Sexing 8 L260

Brengun

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Apr 22, 2009
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Burrum Heads, Queensland, Australia
They are all 6-7cm except the big bomber who is most definitely a male. :lol:
He is named Hilton. Anyway I have sort of set up a colony.

I took out the top left one which I think is a young male leaving Hilton and the other two I am hoping are young females. They face the front in caves if thats any hint.

In the bottom pic I added the top one which I think is male, took out the middle two which are ugly males I think and added the 4th one which I really hope is going to turn out to be female. It never caves at all.

I bought the 4 bottom ones as an "adult" mixed sex colony of 5. One died and I bet it was the best female. :cry:

Hopefully Hilton will cave up one end of the tank, with the other male up the opposite end and the 3 fingers crossed females in the middle.
I added the small male just in case Hilton is past mating age.

Do male plecs stop mating when they get big and aged or do they always want to breed whatever age?
 

Bigjohnnofish

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Apr 15, 2010
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look im not too sure about the first pic but in the second pic its looks like

male
female
male
female

i would put them all in a 2 foot or 3 foot tank approx 70-100 litres and give them a cave each and one spare one and make them all different caves and sizes... and give them some ledges and some bogwood.... one of my females started laying eggs at a bit under 7cm...

i have more males than females in my colony too... they used to fight a fair bit but now the pecking order is established theres no scuffed fish anymore... bar a little love bite on the females from time to time...

actually i'll have a rough guess for the first pic now i've had a longer look at them..... all girls bar the big boofhead
 

Brengun

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Apr 22, 2009
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Wohoo thanks Johnno, got me all excited now about the females. :)

I have put the 5 in a 3ft tank. Its a bottom secluded tank where I don't walk past so often and I have ledges and stuff over the caves. Not so easy to see them but I am sure they are still in there somewheres lol.

The other 3 are in a narrow 1ft wide 4ft with anubias and ferns overhanging the caves which keeps room lighting off them a bit. At least if I bend over I can still get a bit of a look at them because I really love seeing them and I don't think I could bear leaving the other breeding tank alone if I didn't have this tank to keep me occupied ogling. :D
 

Khaifish

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Feb 19, 2010
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Another yr or so and you should be able to sex the smaller ones. Like you said big ones definitely a male, and judging by his fat stomach, a very spoilt one.
 

Brengun

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Thanks for the pic KT. :)
I knew this was the place to put my pics as experienced keepers seem to have that knack for seeing the feminin curves whereas I am still just stunned at how great all of them look.

Btw, top pic far right is Hiltons bub which I got as a teeny one. It used to sleep in his cave until it got too big and he kicked it out. :)

I did a bit of a check to see how the colony is going and the males are still playing musical caves. They both seem to want the two caves in the middle and Hilton got a bit of a scratch up his side but he's ok. They seem to like the secluded tank.

I don't think they are ready to breed yet but I did wc last night while it was raining and they got really excited about it. :)