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hey help from you guys to sex L134s that just arrived at my place, thanks again. hoping to get a good ratio of female and males cross fingers

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11 12

13 14

That's a nice group, and you definitely look to have both male and female fish in there...

Most likely to be females:
1, 2, 4, 11
Most likely male:
5, 7, 10,
Could be male or female (can't tell from the pictures, as body shape and odontodes do not show any distinct sign):
3, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14

1 is a definite male. My advice on this would be to look at the fish and see who has odontodes on the caudal peduncle, rear half of the fish. Some of these fish are so heavily covered that their odontodes even create a shadow in the pics. Congratulations on the find. Mature fish are very difficult to come by.

Larry

Pleco_breeder is right. Fish 1 is almost certainly male.

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Mats

4 looks like a different species to me. Possibly .

panaque wrote:4 looks like a different species to me. Possibly

Peckoltia vittata

.

Good spot.

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Mats

I would be very careful when sexing by odontodes with L134. I've seen colony of about 20 species, all with odontodes.

aldare wrote:I would be very careful when sexing by odontodes with L134. I've seen colony of about 20 species, all with odontodes.

I also don't find L134 all that easily sexed based on only odontodes. Their profile viewed from above is more helpful if they are all in excellent condition. Males have a "V" shape while ripe females will tend to be broader between their pectoral fins than males of the same size and condition.

It also looked to me like some were not L134.

Thanks for the feedback, care to tell me which ones you think are not L134s, i will get them change.

first timer on L134s or should i keep the ones that are not?

what i intend to do is keep 2 males and 3 females in one tank if the ratio is good.

I had doubts about fishes No.s 4, 8, 9 and 11. Doubts but not positive. L134 are so variable but adults usually do not have very even and distinct stripes. Juveniles less than 8 months old have very even banded patterns which begin to differentiate into individually unique patterns of stripes and spots with no two fish ever having an identical pattern. Then again, it is possible for some to turn out that way, I suppose.

My breeding group is only made up of 2 males and 3 females but in two consecutive breeding seasons this group produced a total of about 380 to 400 fry.
Mine have always begun spawning near the end of February then all but ceased by early September.
They have spawned during the winter but they only produced a couple fry instead of their normal average sized broods of 25 to 30.

To me only #4 is clearly not L134 but all the others are. I have a couple that look like they have a regular banding when viewed from above while they are much more typical L134 irregular when viewed from the side.

I think that strong odontal growth around the rear end of the body (as in #1) is a sure sign of a male. Absence of this however tells you nothing. I got my group October last year and by January I had two very hairy males along with other signs that the breeding season had arrived. I then did a big cool water change in the hope of triggering them, with the result that they completely lost interest. Within about a week from this the males had lost their hairyness. They have spent the rest of the year eating lots and growing but in the last few weeks they have pretty much stopped eating, taken up position in the best caves and gone all hairy again. So odontal growth in males seems to be a seasonal thing.

It is odd that L134 seem to be easy to spawn from latter February through early September but that is how it has been with mine.
I did loose a female this last summer which apparently had been wedged in a deep crevice in some wood i removed without noticing her.
Yesterday I went through my first brood of 18 which are as large as my wild fish and took out 3 of what looked like females and placed them in with my breeders and set the remainder up in 40 breeder for possible spawning soon.
However, my original wild fish were also good sized but did not begin spawning until two years later but I have been told by other members that they have bred fish that were 2 years old. Some of the tapered fish were quite spiny to the touch compared to the fuller bodied females. It will be interesting to see whether my 2 year old fish will spawn.