The "Rutela Situation"

Introduced in my last entry were my female bettas.  One in particular has given me somewhat of a headache - Rutela.  She's been growing at an amazingly fast pace and while she's perfectly healthy she is starting to make me think she is actually a he.  


When I got Rutela, she had vertical stripes and a very prominent ovipositor tube (egg spot) that had me sure she was correctly labeled as a female.  I brought her home and put her in my female tank.  She quickly found her place in the heirarchy as third in command below Ruto, who was second to Lulu.  Over the past month, she's become much more aggressive.  She routinely flares at her tank mates and is easily top fish now.  Her fins have grown to at least three times their initial length in two weeks and her colors have become much more vivid.



As the image above shows, she's grown day by day and changed in color so much in just a month.  I've put her in with Jabu-Jabu as a test to see if she gets her breeding bars and egg spot back.  Both have disappeared over the last month, or at least become very difficult to find.  I really, really hope she remains a she... or I may be looking for a new home for him.

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