Sexing 21 L134 comptas

[Brengun]

Sexing L134 compta
I recently had to sort out two 4ft tanks of compta colonies.
There were too many females in one and too many males in the other and there was a lot of bickering going on.
They are now sorted into 2males/4females in each tank with 3 pairs in 2fts and a small trio in another 2ft tank.

I thought all the photos might be handy for those trying to sex their own L134's or even to buy some.

I did make a discovery. If anything had yellow dotting around the vent area it was always females.
Not all females had it but a number of them did and they are not of the same bloodline so its not a hereditary thing.

Here goes, girls first. If you want the photos bigger, click on the enlarge bar up the top of the pics.

10cm female no yellow on vent

10cm female with slight yellow vent

9.5cm female with yellow vent

10cm female (my favorite) with yellow vent

10cm female with yellow vent

7.5cm female with long fin filament and with yellow vent

8cm female with yellow vent

9cm female with yellow vent

10cm female with yellow vent

8.5cm female? looked a little coarser in hair and no yellow vent. To observe.

8.5cm female no yellow vent

7cm female with slight yellow vent

6.5cm female with yellow vent

So out of 13 females I recorded 10 had a yellow vent.
Males now. First is male of 9cm.

9cm male

8cm male

8.5cm male

9cm male (yeah I know he's a little portly)

8cm male

7cm male

6.5cm male

 

[bigbird]

very interesting, maybe the female only has yellow venting when they have laid their first batch of eggs.......very nice photos though and great input. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Joby]

Fantastic set of pics and just shows its not that easy when viewing from above to tell the difference. Hope the re-arranging helps out with the bickering and they get on to spawning

If I feel brave enough to pick up and inspect my females I'll see if any have the yellow vents :thumbup:

 

[bigbird]

i am sure i would get a smack in the head if i pick up my female that way.....:lol:

 

[Brengun]

Needs a little preplanning for the macro belly shots. I chose the front of a tank at my eye level. There was a vege clip suctioned to the front and on focussing closely about arms length or less I could focus the word fishies embossed on the clip.

With the camera prefocussed to that spot I would put the camera down and carefully pick up the pleco from the small container, allowing it to swim up into my hand so I had a good grip and just the vent and tail sticking out. The pleco would feel reasonably safe like that for the minute it took to hold it up to the spot on the glass, pick up and hold the camera with the other hand and sway back and forth to focus the best spot. Once focus was good I just pressed the camera button.

I had everyones patterns noted and printed out into a waterproof folder from the last time I caught them and had their tanks planned in advance so after the photo each fish was popped into the designated tank and left to settle in. Stress was pretty much at a minimum for them. I think I only swapped two fish around as I liked one for a colony better than one going into a pairing.

 

[Nat's Fish]

Great post thanks! At what size do you think L134 develop characteristics that can help you determine what sex they are & what are the youngest age they can breed from in your experiences?
Thanks

 

[Joby]

I grew a couple on from an lfs that were 1.5" and probably about 4 months old. It was 2.5 years later before I could tell it was a pair. They are just about showing spawning behaviour now 3 years on. Not sure if that the norm though, just my experience on one lot :dk:

 

[Brengun]

At 6cm you may have a hint at their sexes, at 6.5cm you might be pretty sure.
I think they have to be about 8cm and up to breed but there are always exceptions.

 

[Tener ds]

hi bren,is my L134 a diff type then?:dk:
mine is white and black,unlike urs that have lots of yellow..:drool:

 

[Brengun]

You get the odd one much lighter than the others.
My first photo male was fairly light in color when I first got him. As he gets older his color is coming in a bit more. Along his right side he has dropped the striping and instead of scribbles, he's developed spots.

 

[henk68]

L134

Hi Bren

These fish of mine would be four years old adults are 7 to 8cm. Are mine L134? They just seem so different compared to yours. I have added some of your pics in this lot of pics. As you can see they seem quite different. Even size wise the adults from the more compta L134 are a few cm bigger than my adults. I know my fish have been id'd as l134 and I can handle that but their is a difference.

Cheers Henk

 

[Brengun]

An update remember this one I thought might be a female?

8.5cm female? looked a little coarser in hair and no yellow vent. To observe.

Well away from the main colony in a 2ft tank with another male, this female has turned into male with a tail so hairy you could clean a toilet bowl with it.
No wonder I wasn't getting any eggs out of the pair lol. :lol:

Oh btw I should mention, he had his rear right fin almost completely bitten off when I first got him. It is slowing growing back in a sort of a crinkly fashion.

 

[bigbird]

interesting cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Joby]

Oops :whistle:

Just goes to show doesn't it, something to be said for repressing while a dominant male is around

 

[NeoCult]

Great post, thanks helped me a lot with my five

 

[johnbetta397]

cheers thumps UP