First Male Plakat

[Synirr]

Just thought I'd share that on my 1:00 AM trip to Walmart I spotted a plump plakat boy with a nice big bubblenest camped out amongst the ladies having a good time. His cup was nestled in with their's so he had lots of female company. I was tempted out of sheer novelty, but I resisted!! I did write that he was a male on the lid of his cup, as he was in a female cup, and moved him to the male shelf (multiple shelves since Mother's Day is coming and they have more bettas than normal in preparation). They also had a DT female

I may be an old betta woman, but I can still get excited about finding oddities at Walmart. There was also one with a pigmented tumor on his back, woo! He was tangerine and it was iridescent green and stuck out like a sore thumb, haha. Probably benign like a big ol' birthmark or mole, so it's ok to laugh at him.

Can you tell I'm going nuts studying for finals this week?

 

[starrynightxxi]

i've got a nice light finals load this semester, thank goodness.

 

[lisie]

Wow. Never seen anything but VTs at any WalMart or pet store I've ever been to!

 

[mantis147]

I sometimes find male plakats in with the females in our lfs, the owners dont know the difference they have only seen VT's.

 

[sukie]

Just thought I'd share that on my 1:00 AM . . . .

Lady! Wally World @ 1:00am. . .

I think that one pk would have been a shipping mistake. I can just imagine a really dumb employee thinking it's a female - good thing you marked it.

 

[wendywc]

I am one of the dumb people that didn't know the difference. In January, I bought a female betta from Walmart that ended up being a male plakat. You know what they say Synirr, if there are two separate instances that are the same, then more instances will ocur. So for the people who want plakats, they will probably start showing up at their local Walmarts too.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Actually, out of the 4 females I've bought from LFS's, two have been male. My 'betta sense' was tingling, how right it was Interesting finds, the tumor guy sounds cool.

 

[kali426]

one of the fish stores i go to has plenty of plakats.best thing is people dont buy them because theyre not pretty boys,so i always have a wide selection when buying another fish.they are so much easier to care for too.my problem is trying to find a dam channoide.even on aquabid i cant find any snakeheads.not any that will ship to australia anyway!anyone know where else i could buy some online?

 

[WendyinWichita]

I bought a nice Crown Tail male at WM. He is king of the castle in 10 gallons fully planted.

 

[Synirr]

kali426 -- You mean snakehead bettas, channoides? For a second I thought you meant actual snakeheads, I was going "oh yeah, I totally want those too!!" All snakehead species are illegal in the US unfortunately.
I have albimarginata which are quite similar to channoides, they're great fish . Be ready to pay out your arse if you ever do find any.

 

[Rynoah]

Out of curiosity, how does one tell the difference between a plakat and a female betta? Is it just the pectoral fins or gills?

 

[Synirr]

The anal fin is generally more long and pointed in a male plakat, and the male will not have an ovipositor (white spot on the belly just behind the ventral fins). I've been around them so long I can pretty much tell at a glance just by posture, body and face shape. There's actually a great deal of difference in the faces of males and females, but it's hard to describe... the males have longer snouts and just look more masculine on the whole.

Of course, the big bubblenest the one at Walmart had built helped