PlanetCatfish.com

Greetings!

I think the description in the catelog is pretty meager. So I am hoping some of you might have a better description or maybe some pictures to define sex in these fish. I have heard that the males are alot easier to catch in the caves and therefore . I will probably get four males (have ordered 4 L-25- directly from Brazil). I want to be able to check these out and tell for sure when I put them into my tank. Im getting some that is 25cm or larger so they will all be mature and therefore it should be possible to define their sex.

Kind regards

Hello,

I've never made any attempts at this species, so I can't give much info on the subject. However, It has been my experience that nearly any Loricariidae can be accurately vent checked once they are getting close to maturity. As a brief description, the male will have a rod-like extension if looked at from below which just looks like part of the anal opening. Females do not show this trait, and will look like a very small blobbish, don't you love the scientific detail here, opening. There is a very good photo of the female vent in the ICOSA article. I've used this method on several genera of both small and large plecos since it is usually one of the first sexual traits to develop, so it should be accurate for your fish also.

Larry Vires

Thank you Larry! Do you have a URL for that article?

Kind regards

Hi!

There was a time ( and might still be the case today) that most males were ship to Japan because they were showing a more flashy colouration than females...
Females were usually shiped in the rest of the world because of their less eye catching colouration...
But normally both sexes are being presented at an equal level...
Cheers
Yann

I'm not sure about how to get a url for articles listed on this site, but you can click the iCOSA button on the header and go to the Ancistrinae lecture. There is a lot of useful info there, albeit a little scattered, and even a short piece about spawning the larger plecos.

Larry Vires

Hey!

Yes Yann, I thought about that fact too. But I guess with four size XL pseudacantricus they are hard to comeby, so perhaps they will just take what they have. They issue is really the way they are caught, but since the rainy season is only starting now and they breeding probably is in that time(you can also notice all the nice pleco holes when its dry season) maybe I will have a more fair chance. Its pretty crucial to get both sexes for me, because I have a pretty futuristic breeding plot going. But without both sexes no amount of science can produce live young. I have looked at the pseudacantricus L-25 in the plecolog and I think its really hard to tell who´s male and who´s not, a few of them I can point out as males with broad pectorail fins and outgrowth on them. But they all seem slim when viewed from the side. But pleco_breeder is right they most crucial of their exterior morphologi is definately their genital opening. Thank you barbie for + rest your help !