Sexing L134

[Joel]

Hi All,

I have three adult L134 Plecos.

None have bred at this stage.

I was wondering if any of you could offer your advice on the sexes for me. I have my own opinion of what they are but would like other opinions also.

Fish 1

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/OapEMRspJ6iyFrzg38OAr13Q6bV8mrlv3_RFZbLR9GsIcIbdTLtpWg80xQjy7HCcy8ngyLfoEx_7i_le3Mgh8beDHRAwSHxnYurhZ4AdtYro9C-0pIpxpTfCIN2HcZeiyK5sC5rCkrBJldc1GMkCQoSwhTqqiP2x77rBRwVjxTyW6sagOAJdIgX_OUlJmUaBJt7UEugLoVEFZpKhlfrXS73YWIJtJeWe86WNtEqAitgUBCrYwrJDEYxcxwiOpbwzhHm2gBRvDTOYV_x-5076WrP0p_nyiVNBR6cw3T4_mT9YqRrqJDpH0Co9Za73YWXQnOpSsFzt8LHD_PbUEnhqQqbzxqnYvf2hIhDGwtyLBS9QMWynGWJSS51MhdgsjtuadPJkLERw1mVYCH1qxIYihU8w5wchMQh6mefu7jB6ee95fAChZFzCILc08FPKIWLRFfTEGh0hagWZkYBFlDJRtfk2QvfxJ-vpRCfSwwtlyxp-Pvin3MCd_hmDAfCvLoFVE8ppqxLhhVFATYXwz0HU2a1payS_nP21-kf8gsILQr2u4fyeq5s2D6Z56Zg9253ZLQOb=w534-h949-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6q-TpFgHX1deXDYn6gTZq-aHY1Z9VmKXVp353EogzfRZW7hSHv5wHQwM_QPjRdGX6XyGINQ2MurRtlk-biLlRDaQdJP3xkTFUGNY61BHpNU1_4TtgRibs4i8bTO-XeRMZbutd0U6UVHhtWjFY1ekf0Gd2mNBx5VFtfh62OtBreLq4W1gPdsZKydzGsfL7BJMTRw4J6JqP1iZGi1lwwP5xqm7gB-MuZhRHnzpdxRLc4QfPvmBper9Dv_SeTbiuUUH4RXL58laWK3Hyh7bxxkYaoQ-C8CYlqCQ3Tq2b85J9m60gPduuTIFb4fSEqpp9TQmOZav8eKMc_MSOGGrecdL_IZwPdkTFzPNjwZ7Ywl_rpfLzUJf8MPea_EroLFFF5_RooGEFUZcpxJZfbRYKBkLW0bEsFcE1-BxM4JOXvUWQHa1qRZv8lF24SNoY3_Ar0o02d1KlXCFI7kAEy3OxbaKtsvc4fAPgpqc6jRy4Trb6sALbYYPW7vS8X9qdKXC3nqB1SmDeH-Ff5sdnQCPPBa_UQ8j78sXZLcSbPizitkAoVg26oqU6WkfeVhJuXK8xj5oJQlU=w1680-h930-no

