Identity Crisis

[Lady]

Well...I bought a Giant Plakat Pair...and was planning on breeding them in the near future...and well I had made sure I had both a girl and boy...and well...now im not so sure what I have! I was almost positive that this one blue red marble was a girl and that the black blue marble was a boy...and well the girl now has a small bubblenest I spent no joke about half an hour checking to find a white dot on the "girl" and cant really tell in fact I dont really know if either of them have one...so how else could I possibly make a distinction? I know others have gone through this...so what did you all do? Thanks

Ill try and post pics later...

 

[OohFeeshy]

Ask the seller? Just wait and see? Which one flares? Girls can bubblenest but most aren't very good at it.

 

[Andie]

The oviposter is usually very distinctive- unless your fish's belly is quite white, you should be able to spot it with very little trouble.

<-- not the best of pics, but Elphaba's oviposter is still visible


Put your two "questionables" side by side, and see if they flare at each other; while females will sometimes flare too (my girls never seen to stop flaring) males will have a little 'beard' of tissue, a flap that descends between their puffed-out gills.

 

[OohFeeshy]

When you say beard, what do you mean exactly? For instance, my female has the flappy bits. Her flares look exactly like a minier version of the males, but shes got an oviposter and gets breeding stripes. Got a pic to show what you mean?

 

[Elise]

It's the gill plate right? When the "flaps" flare out, the gill plate extends.

here's some pics to help:

^ see the dark band under his gills, that's the gill plate

^ See, he doesn't have the band here because his gill plate isn't extended.

Sometimes my little girls do this too, but VERY rarely.




My advice to you Lady, put them side by side. Let them flare and dance for each other. Look for the ovipositor to be more noticable and also when you feed live food, it tends to come out.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I've found out about the beard . When males aren't flaring, the gill plate can be seen outside the gills, and under the chin like a beard. Duh, my females gill flaps don't show when she's not flaring

Sometimes my little girls do this too, but VERY rarely

Mine does it all the time.... oddball

 

[Lady]

well I figured it out....the reason I have trouble seeing her white spot is shes got a big white belly...haha so it was white on white haha...but I put them next to some other males and saw who did what and figured it out...the male I have is a little wonky haha hes an odd swimmer I should say must be something wrong with his swim bladder or something? Guess well see...hope not because I really want giant babies!!! thatd be great...thanks for your help everyone

 

[lljdma06]

Lady, post pics, we wanna seeeee.

 

[Lady]

haha okay I will...they are real cute...they have these funny white faces and the girl looks like she has these big pucker lips haha they are funny...hopefully I can get this male guy up and running healthy again silly fishy

*Runs to find camera and take pictures! *

 

[lljdma06]

Yeah!!! I'm bored, glad you will entertain me with pictures.