sex of peppermints

[grousetwo]

Hi everyone. i purchased 'two pair' of peppermints. When they arrived they all had forked bristles on their nose / lips. I thought that females didnt have forked bristles? The seller assured me they were two pair and that females do indeed have forked bristles. In the last three months the supposed females have developed bristles up their noses. Can someone please help sex these fish. they are a little harder to sex than commons and im not sure about this advice im getting from the seller.
Thanks.

Brad

 

[Nat's Fish]

Hi Brad, I have had females with a forked bristle but they didn't have as many bristles as your ones appear to. How big are they?

 

[grousetwo]

Thanks nat. The two big ones are probably around 13cm and smaller ones around 10cm. The biggest obvious male is waiting outside a cave he has claimed and the rest hide deep in their hiding spots. Ive got quite a few commons and the females all have a small single row of bristles but all these peps have forked bristles up their noses. Its bit hard to see in the pics.

 

[Nat's Fish]

It doesn't look good. I just had a look at your photos on the bigger screen and there are way too many bristles for females.
Females tend to have two obvious bristles like prongs at the front and I have seen these with 1 fork but not like that. I'm not saying they are 100% male but based on those photos I would be worried

 

[grousetwo]

Looks like I'm in the market for some females or an actual pair. Thanks again for your help Nat.

 

[Nat's Fish]

No worries mate. It's tough. Best to buy a stack of fry from different bloodlines and grow them up in my opinion

 

[Dempsey_au]

Id be concerned too.
But tbh, Ive a female right now that you would be sure is male.
I can guarantee shes not tho, I get clutches of eggs from them all.
1 thing I've noticed with the pepps I keep now, and the pepps I used to keep years ago,
Females act different to males. they'll hide behind things and be out of sight, if you disturb the water etc. They wont take up and stay in caves, like the male will when you do that.
So: as a test: put in 4 caves.
Leave them alone for a couple weeks.
nothing but food and water change.
Keep an eye on what they're doing while you do that only.
Other than that leave them to settle in.

Let me know if they all run for their caves in 2 weeks.

 

[Monarodan]

Ha mate my females look a lot like yours and my males have horns runing up the middle on there face try and get some one on one pics good luck

 

[Maxpleco]

Well , I do not think a cave test is really a good way of sexing Peppermints , Female peeps will go for a cave if available and if no male claims the cave and not necessary will hide,
My peeps tend to leap towards Food even when my hand is still in water,
one of my female never leaves the spare cave ( but gives me big clutches of eggs )
I do agree with what Nat said and would also consider separating the more suspected males to avoid any fights .

 

[Dempsey_au]

just letting him know another step, ontop of other steps.
Obviously not the "definitive peppermint sex technique lawl.
But in all my years of keeping them, Ive never personally seen a female take up and stay in a cave.

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

just on looks alone i'd be thinking 4 males....

to sex them rub the TOP of their nose and if its soft and squishy its a male...
if its hard and firm its a female....

100% fail safe....

my beef is people these days are breeding the females that have hairy lips to the extreme....

many years ago i began flicking out these females... and now im finding the female fry i have grown up have no hair -> makes this whole sexing peppermints a truck load easier....

unfortunately there are dodgy people out there that will sell you 2 males and tell you they are a pair... even heard of people trimming bristles off one male prior to buyer arriving... so whether you got 4 males deliberately or your seller lacks the ability to properly sex them i guess your not likely to get fry now

 

[Nat's Fish]

Johnno I totally forgot about the squishy nose test but that is 100% right.
It's been a couple of years since I've had Pepps but I miss them a bit!