peckoltia sexing please

scatz

Retired Staff
Apr 8, 2009
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arghh, why are peckoltia so hard to sex?????
i've stared at these for ages, hard to say one way or the other, the only thing i can see is that the one on top has a much thicker leading ray on the pectoral fins, so maybe that one is male and the other a female?
 

bre

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Apr 21, 2009
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Newcastle, Australia
arghh, why are peckoltia so hard to sex?????
i've stared at these for ages, hard to say one way or the other, the only thing i can see is that the one on top has a much thicker leading ray on the pectoral fins, so maybe that one is male and the other a female?
lol thanks Brian, they are buggers to sex
 

Irene0100

UK Support Team
May 14, 2009
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I agree the first looks more like a male, but the second could be a young male too. neither have the full hairy body of adult male.
 

Khaifish

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Feb 19, 2010
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That's a Peckoltia vittata, L015. Judging by the pics atm, they are definitely female. Males get hairs on the tail like most other peckoltia. Look up L015 at PC, it has a pic of both a male and female. You can see clearly the male is very hairy.
 

Rabbit

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Apr 21, 2009
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That's a Peckoltia vittata, L015. Judging by the pics atm, they are definitely female. Males get hairs on the tail like most other peckoltia. Look up L015 at PC, it has a pic of both a male and female. You can see clearly the male is very hairy.
Correct this is the general basis for sexing peckoltia, but it is possible for
sub-dominant and not yet mature males to hide odontode growth.
:yes:
 

bre

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Apr 21, 2009
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I don't actually think they are hairy....which is really quite contradictory to last year when I tried to have them sexed as they were sexed as most likely 2 males.
Ok well just checked the sexing post from last year and well I'm still confused :wb:


Thanks Rabbit
 

FF MkII

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Apr 28, 2009
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That's a Peckoltia vittata, L015. Judging by the pics atm, they are definitely female. Males get hairs on the tail like most other peckoltia. Look up L015 at PC, it has a pic of both a male and female. You can see clearly the male is very hairy.
Not always. as Rabbit has said.
 

Khaifish

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Feb 19, 2010
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Sydney, Australia
Correct this is the general basis for sexing peckoltia, but it is possible for
sub-dominant and not yet mature males to hide odontode growth.
:yes:
Correct. But judging from the pic, the fish in question are over 10cm which IMO is bigger than enough to sex it. Males get odontodal growth at about 8cm, on Planetcatfish there's an article where a guy bred them at about 8.5cm, in which the male was showing clear hairs on his tail.

If they are both males, then 1 would at least show a lot more hairs than the other, making him look more dominant.

If they are 1 male 1 female, still the male would be very hairy to attract the female....

Which makes me think that they are both female because both do not have any odontodal growth at all, even at their large size.
 

dconnors

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Aug 9, 2009
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I have heard somewhere that some peckoltia species odontodal growth is seasonal (i.e. they get hairy when it is breeding season). I don't know for sure, just thought I would throw it out there as a possibility.:dk:
 

Rabbit

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Apr 21, 2009
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Auckland, NZ
I have heard somewhere that some peckoltia species odontodal growth is seasonal (i.e. they get hairy when it is breeding season). I don't know for sure, just thought I would throw it out there as a possibility.:dk:
:yes: iv read the same,
If the conditions in the aquarium where never correct for breeding there will never have been a reason to show any sign of odontode, if the tank was too
large for the 2 fish to regularly dispute over food or territory then there is no means for dominance, if the fish where fed there full too often (just like a snake) there size will not represent age, and age counts over size in the maturity of a plec.
HTH
 

MiB1986

Member
Jan 31, 2010
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i have a male confirmed, he has been hairy for about 6-8 months now... he is very hairy see picture below...



does that help, male or female your question lol
 
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