picked up two from a local store a few weeks back. They were juveniles but the man assured me they were definitely females and that they wouldn't be in a mixed tank if they weren't.
However, one of them has grown very fast - twice the size of the other one now - and as its fins have grown they've got quite long underneath. It's quite a colourful fish for a female, pale pink with blue and red fins. I have been wondering whether it's actually a male.
Obviously I monitored them when I first put them with my original fish but he seemed completely disinterested in them both. However yesterday morning I got up to find his fins were badly shredded. He was acting aggressively to the pink fish whenever he came across it (the pink fish isn't fully grown yet and was hiding from him). Because of the damage I've taken him out and he's currently watching me type from a plastic container on my desk that I'm using as an emergency tank.
Now of course it could be that one of the other tankmates has been attacking him, but they never have before. I keep mollies, some cardinal tetras and pencil fish, a couple of corydoras, a ram and golden loach in there - nothing pugnacious.
What I'm wondering is, does this prove I was sold a male fish, or have I got an aggressive female? How can In definitively sex the pink fish? Also, will the boy's fins grow back? He doesn't seem to be in any distress and is behaving as normal, but he looks an absolute state.
. As most of the books I've read say that female bettas make good community fish, I always kept one eye out for them and I picked up two from a local store a few weeks back. They were juveniles but the man assured me they were definitely females and that they wouldn't be in a mixed tank if they weren't.
However, one of them has grown very fast - twice the size of the other one now - and as its fins have grown they've got quite long underneath. It's quite a colourful fish for a female, pale pink with blue and red fins. I have been wondering whether it's actually a male.
Obviously I monitored them when I first put them with my original fish but he seemed completely disinterested in them both. However yesterday morning I got up to find his fins were badly shredded. He was acting aggressively to the pink fish whenever he came across it (the pink fish isn't fully grown yet and was hiding from him). Because of the damage I've taken him out and he's currently watching me type from a plastic container on my desk that I'm using as an emergency tank.
Now of course it could be that one of the other tankmates has been attacking him, but they never have before. I keep mollies, some cardinal tetras and pencil fish, a couple of corydoras, a ram and golden loach in there - nothing pugnacious.
What I'm wondering is, does this prove I was sold a male fish, or have I got an aggressive female? How can In definitively sex the pink fish? Also, will the boy's fins grow back? He doesn't seem to be in any distress and is behaving as normal, but he looks an absolute state.
