Is My Plakat Betta A Male Or Female?

If you ever want to breed with Plakat Betta fish, you must know if you have a male or female. Plakat Betta fish don’t have the long flowing fins and tails of the long fin male Betta fish to help quickly identify the sex. Here, I have found the easiest ways to tell the difference.

The Male Plakat Betta Fish

You can easily identify a male Plakat Betta when it is a little older as his ventral fins become more prominent.

The male Plakat Betta has a slender, longer-type body with longer fins, which is especially noticeable when looking at their ventral fins (exact location as pectoral fins). Another foolproof way to tell the difference is with the gill flare that shows the skin-like membrane. The males have a large membrane that is exposed when they flare their gills.

When flaring their gills, male Bettas tend to bend and angle their bodies sideways before their “attack.”

The males are responsible for building the bubble nest and are great fathers. From the start of spawning, they collect all the eggs and place them within the bubbles.

Although people assume male Bettas are more aggressive, this is not true, as each fish has its own personality and attitude. My male Betta only becomes aggressive after spawning if he sees the female around; otherwise, he is happy in a community tank.

The Female Plakat Betta Fish

Females are usually a bit smaller and have more oval-shaped bodies. The female Plakat Betta is usually not as vibrantly colored as the male and will have shorter and smaller fins, especially when comparing ventral fins.

It will be difficult to tell them apart if you are a beginner, especially if they are still juveniles. Female Bettas can also flare their gills covers, but this rarely happens. Female Betta fish can be just as aggressive as male Bettas and sometimes even more aggressive.

I can visibly see the egg spot of my females in their juvenile stage, and it is located between the ventral and anal fins on the bottom of the Betta fish.

When a female flairs her gills during spawning, she does it almost submissively by lowering her head, utterly opposite to the male.

My female Plakat Betta can’t be kept with other fish as she chases everything around the tank.

Female Plakat Bettas can also make a bubble nest; some do, but they won’t be as impressive as the male Betta nest.