PlanetCatfish.com

I was wondering if anyone could help me sex these L260...it's kindof time sensitive too, as I'd like to trade males for females...here's the pics:

Hi,

What length are these L260s, its difficult to tell from the pics? In adult (near adult) sized fish I am told the females have more white on their belly, the males belly is normally striped.

I recently bought 6 small L260s (approx 6cm long). The chap who helped me select them looked at the base of their tail. The theory being the males have a more broad (vertically) tail than the females. Other than that, go for size i.e. in a equal aged group, males likely to be larger.

I must say your L260s look to have very limited markings, or is this just due to the stress of being bowled?

Cheers

Tom

It's not easy to sex them from these pictures and depending on how well fed they are, it's just a guess like the 3 ones in the first bucket looks all as females and in the second bucket there are 2 males and 3 females...females to the right at the top of the picture.
Closer look needs to be sure but males in breeding condition have quite large odontodes at the pectoral fin and cheeks and the females hard ray in the pectoral is thin compared to males in the same size.

Janne

The right one in the first pictures looks like a fat female to me!!!

Hey

Are some of them whiter on their belly then others? If that is so I think it's the females.

Kasper

Only one of them in the entire group has a "partially" white belly, so I think we can lay that one to rest..
How about in this picture(sorry to be asking the same darn question again )David

p.s really appreciate the comments

Give them caves and you will find out how many males you've got. With the L-260 I had it was the males only that were in the caves...

Kasper

thanks, all of my obvious females also go in caves...
David

It's not easy to sex them without a closer look, in this way we can only look for differents in the pectoral fins and the head at fishes of the same size. To see the different if they are well fed or pregnant is not so easy because even males get fat if they dont breed and eat instead , the color of the stomach is making it easier but as Barbie say...it's not always true.
But if you put all together and give them some caves and also a heavy current with regulary water changes the males will start to grow much heavier odontodes and fight for the best spawning place...and when they do just take the ones out you dont want with them. I breed Hypancistus in groups either 2 males with 3 females or 1 male with 2 females and that depends of the size and particular species.

Janne

Thanks Janne,
I've been bugging Barbie via Instant Message on another forum and she's been very helpful-but another view-point is always a good thing ;)
...At this point I'm discounting the white stomach as a way of sexing because I have 1 fish out of 8 with a white stomach, and I've clearly got many more females than 1...In the course of examining them I found 2 with much more developed odontodes that I would say have to be males, and 3 that are almost certainly females by virtue of how gravid they are...I've got one other fish that could be either, and I've sold the remaining two out of 8..I'm in the process of making some caves re: the specs Barbie provided, to replace the clay pots I've been using...we shall see...thanks all for the help..
David
p.s. ironically I always though that I had mostly males and maybe 1 female..

Hi David,

What is the average size of your L260s? I have just got a group of six and I am curious to know how big they will get?

Many thanks

Tom

the biggest ones are a good 4 inches, perhaps a little more...
regards, David

I'm also in the process of sexing my L-260. But I seem to have been unlucky getting females. You seems to have some "big" females there. What do you feed them?

I have uploaded some pictures at http://www.plecofanatics.com

Go to gallery ---> member galleries ---> search for "griparn".

I think fish no.2 is a male, but Im not certain what no.1 are. Please let me know what you think.

I've been feeding mine alot of Hikari sinking carnivore tablets-they seem to like those the most...I also feed them algae wafers, frozen bloodworms, and frozen brine shrimp..David