lima shovelnose sexing??

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
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porkchop
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lima shovelnose sexing??

Post by porkchop »

evening all, does anybody know if it is possible to sex lima shovelnose cats?

i have had 2 for a couple of months now and wondered if there is any way of telling them apart.

also,has anyone bred or heard of anyone breeding these?

anyone on here keep them?
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Silurus
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Post by Silurus »

AFAIK, they have not been bred in the aquarium.
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Katman
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Post by Katman »

There is no external differents between male and female limas that I have found .
I have found that all of my largest fish are females , but not all of the smaller ones are males.
It is fairly easy to tell a ripe female from a male by body shape, if you have sexually mature ripe
fish. But I still average only about 60% correct .

Also when you say limas, I am not positive which type I am working . I have two and possibly
three types ,and have only worked with the largest which maxes at about 16 in. The smaller
ones grow to about 8 to 10 in.

Sorry I can't be of more help. To breed this fish, your best bet is to find the smaller species and
buy a bunch as the sex ratio on some fish is very lopsided one way or the other.

They are very easy to keep, they will mature and condiction on a diet of aquqmax . I have found
that they do as well in hard water as they do in soft water,but wouldn't expect them to spawn
in hard water. Mine matured and were ready to spawn the third year.
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