Difficult peppermints to sex!

[Nat's Fish]

Hey,

I am thinning out my pepp colony and trying to concentrate more on L's
Some of these have me stumped.
Some are gravid. All have hard noses except on the lips & some look like an egg is halfway out of them.
Please give me your opinions.
Thanks so much

Fish one

Fish two

Fish three

Fish four

 

[PlecoMM]

they all look female to me, do any have bristles going up ontop of their head?

 

[Nat's Fish]

Thanks. That's what I thought! No bristles on the bridge of the nose
They are extras I will probably sell and didn't want to sell anyone the wrong sex

 

[PlecoMM]

ill buy a couple depending on price, pm me if yu want lol easy sale

 

[MIX02u]

Peps can be difficult. All body shapes look female to me too plus not too hairy.
+1 to plecomm - look for bristles up bridge of nose for males

 

[Nat's Fish]

Ok cool. I have a few local people that have been asking me a bit.
I'll see what I end up doing.
I'm usually got a heap of males & can't believe 4 from 4 are females haha

 

[PlecoMM]

no worries let me know
buy lotto, your on a winning streak!!

 

[foti]

Fish 1 looks to be female but I'ts a guess as these fish are young just getting into breeding age all the rest are 100% males
I hope that helps

 

[billyjimbo]

Fish 4 looks like a male to me with its head bristles just starting to grow properly, the rest look like females.

 

[Nat's Fish]

They are over 2 years old, probably around 3

 

[foti]

2-3 yrs old is when they start getting sexually active ie breeding age sub adults
That is what I ment when I said that they are "young just getting into breeding age

Il sell 2 and 3

keep 1 and 4 as a pair try to breed them in about 4months
Good luck peps are nice

 

[Nat's Fish]

Thanks Foti but I tend to agree with the experts here.
The only one I wasn't sure about was 4 but when I pulled her out of the cave today a couple of eggs squeezed out. Not sure if you are trying to buy them cheap but they are definitely all females and I will offer a money back guarantee if/when I sell them
Thanks
Nat

 

[foti]

Lol experts
Buy them ?
I'm sorry that you feel that you need to attack me by saying this but all I tried to do was sex these the way I see it

If you pulling out a fish from a cave that has eggs just proves that it's a male !
No female will have forked bristles

Plus I already have my colony ?
Also I haven't even contacted you!
Who are you ?

Nothing about my Replies has targeted you or any one else nor have I even shown any interest in purchasing these sub adults ! Please feel free to repost the pics and ask some other pepp owners to sex these and In my opinion they will agree with my sexing
But I will not reply in that post

by the look of it you already decided that ur fish are all females and you what to sell them ?

This has to be the first time anyone has felt to attack someone for sexing fish?

Il finish by saying that peps are hard to sex but like all bn once they start getting sexually mature they develop bristles tho only the males will ever have forked bristles and also only the males will develop bristle up the nose

I'm not attacking you.
I'm not trying to buy them
I'm not trying to destroy your sale

this is an Id post NOT a fs post !

Please apologise and retract your comments that you directed to me!

 

[Nat's Fish]

Attack you?? Sorry Foti I'm not sure how you think I attacked you but apologise.
As I was squeezing the fishes tail to get her out of the cave I literally saw 4 eggs come out of her. Have a great weekend and again I am sorry if I have offended you

 

[foti]

Good luck with your sale
Plz pm me maybe you can come past and squeeze some eggs out of my peps

 

[MIX02u]

Il finish by saying that peps are hard to sex but like all bn once they start getting sexually mature they develop bristles tho only the males will ever have forked bristles

I have to disagree with you on this one foti as I have had female peps with forked bristles. The weren't big forks like the males but they were definitely forked.

only the males will develop bristle up the nose

I believe this one is the true sign as I have only ever seen males with bristles up the bridge of the nose

 

[Nat's Fish]

Thank you. I haven't decided whether I will sell them or not yet.
I must've been squeezing the poor thing harder than I thought & let go straight away!

 

[foti]

I have to disagree with you on this one foti as I have had female peps with forked bristles. The weren't big forks like the males but they were definitely forked.



Thank you for clearing that up
I'm sure that you will not have pics of that but I won't disagree with you if you believe it to be true
but there is no way that the female was young ie 5yrs maybe much much older
Would I be right in saying that ?
I had 1 female around her hole lip she has bris but she was very old
But I have to say that I have never have seen a female with forked bris

Thank you

 

[MIX02u]

As my photo records of fish keeping are porr to say the least, you are correct that I do not have any photos - plus I do not keep peps anymore so I cannot take a quick snap now.
I do know that its true as the trio housed at the time had both females with forked bristles laying within 1 week of each other. Age would have been approx 3 years old.

I have only seen this in peps - never seen it with BNs

As I have no interest in keeping peps again, nor do I stand to gain anything if swordfish decides to sell them, I have no agenda other than to share my observations from breeding peppermints.

Cheers

 

[Nat's Fish]

All 4 females sold. Thanks for the PM's & congrats to buyer.
Thanks for everyone's help & I didn't even need to create a for sale post haha