Did I mess up and not buy a female betta!!??!

[Fishatron]

I first got into fish when I bought a male betta about 2 years ago. Shortly after his purchase I bought a female betta... or so I thought. Now I'm putting together a planted 10 gallon for my female "betta" who I love very much! While searching the site I noticed all the pictures of female bettas have a very small dorsal fin, while my female betta has a quite impressive fin that seems to have a higher placement on her back than the pictures I have seen.

Is this a female betta, or did I buy something else in my ignorance 2 years ago? (I actually was the one to tell the pet shop owner which fish was the female betta, and I am far from being an expert.)

When I bought her she was completely white and now has beatiful red tipped fins. I will try to post a picture later if possible. She is also very assertive and when I placed the male and female together once, she was the dominate fish!

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Lotus]

I am thinking that if you put it in with a female, it is another female. Usually a male and female will either fight or breed, and can't be kept together long-term. Females can be kept together, but there is often a pecking order.

 

[Fishatron]

whew, that gives me hope that it is a female betta. I hope she is, with just a strangely large dorsal fin. Is there any other species that looks similiar to a female betta that I could have mixed up? Or rather is a large dorsal fin on a female not usual, but possible

 

[Lotus]

I guess it could be a different species of betta (i.e. not Betta splendens), but I'm no expert. Has it ever built a bubble nest? Only males will do that.

 

[Iggy]

Some females have pretty large dorsal fins. Look under it's tummy, between the from fins. There should be a little white 'dot' (tube), called an ovipositor tube (aka egg dot)

http://www.bettatalk.com/betta_anatomy.htm