Leopard Frog maturity

[satony]

this is my first time using this site and was referred by many for pleco questions. so my question is how long will it be untill i can tell the difference between a male and female leopard frog pleco. i have one and have an auction this weekend and was looking to buy its mate. its only about 2in. long. should i be able to see the odontode growth or will i have to wait till its older? thanks.

[MatsP]

I'd say that is fairly small, and you will probably have to wait until it's around 3" total length, if not larger.

--
Mats

[satony]

thats what i was thinkin. but wasnt sure. thanks for the help though

[Richard B]

I'd agree with with Mats that they need to be a fair bit bigger - Larry (Apistomaster) may be able to be more specific as he has plenty & breeds them prolifically.

[andyj]

I've got 9 adult L134's, and find it difficult to sex them, and there all over 4" in length.

They all 'cave' which rules out common 'rules' that only males 'cave'!

I know I've got at least 1 female, as I've had two successful spawns from them

My fry have reached 1.5" (TL) in about 4 months, so I reckon your 2" fish is about 1 year old.

All my adults are wild caught, so are unknown age.

Hope that helps!

Andy

[Proteus]

I brought all 8 of my L-134s when they were about 1-1.5 inches long from a local guy and the parents were on site. I was told at the time that they were around 4-6 months old he didn't know he had babies in there until he was cleaning the tank and accidently killed some of the babies.

That was back in Oct. Now they have grown another inch or two. Some are 2.5-3 inches now They're no where near what their parents looked like. I would say they're only halfway to their parents size.

Cheers.