Male Or Female Bns?

rust81

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I have 2 bns in my tank at the moment and i'm not sure if i have 2 males or 1 male & 1 female. The first pic is of the male:
DSC01657.jpg


The second plec is the one i'm not sure on. THey are both the same age, but this one isnt developing its bristles as quick as the first

DSC01658.jpg


Finally, any ideas what type of bristlenose these are? They dont seem to be as dark as some of the others i've had.
 
how old are they, the first one doesnt have many bristles so id say both females but they might not be developed yet.

both look like common bristle noses IMO
 
I have had them coming on for 3 months now, so i'm guessing they are 4-5 months old. The first one i am sure is a male as there are quite a few of the tell tale upward bristles growing from the nose
 
the male will get bristles on his top lip and all the way up towards his eyes, the female will onlay have them on the top lip
 
Agree with the ID, both are Ancistrus sp3.

second may be a late® developer, should be able to give a certain answer within a month or two.

edit - lol r in brackets gives the registered trademark sign, everyday is a school day!
 
Thanks for the links. I think they are probably 4 months old tops, so i guess i'll just have to be patient and wait and see. The one that i think is definitely a male does chase the other one quite a lot and seems to be dominant. Would this happen if i had 1 male 1 female, or is this more likely with 2 males?
 
When I got my two BNs I had a similar situation - both later turned out to be male. One plec developed bristles very quickly, the other took ages and looked very much like you second photo for some time. They used to have the odd chase around the tank but nothing aggressive and there's enough terratory for both. I don't think you'll know for certain just yet.
 
i think at that size if they have started showing bristles they will turn out to be males. my females have always been much older when starting to show bristles, if they ever have them at all
 

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