sexing Loricaria simillima

zipper · Post by **zipper** » 24 Jun 2006, 21:36

Hello,
I am a long time lurker, and I've decided to break the silence.

My question is this: How does one sex Loricaria simillima? Form the info that I've found, the telling is in the size of the lower lip... males have a larger one to hold eggs. Does anyone have pictures that show the difference?

I just picked up a group and I cannot see any definitive differences in lip size to know for sure. I really want to breed these so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have six animals at roughly 4 inches each so far and the LFS still has a few.

thanks,
Aaron

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 24 Jun 2006, 23:07

Hi!

I think that at 4'' they are still a bit small before being able to sex them as they are not sexually mature.
If you have the space for more I''ll buy a couple more, but with 4 speciemens, you have already a good chance to have a pair!

here you can see a few pictures of a male and female

Here of a male

there a ventral shot of a similar species...which I would assume to be a male by judging the size of the lips

cheers
Yann

zipper · Post by **zipper** » 24 Jun 2006, 23:59

Thanks for the response Yann. Six animals should all but guarantee both sexes, but I just want to be sure. It has been six years since these have made an appearance in these parts and I would be sad to find out I only had one sex.
They are indeed small, but from my experience with Sturisoma and Farlowella, one can pretty much tell at this size. Granted, we are talking about a very different animal here so I may be way off base here.
What about body/ head shape? the first spine on the pectorals? odontodes? basically any of the usual giveaways of sex in Loricariids?

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 26 Jun 2006, 14:05

In Loricaria spp. body shape can be used as an indication in smaller animals but it is much more clear in fish over 7~8 inches long. Females are typically larger and more robust. The males are thinner through the body but have proportionally bigger heads. In Loricaria simillima (the most commonly imported species) anyway, IME there is little to no difference between the sizes of the lips between males and females. This feature does vary by species however.

In reproductive age animals (and a bit smaller) males can be identified by a slightly bulbous end of their hard pectoral fin rays.
In females the pectoral fin spine tapers from it's base to it's tip. In a mature male, the pectoral fin spine thickens as you look towards the tip, finally tapering more steeply out at the end. In some animals, to describe it, this can look somewhat like a drop of water suspended at the tip of a blade of grass. There is a photo somewhere online that illustrates this, I just couldn't locate it for this reply.

They are not too hard to breed, provided you remember they like sand-bottom aquariums, clean somewhat soft water (soft water is not absolutely necessary though) with a bit of current and they feed on insect larvae and invertibrates in the wild.

zipper · Post by **zipper** » 27 Jun 2006, 06:08

Thanks Paul,
Ithought I was going nuts! checked the lips on all the fish that came in (which was sent to 3 shops not that close to each other.) I could see some diffrerences in head shape, but it's too close. I'll look at the pectorals later when i go and feed them.
As far as them being simillima, not quite sure of that either. I'll try and post some images later to confirm.

Good to hear they are unproblematic to breed. How is raising the fry though? I consider Sturisoma and Farlowella easy too but rearing fry is another story.

pturley · Post by **pturley** » 27 Jun 2006, 19:29

These are also easy to raise. They aren't particularly fragile either. I continued water changes within a week of them hatching.

They hatch out without much yolk and will begin feeding on day 2. I used APR or powdered micro-invertibrate food to stimulate them into search mode and then fed them brine shrimp nauplii.

Without the APR to trigger a feeding response, they literally have to inhale a BBS to know it's edible.

They grew quickly to two inches, then growth slows a bit. In a year, they should be at least 4"-6" long.

Lastly, despite the fact they are somewhat carnivorous, the male doesn't eat the fry (not actively preying on them anyway). I always removed the female after spawning.

fishfarmer · Post by **fishfarmer** » 28 Jun 2006, 02:16

I have left several batches of fry in with the parents, actually 2 pairs and have not noticed any delcine in numbers of 2 inch fry over what I saw as new fry.
The tank is fed blood worms and pellets.

Some pics on my web page
http://cinci-fishfarmer.com/reports/L010BR.html

Steve