Fish 2

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BZK2VcolpIzVTK60uYZSeahe-B3hO3LThJ9OZtf8CDFJN4imyOQxH0yaldOakIQOnSPEpbX6dhYBr_Dd6AK43buvZffvRahm6HnuHxzKcqE1sxSD_XLvgBYd8w7DpdB8r0wfE_oVkypZVKEwpI3A9k_3m7Yl9QYbu6X05pFFzWoaDVzpuLo2S3JlxZx95EKSgZZDq-VPRg13IWYO3WIcdM4d5sSnHHkWFmzJv-A4vh36FLhk_Oysl7y78dtnYYYksj3e-5b6iXd8ZEHy9bO9nHcHc0KohWmxIO2Yrt9Pr2omHZmswenoz8KGuKbZia6E7vEDpSMbAagcCS5CySTczEJpI0O0xjGL85q4ZUg9_-ijZPnpbc9JlrQFEvoX16jt2M4ETjZWSYCp9i7Ft8kqUvgkqnGBvTpM_uezY0U5wGUk0LB-p-tIRd9-6BnnC8jt7QWKNsWTmCQxcLrq04vorAk39sIunSA47KfzU7l1D7-ey5tEz48YX7Ox4jSN5C1bOfNanbYOyhNjXNzj9X-GwYEy8UcDXGUZEyfyMLmgJf3V69sXnVbXS97Cjs0uH1s893Fy=w534-h949-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tArwgEmOaKjzL-4DGowCDnWGpsECmsMbhJKa9066XkHwrl9oE9hsN0wnCKOTbcNCX0UVtWOuH02xmm_IynqYZd0RqktpCOD1i13arkgXRJ4TA0-u7unHU1lUck4MZ93LNKikP55UhUuoydCvkSGEHeZpPWXf3s0yWd8i57lwdZGxKNO81PYwF1BZgD-e_8Fjr-V8AqHEyn9Xqno6LI-NaynUwefUuw_UHZXnfEKQf-qELfstNy_I523H1IursFod6qihbmHPzcwYe-pUYQ0pOIf1EvKKl5JJxBdNY6qiphUnL_aEuFY8HHIyd8hKpYYdMrBwMOonXtNGHb7pZHtd7M_3IqkZ-ljL5RMKhBaWPEumBV6jhLyUz-NwhmOeCPDed3ovrWcGlfBzJE4pujIQD7OhPeqvdOiSJ0jBn8ZhL_jItnHsh7UfsTTUexEoJOg3thYTYu_P5f6x0Z-HyUUtB6ksZ6X3C-UUVKzsT4Wxu_Uqp8Lmb-hSG3azEZgdFBZwG_OpEmbiYdBKYZGc3_MFDwUO3pncaEyf-dCxbVb0mZ70v0Nb3wZRqmOATTKEkzbqlEGj=w1335-h949-no

Fish 3

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8rhld9GRCksEq74fHnRGXfvjIS9G8eAgmozRajCBodTtpo6bRFtivxUpGXy1ndyxKhBE8f1Glx4kqsjmvyDrcqm1b0jxeoWbQBbw9EYgjT5Aub9Ka5E68GbiWtBVMiFvC9cnGF805DOx63Ekv-m1KGr26551X1m0mXcdMgqPYj2_OrXNZgwE5NBKL-sguY8__VZuSJe_9KD-TKRnSdmLlZBr8ywDnCxlnfz84zfkTAzHsdJj4bZHypSOaeqjLbPAkpvx98jaxByPyt4nLZs6ZjTScilYng2NHPX4qT4Tj2ahSouRYZdMEpByoY0spEITU-3zBtjIs2I1v1GZXPnv7VTyGbfyqwkvHDxvBJmkMxUWMPesiTtn4hDmUVh8cBZwnaUp6_9bE4IKxLdMpzQLtF--sqGr3NzCrUIKYdAiY2bxChjKPUCaGRdcvIc-Pd3WRl-2HHiqaCRFPN1bxDWfxn3Y151MLoSivsHLBpH6OKUN3yEhoBlcVhY46mb4vCU0dh5Jo4nvvv2iE61OsdTlHq3TaDvA62XOgh-YNAR_ccG2_r3bwqMNLu5h3G6rZ9y0i8y5=w534-h949-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/CnXRqhzKIPOsp4vFIRjDgMuLCWUV1Z14-T53BDLh_hASdM-Gr7fvImYQOIxlIx7QTJr-iEO8vkzk4OtzTRVFEBVw6O-DjKEZvLjVQ4kUuskA8Mdt8HiT8CLm7Tg7d86L5EofJPJ1YDGupetd_CC_KzQ7cg7_6R_Bqe3jwrjywfUnpQC4NV-fEHPEsYHRkg0Rcb81EPXMZZNtk91jxYnCoyk3ll8QxJTEIufPCUyFJn5LKp_d4RZS_ip8foLDS-naJmlLiwcLfNlC9VHmyiQhzDQzoMNj1sl646D0bBDmQXdnneMkc5EJBYwOXxQVHN8oWaZzCTrBgofPCFnU3CSNDN4AIRpEf2GkJ-s5El5BuRKHZJ8Xo92KU4qO3b4Nba09NkxyCav1V13vGMwLVfTCL-8p0Koj8tUmlpS5z0oK2a84p4wca6LyjSsuIuK2ggeYxBWFZyxU5hyu11FYfXaU1jt7Sh3YQznPYpTnRXI8vay-Iw4BadesEiYaiYv-6wfj6fe0iOPLUpGtzvYNECIJGSExRnlX3pNZOy9bPtseQSAg5mUszPFvlvISKwA_PXaehecU=w1201-h949-no


Many thanks!

