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Peppermint sexing


wormboy

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Hey all, I know that this is not the first post of its kind but I am still a bit confused on the subtleties of telling a subdominant male peppermint from a female one. From prevous posts I have found pictures of females (such as this one) but pics of definite subdominant males have yet eluded me.

I gather that sexing has to do with the head shape but as I can't find any good pics to pickup on the finer points I'm still having trouble.

To the end of educating myself (I dont know if anybody else is still confused) here are some pics of 3 of my 4 peps. Could somebody please sex them for me!!!!!

All three have been in my 8x2x2 and were subdominant to a pair of normal bristlies that is why the fins are a little frayed and it may be influencing bristle development.

Pep 1, still relatively small (2.5 in)

user posted image

Pep 2, (3.2 in) seems to be the larger of the subdominants

user posted image

Profile of Pep 2 showing nose-bristle development

user posted image

Pep 3 largest (3.5 in) and seems dominant, has similar but slightly longer bristles than Pep2

user posted image

Pep 4 is the smallest and fastest (thats why there is no photo of it) and is still in the 8x2x2. The pictured fish are now in their own 4x15x18 and will have 2 very female looking adults (3.5in) introduced in the near future (hopefully my next breeding project).

Thanks all thumb.gif

-worm-

PS as well as sexing them could you say why you think what you do? Cheers

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im no professional but i'll give it a shot.

i say pep 1 is a female - some reason just looks liek a female to me

unless there is bristles growing down the centre of the head

pep 2 = male because of the bristles

pep 3 = not sure i would say male

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I suspect that #1 is a little small to sex reliably but I thought I would put it in a see if it could be done. What gives you the inkling that #2 may be a boy?

additional- remember that #3 has the same bristles heading up the nose as #2 (if anything slightly longer).

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if no. 3 has longer i would suggest that its a male

imo i believe that all bn with the bristles running up the middle of the nose are all male.

for me it has been the case and im sure alot of others can say the same

thats my 5cents n e wayz

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Number 1 is a female, nice rounded head shape. Shorter , finer pectorals.

Number 2,,,,,poss male but not 100%

Number 3 is a male, triangular head, long robust pectorals, more developing bristls than females usually show around the lips.

These are still juvinile fish....pepps often don't "sex up" till two years old or more.

Alan.

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Excellent, they are just coming up to 2.5 years now so I could potentially see a bit of action relatively soon now that they have their own tank.

Oh yeah, I noticed that the pectorals of #2 were covered with odontoles when I pulled it out and they got hooked up in the net I was using. Is this a good indication of a male as well?

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peppermints are not that expensive anymore.. my suggestion is to go out and buy 10 of them and fingerscrossed.. buy small ones/big ones from same breeder (same brood) to get different sex smile.gif

I agree with alan but the problem is they are master of disguise and they have been known to prove even the most expert peppermint identifiers smile.gif

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good advice, but to go out and buy 10 adults will still cost me a pretty penny, particularly in Perth!

Also I have waited perhaps 2 years to get these ones to the size they are and to but another 10 juvies to grow them out may try my patience just a little (I consider myself reasonably patient but I think 4 years would try most people).

Option three is to try and get a couple of fems as the concensus seems to be reasonably male oriented on my existing fish.

To that end, the owner of a LFS has let me take photos of a couple of potential females before I buy them to get a tentative sexing (if they are both males I wont bother). Here are the photos, bear in mind that both of these fish are larger than my existing ones what do you think?

user posted image

user posted image

cheers again

-worm-

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