Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
Hey there,
I've had my flash pleco for a while now, mainly with corys and a few apistos, but as I'm beginning to reduce the number of fish in my tank I think im going to get another of these great fish, mabye even give breeding a go, as my cousin is trying with some he got. I think I have a female, but I just want to be sure, as I'm going to get a male soon to go with.
Sorry they are not amazing pics, its hard to get any good ones.
Sorry, with those pics, noone is going to be able to see the details that allow you to decide which sex is which. You should definitely try to put the fish in a container that you can then take to a brightly lit area if you don't have sufficient light on your tank. Before I upgraded my camera, I was known to put the fish in a bowl on a white piece of paper on my kitchen counter. You get more reflections to crop out and deal with, but at least you get enough light that you can see what the fish actually IS that way, too. Hope that helps!
Don't sweat it. Fish photography is proper hobby in and of itself.
-Shane
"My journey is at an end and the tale is told. The reader who has followed so faithfully and so far, they have the right to ask, what do I bring back? It can be summed up in three words. Concentrate upon Uganda."
Winston Churchill, My African Journey
I know some fish keeping guru's that have trouble getting pictures of their fish. We'd just love to help you and honestly can't without clear pictures, so definitely don't take it hard. We'll do all we can to help you get your id .
Ok, so if it's got a lot less hair[1] than the Malawicichlid photo, then I'd GUESS it's a female.
However, having a sharp, clear photo of the fish would make that GUESS into more of a certainty. A mature male will have a great deal of hair on the back of the body, the females will have nearly none.
[1] Technically, the "hair" is something called Odontodes that grow out of the bony schutes on the fish. Different types of pleco's have these in different places and in different amounts, and often the males have a much larger amount.
Edit: If you do what Barbie said, lift the fish from the tank, and place it in a container where you've got plenty of light, you should be able to take a good photo of the fish. A close-up from above should do the job. Of course, you also need to make sure that the photo is pin-sharp, because the hairs [or lack of] need to be clearly visible, and they won't be if the shot isn't sharp...
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