Help me sex my 397s

A

axle

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Sep 4, 2009
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Perth Australia
Hi all I have 6 397s that are approaching 2yrs old now. Since the pics shown Ive put them in another tank and atleast one of them has become real hairy and dominant. The smallest is 8cm and the big male is around 11cm and fans most days but no eggs yet.
Let me know what you think my sex ratio is.
Soory about the average pics, they were edited out of about 100 worse ones.
HaHa
Cheers for any help
 

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bigbird

bigbird

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Sep 9, 2010
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may I be brutally honest here, you had the fish out of the tank, why could you not take the time to take indivudual shots from above of each fish, which are sharp and clear . Instead of 100 shots in the bucket, at angles, not in focus etc ? I am not willing to even guess at what you have, because basically members would need to ID fiah in each bucket, as they have no idea which fish is which in all of these shots. sorry mate, hope somebody else can help you here or get individual shots. cheers jk :thumbup:
 
A

axle

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Sep 4, 2009
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Perth Australia
No worries feel free to be brutal. At the time of the pics I was not too interested in stressing the fish out too much as they have been in one tank since Ive had them, not to mention my camera being less than average.
It doesnt worry me if some people cant sex each individual in the bucket, Im just interested to see if anyone can see both sexes in there?
 
Brengun

Brengun

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Apr 22, 2009
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Got to be a female or two in that lot. Set up the male in a tank with his log and a driftwood or slate overhang over the log so a female can hide in there.

Also set up another cave up the other end with some wood.

It is likely the female will hang around the male in his cave.
If the male changes caves or you permanently have a bum out of each cave, you have two males.

Looking at the photo I could see probably one and maybe even two females. There could even be more as the photos aren't that great.

Oh a tip while you are matching up the fish. Each fish has an individual face pattern. If you take close up face shots, note the features and write them down. Then once sexed you can tell whos who easily.
 
A

axle

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Sep 4, 2009
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Perth Australia
Thanks guys, I am pretty sure I have atleast one female as she spends most of her time on the side of hairy males cave and has the female body shape.
Brengun thats a good idea with the head patterns, They are almost like fingerprints and Im guessing no two are the same.
I will try a bit of tank rearranging and some w/changes and see what happens.
 
A

axle

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Sep 4, 2009
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Perth Australia
I hope so Johnno, Ive come to the conclusion that I am a complete amatuer when it comes to sexing these. I did a search on here for 397s and really struggle to sex any correctly unless they are a hairy male or a gravid female.
Thanks for the help guys.
Ive now seperated them into 2 different tanks (2 lots of three) to see if another male hairs up and I put the one I think is a female with the alpha male.
Not that my female looks gravid yet.:thumbup:
 
Brengun

Brengun

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Apr 22, 2009
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L397 males do tend to have quite raspy tails to the touch.
Females are less so. Sometimes it helps to feel them, with the grain of hairs and see if theres any quite sharp odontodes on the tail or not.
 
A

axle

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Sep 4, 2009
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Perth Australia
I got some better pics this morning, Im hoping one of these is female?????
these 2 are in with my hairy male.

Fish 1 ( pics 1,2,3,4 )
9.5cm
Fish 2 ( pics 5,6,7,8 )
7.5cm
both fish are the same age.
I still have another 3 to catch and get pics of but they are in another tank and I dont have enough time to catch them today.
Let me know what ya think.
 

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Mooo

Mooo

Member
Aug 11, 2010
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Jervis Bay, NSW, Au
I'm no expert lol, but love to try, OK.
1.Female, it is a bit spiky, but going on the pink bits, they look wide...
2. Male...its not very spiky, but it's only small yet, it's more slender in body shape, It's pink bits aren't as wide as the first one either,
Brenda will be better at it :D
 
Brengun

Brengun

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Strong possibility they are both female. The first fish is much nearer to spawning than the second one which is going to take some weeks to become gravid.
Make sure there is good cover near the males cave, and also a good spot away from there for the less gravid one to hide.
 
A

axle

Member
Sep 4, 2009
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Perth Australia
Just thought Id update on what has happened since my last post here.
My male is doing his usual sleeping in his cave with the occasional fanning, but with the other 2 fish in the tank, Im very confident that they are both female!!! The larger of the two is now so gravid and fat that she has doubled in size! Im also thinking she has ventured into his cave before as her tail is looking a bit tatty but other than that she looks fine. While the smaller one looks to be female but caves up the other end of the tank.
Now I just need the male to let the fatty in.
 
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