What sex are my LDA105?

[dconnors]

Here are some photos of my LDA105. Can anyone out there help me sex them? First one is about 25cm TL.

[dconnors]

Second one is only around 18cm TL.

[dconnors]

Third one is nearly identical to number 2. About 17cm TL

[PseudaSmart]

The first one is an easy call, the second two are more difficult. If you could add pictures showing their full heads it could help. I know they just love to sit still!

The first one is a maturing male.
The second one I think is a young male.
The third has a chance to be a female.

Another 6 months should make it easier to tell.

Almost forgot - awesome Pseuda's!
Jim

[dconnors]

The vent photo for fish #1 was wrong, it is now correct. Thanks for the replies.
Dave

[Cristoffer Forssander]

I'm gessing on 2 males and 1 female, first and third =male, second=female

Cristoffer

[nvcichlids]

beautiful fish! Definately a bucketlist fish!

[CanadaPleco]

wow, lot of yellow on the fins there!

[ElTofi]

let's wait a couple of months to let them grow a while...

[dconnors]

Thanks for all the replies! I will let them grow for a few months and see how they develop. I will probably photo them again in the spring. Thanks again to all who replied!

[Borbi]

Hi,

I had initially refrained from answering to this question on purpose, but since you specifically asked me..

Reason for my refraining from answering is that I still find it beyond difficult to reliably sex my P. sp. "Typhoon" (let alone those I only know from pictures).
As a general remark: I don´t sex plecos by genital papilla, because on pictures you can never be sure that the papilla is actually fully shown (the fish can partly retreat it into the body cavity, which may fool you into seeing something that isn´t there).

Then, it would be important to know how long you have these fish.
If you only have them for a few weeks, signs visible in well conditioned fish may not be as obvious.

From the pictures you provided I (very tentatively!) would call them all males.
That judgment is solely based on head shape, because I could not find any other correlating secondary sexual differences in my fish. There may be differences in the thickness of the first pectoral fin rays, but I find that hard to discern on pictures (at least harder than for other genera like Hypancistrus or Peckoltia).

For your reference, I also add three pictures of P. sp. "Typhoon" which I am most certain about their sexes (but still far from certain!). This sexing is, by the way, not only based on these pictures, but also on some time keeping and observing them. So please don´t ask what exactly makes me giving these calls, to some degree it´s just instinct or "feels" right..

This fish I am most certain to be a male:


And this one I am quite certain is a female:


..so is this one (but not that certain):


Cheers,
Sandor

[dconnors]

Excellent photos Sandor! Thank you very much for sharing. The fish I have had for over a year, they were all pretty small when I got them. The largest was only around 18cm, while the others were as small as 5cm. I have 5 of them total, I did not bother posting photos of the other 2 because I know they are too small to sex yet. Time will tell I suppose. Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it! These are probably the crown jewel of my fish room, however I may have some exciting news in the near future...we will see.