Sexing L134

[tobalman]

Hi

Here is another batch of 5 L134 at around 2.5" Please help me to sex them.

Thanks

[barmby]

No.1 is female (90&#37
No.2 is male (50-50)
No.3 is male (50-50)
No.4 is unknown
No.5 is female. (100%)

This is a tough exercise. I am just guessing and having fun.

To me, these fishes are more than 2.5 inches. They look mature from the stripes.

[tobalman]

Thank you for your help, they are wild caught and a little over 2.5" to 3".

[barmby]

First, the line has split.
Usually the young L134 (2 inches-3 inches) has nice elongated stripe, almost like a zebra.
As they mature, these lines start to divide and split.
Therefore, it lead me to believe they are mature fishes.

[celticfish]

First, I concur with barmby's observation of the breaking-up of stripes as the fish get older.

Some points that make sexing L134 "difficult".
1) Females cave just like males.
2) Males can get chubby like females.
3) Males not in condition can be as smooth as females though they are large (i.e 3">). The odontodal growth at the tails can shed when they are not conditioned.

IMHO the first picture is the best to illustrate differences of male and female L134.
Fish 1 is female.
The snout is pointy and her tail flank is smooth.
Fish 2 is male.
The snout grows "outwards" (in an oval shape) and you can see hints of odontadal growth on the tail flank.

Aside from the first picture, the rest aren't "ideal" as they are not taken directly overhead.
All the pictures make fish 5 look female (from a snout sexing perspective) until you get to the last picture.
Then it clearly looks male to me.
Very mature and chubby females will make pointy snouts hard to distinguish.

My prognosis is that you have 1 female and 4 males...
The "upside" is that the fish look well conditioned since tail flank odontodal growth is present.
And, you only need 1 male and 1 female to make magic!

[apistomaster]

I have F1 L134 at 15 months old and up to 2-1/2 inches that have adult patterns. The young have even bands only for up to their first 8 months.
These are my observations based on breeding them for 2 seasons and over 350 F1 fish. L134 can be harder to sex than some of the Hypancistrus and I doubt if 2-3/4 inch specimens are more than 18 months old and chances off being accurate are little better than 50%.

[tobalman]

Thank you very much for your help.

[dauntless]

the best way to sex them is to look at the tail section when they reached adulthood. the males ,ve spines on them the females none. still im guessing what you ,ve. i think 1 male and the rest females