Sorry for the crappy phone pics...

Joel

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

this is the easiest sexing of 134's i have come across.... great pictures by the way....

fish 1 - male
fish 2 - female
fish 3 - female

100% certain on it

from experience 134's just like a change in water parameters... sometimes it can be as simple as a ph drop (do it slowly) or a ph rise (do it slowly)....
or a temp change of 2-3 degrees or more up or down (do it slowly)
or simply put em in a bucket and take them for a drive for an hour or so then put them back into a different tank..... sounds silly i know but it seems to work...

 

[Joel]

Many thanks Johnno!

That was what I thought also.

The reason for asking is that they were sold to me as 2m:1f. When I bought them I think I was just looking out for at least one female and just assumed that the other two were male. I remember looking for body shape - perhaps one wasn't conditioned to look fatter?

I got them over 6 months ago and have made an effort not to disturb them as much as possible. Because I thought that they were originally 2m:1f my tank is setup with 2 caves and a whole lot of driftwood nearby.

The other night I noticed one out so I had a closer look and it was quite obviously male with alot of hairs near the tail. There were two others in their regular caves already so I thought they were also males...

I pulled them out thinking that I may have had 3 males...

The 2 females have been caving since day one in my tank and the male has been hanging nearby amongst the driftwood.

I think i'll add a third cave to see if the male will take to it. If not i'll see if I can find another male for a bit of healthy competition in a few months.

Cheers again!

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

extra cave will help.... do the 2 females caving -> face out of the cave or just shallow caving ???? males normally cave really deep....

sometimes adding a new adult male with an existing adult male may cause too much agro and possibly a beating and or death....

i'd persevere with what you have and just condition them up with plenty of food then do some bigger water changes and change temp/ph.....

 

[Joel]

Thanks Johnno,

The females generally sit face in inside the cave with their tale ends just outside the opening.

Will hold off on adding another male - hopefully he will take to an extra cave.

I have been feeding them hikari carnivore pellets a few times a week and a shrimp pellet (not sure of brand) and zucchini the rest of the week. If I were to try and condition them, would this be a good diet or should I bump up the protein? ie. more hikari and bloodworms etc? just a bit worried about overfeeding them with high protein as if I'm not mistaken, can lead to bloat.

Just wondering if you find dither fish useful? I have read mixed responses about them. Do you or have you ever used them?

I've got some guppies and corydoras in with them at the moment.

Cheers

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

have tried dither fish before but found doesnt make a lot of difference IMO...

but i usually have royal whiptails and ninja shrimp in with all the catties.... none of them interfere with cave spawning so its all good...

another thing with bloat - found its more of a water quality issue...
if your feeding a mixed diet i see no problem with foods that contain higher protein... i once had a 397 fry escape into a zeb tank being fed nothing but high protein foods and it grew extremely quickly and displayed great colour reaching 7-8cm in under 6mths before i could catch it out... had no ill effects and is still alive and competing to breed in 397 tank... im more of a believer in bloat is caused by a bad bacteria that will thrive in poor water quality that effects a fish's internal organs -stomach - intestines - bowel and inflames an area where digested food would normally pass by... this causes a blockage and the fish bloats along with bacterial infection contributing to swelling... but some people think differently about bloat.. i never really have it - well maybe 1 fish every few years but definitely not common at my place...

and with caving that sounds like a female trait - shallow caving.... they like to be able to hide... maybe make some over head cover where they can get out of the light so they dont hang in the cave

 

[Joel]

Will try a few things as you have suggested Johnno.

Was thinking about adding some shrimp the other day.

Will see how they go.

Thanks again!

Joel