L204: Male and Female? Help please..
- Thread starter TiaMaria
- Start date
ok, I think at 5-6cm they are still a little small to sex. I am tending towards 2 males, although the body shape clearly different from one to the other. I would suggest you put both in seperate tanks and see if the second one does not turn out to be a male and show the hairs all over. just my thoughts. What size are they at, the ruler makes it hard to judge. cheers jk :thumbup:
these are very difficult to sex, as the females are also hairy although an alpha male is even more hairy. some people can tell from genitlia but even that is hard in younger fish. they both have nice body hair but I would expect even more splines on the front fins of a mature male, so its probable they are not fully mature yet., any idea how old they are?
look around the 8-9cm size.... males prob havent matured enough to pick them out.... hes a pick below to show you biggest difference between male/female
female is upside down and male in cave... note the hairy bum on the male!
female is upside down and male in cave... note the hairy bum on the male!
Thanks for the replies..
Thanks guys..
They are about 4.5 years..
The one with the solid yellow lines across the body is extremely spiny and and quite a few bristles coming out from the head region, were as the one with dotted yellow across the body doesnt really have any spines along the body, and maybe 1-2 bristles coming out from the head area..
The size is as mentioned above closer to the 9cm mark.
I just spent all last week doing water changes and playing with the temp, i did notice the one with full yellow trying out a few caves - by that i mean: he was totaly in a circular cave with just his head poping out - i have never noticed the one with broken yellow lines in a cave.. 'she' hangs around them, but never in them..
One thing though, they dont seem to be too social with one another. with the broken yellow lines one always chasing the full yellow line one away...
Not sure what the above means - i suppose only time will tell.
thanks for the repsonces..
Thanks guys..
They are about 4.5 years..
The one with the solid yellow lines across the body is extremely spiny and and quite a few bristles coming out from the head region, were as the one with dotted yellow across the body doesnt really have any spines along the body, and maybe 1-2 bristles coming out from the head area..
The size is as mentioned above closer to the 9cm mark.
I just spent all last week doing water changes and playing with the temp, i did notice the one with full yellow trying out a few caves - by that i mean: he was totaly in a circular cave with just his head poping out - i have never noticed the one with broken yellow lines in a cave.. 'she' hangs around them, but never in them..
One thing though, they dont seem to be too social with one another. with the broken yellow lines one always chasing the full yellow line one away...
Not sure what the above means - i suppose only time will tell.
thanks for the repsonces..
well they are old enough to breed. chasing about is a good sign. but he needs to set up territory in a specific cave before she would come and lay her eggs.
what water do you keep them in? is it very soft?what caves have they got? any wooden caves? can you post a pic of the tank?
what water do you keep them in? is it very soft?what caves have they got? any wooden caves? can you post a pic of the tank?
tank setup..
water temp about 30 celcius, soft water - i use a discuss buffer during water changes, plenty of current running a eheim pro3e 2078 and another water pump in a 3ft tank.
here are some pics of the tank setup, unfortunately no wooden cave, i can get my hands on some old hemi bamboo, and make some caves out of that?
anyway, let me know what you think..
water temp about 30 celcius, soft water - i use a discuss buffer during water changes, plenty of current running a eheim pro3e 2078 and another water pump in a 3ft tank.
here are some pics of the tank setup, unfortunately no wooden cave, i can get my hands on some old hemi bamboo, and make some caves out of that?
anyway, let me know what you think..
from last pics hes the man of the two!!!
these guys were originally caught higher up in mountains... and were found in ph as high as 8.2.... so personally i dont think a low ph is needed....
i have had mine trapping in caves for months and months and months and nothing has come from it... so now i just feed them and change the water and dont bother looking to see whats going on... im over it... getting excited and nothing coming from it.... big let down... i'll just get excited if i see fry on the glass one morning....
these guys were originally caught higher up in mountains... and were found in ph as high as 8.2.... so personally i dont think a low ph is needed....
i have had mine trapping in caves for months and months and months and nothing has come from it... so now i just feed them and change the water and dont bother looking to see whats going on... im over it... getting excited and nothing coming from it.... big let down... i'll just get excited if i see fry on the glass one morning....
2 skinny males. Need to feed them more. In high temp they go skinny very quickly.
I have had 2m+1f. My observations were:
- males tend to be brown, female black.
- the hair can come and go depending on the fish conditions.
- female has much longer tail filament.
- female can be hairy but not as even half of a hairy male.
- male can be very aggressive towards each other & do pretty bad damage.
- don't let the pH goes too low.
Here's a very good comparison
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36468
I have had 2m+1f. My observations were:
- males tend to be brown, female black.
- the hair can come and go depending on the fish conditions.
- female has much longer tail filament.
- female can be hairy but not as even half of a hairy male.
- male can be very aggressive towards each other & do pretty bad damage.
- don't let the pH goes too low.
Here's a very good comparison
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36468
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