Can Any Tell Me If I Have A Male And Female Plec

[clittermouse]

Can any one tell by the picture of my pretty plecs if i have a male and a female?
one is slightly smaller than the other and the head is not quite as wide, i bought them both at the same time about 6 months ago and just wondered if i had a pair.

 

[andyw823]

Im not sure but their a lovey couple

 

[nmonks]

What catfish are they? They look like small Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps. If they are, you have no chance at all of sexing them without looking at the genital pores. Otherwise the two sexes are identical. This species is rather territorial and aggressive once it matures, so don't expect them to play nice. In fact this is true for most of the plec-like (and plec-sized) loricariids. Very few of them are tolerant of one another under the confines of aquarium conditions. In the wild they apparently form loose associations, even schools. But not in aquaria. So keep your eyes peeled for signs of fighting. There are multiple horror stories of one plec literally shredding the skin off another.

Cheers, Neale

 

[dane261]

you can sex them but can not breed them as they require a large mud banks so they can burrow into


cheers dane

 

[clittermouse]

We are moving home soon and we are getting another tank so they will be seperated and at the moment they show no signs of being nasty to each other they even sit on the food tablets together but i will keep an eye on them as they are my fav fish in the tank and i don't want them hurting each other.
They had a sticker on the tank calling them sailfin plecs but as they look simular to lots of other plecs i am not sure if that is correct.
I don't mind them not breeding just wondered if i had one of each and if they would get on so we could keep them in the same tank but if they are likley to fight then new tanks it is lol.
They are very pretty and when they swim they keep all there fins out and it looks stunning to see, very graceful love to watch them swim around, which they mainly do late evening.
many thanks for all your comments
xx
p.s as for looking at there genital pores they never suck on the same side on the tank so i never know which one i am looking at lol

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

They look like a pair of juvenile sailfin/gibby plecos, one does look more slender than the other so you could have a male and female, but its very difficult to accurately sex them at this young age.
Just make sure you are prepared to get some rather large tanks for these plecos in the future, as sailfins tend to grow between 11-18inches on average and have the potential to grow to 2ftlong (although this is quite uncommon from what i have seen over the years).

 

[tetraqueen]

Please do excuse me and forgiveme but can I ask a few questions here? I too have a gibicepts but the markings are different from yours.

They fight each other but what about loaches plec and other catfish?

Would one need to get rid of them at say 20cm or so or bigger to avoid this?

 

[nmonks]

They fight each other but what about loaches plec and other catfish?

Gibbiceps, like pretty well any other large loricariid catfish, are aggressive towards their own species and others of similar shape. But completely different catfish -- cories, doradids, Synodontis, etc. -- as well as loaches, are completely ignored.

Would one need to get rid of them at say 20cm or so or bigger to avoid this?

Depends. It's probably fair to say two females will accept one another more than two males, since it's the males that defend territories and, ultimately, the eggs. So watch and wait.

Cheers, Neale

 

[dane261]

what size tank are they in may i ask



cheers dane

 

[tetraqueen]

They fight each other but what about loaches plec and other catfish?

Gibbiceps, like pretty well any other large loricariid catfish, are aggressive towards their own species and others of similar shape. But completely different catfish -- cories, doradids, Synodontis, etc. -- as well as loaches, are completely ignored.

Would one need to get rid of them at say 20cm or so or bigger to avoid this?

Depends. It's probably fair to say two females will accept one another more than two males, since it's the males that defend territories and, ultimately, the eggs. So watch and wait.

Cheers, Neale

Thanks and sorry for the confusion, I have only the one and I think he's male so he will be going back. Strang though because the lfs have a tank of large ones together. It is a massage tank so perhaps thats the difference.

Two plec would be lovely I wish I knew I could have a big enough tank.

 

[smithrc]

Two plec would be lovely I wish I knew I could have a big enough tank.

If you take them both back - there are LOADS of smaller plecs that you can have a couple of

there is a pinned thread at the top of this section with 30 plecs that grow to 8" and less