Agamyxis - sex determination?

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
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siluriphil
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Agamyxis - sex determination?

Post by siluriphil »

Hi.


I have 2 Agamyxis pectinifrons in one of my tanks. They are about 7 years old. One is pretty fat and with 15-16cm bigger than the other. The other one is much more thinner and smaller.
I think I red that the females are bigger than the males. Is that possilbe that I´m remember right? How reliable is this determination?

The smaller one:

Image

The fat one:

Image

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Mathias
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MatsP
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Post by MatsP »

Judging by the pictures in the Cat-eLog , the female is larger and "fatter" than the male, so it seems like you have a pair.

They may breed if you treat them with some extra food and have some floating plants for them to lay the eggs with [assuming the breeding info is correct in the Cat-eLog].

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siluriphil
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Post by siluriphil »

Hi.


I´m not sure if its so easy to breed them, otherwise someone had breed them, I guess. But nevertheless I had ever thought that my Agamyxis are a male and a female.


Mathias
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MatsP
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Post by MatsP »

I'm not saying they are easy to breed - but if you don't try, you don't get there...

A cool water change will definitely help them think that it's "rainy season", which is when almost all catfish spawn in nature. This is also currently the season in South America (November to March or so).

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siluriphil
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Post by siluriphil »

Hi.


That could be a possibility. Breeding Corydoras is the same way. So why should it doesn´t work for Agamyxis?
But I never heard of a successful breed.


Mathias
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MatsP
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Post by MatsP »

No, I've never heard of a successfull breeding of this fish either, but there's a first time for everything...

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Post by siluriphil »

but there's a first time for everything...
Yep, that´s true.

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Post by grokefish »

I have been trying for ages to breed these fish.
No luck yet....
I have found that the only way to get these fish to act in a way that can be percieved as natural is to keep them in a tank with small tetras and no other catfish not even corys and feed them only live food, snails, water fleas, freshwater shrimps all from a reliable 'safe' source. I have ponds dedicated to producing these foods. That way they will be active all night, not just when you feed them. However as I said I have had no success.
My next plan is to have an extremely shallow, long and wide tank with plants filling it, and to try and get some floating grass, which I have never seen in any LFS or in fact in any literature and I will go for a regular overnight temp drop coupled with a 'rainy season complete with rain from a spray bar. When that fails I will give it up.
One more bucket of water and the farce is complete.
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