PlanetCatfish.com

hi everybody there has been some months since i first bought a baby ancistrus sp3 and every day i get more excited about plecos!
my baby is now 5cm and i decided 4 days ago to buy some friends for him in order to make pair and breed them!
my tank is 96L 80*30*40cm with slightly acid water and the new bn are 6-7cm each...
i am not sure for the gender of them as the younger have some tentacles on their lips-the younger 5cm has 2-3 tentacles on the lips the one that is 6cm has some more and the big one 6-7cm has many small tentacles but no one has on his head
do u think that i have 3 females?
the big one is more agresive towards the other and the two fish lose their colour some times, i dont know if this is a sign of a male's bulling or just the new tank stres but this makes me hope that there is a guy in there...
what is your opinion?

Hello,

Although it is not unheard of, actually quite common, female Ancistrus sp. 3 don't usually have any bristles at the sizes listed. I'm guessing that you have bought all males. All the females of this species that I've ever owned were over 8 cm SL before ever showing even a slight hint of bristles. Females that do show them, normally only have 2 short, straight tentacles at the very front of the mouth. I would advise trying to buy, or trade some of the males for, fish which have no bristles. Males normally already show the start of bristles before they reach 6 cm SL, so look for fish which are larger than this without bristles. A long post I know, but I hope I covered what you need to know.

Larry Vires

so in what size males start to have small tentacles like these shown in the pic?http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/im ... age_id=563

to add to the confusion I have many females here that are from 3cm+ that have bristles along the lip only, only the males have bristles up the centre of the face

In my experience, it's HIGHLY likely that any small bristlenose with bristles is a male. It does happen that the females have bristles, but usually only when they are very mature.

But there are several other keys to the sex of the bristlenose. Have a look at this little bit in the FAQ section of the site: http://www.planetcatfish.com/faq/index. ... 7&catid=15

--
Mats

guys can anyone explain me what snout is?sorry i am not a fluent english speaker

Snout is the portion between (roughly) the eyes and the tip of the "nose".

Males have tentacles on the center from the tip of the nose and up to around the middle between the eyes.

--
Mats

This is one of my females.

http://scotia-aquatics.co.uk/4.html?frm ... type=large
[/url]