Sexing L260

[Jobro]

Hello Guys,

I'm freshly registered here and I would appreciate your insights on sexing some L260 for me.

I do have two males and I want to get some girls for them.
I found an importer that has some freshly imported L260, size around 8cm (3,1").
He is trying to catch some females for me. He sends me pictures of the supposed females and I can decide if I want the fish or not.

The pics are not the best but it's all i have, so they must do.

Here come the pictures:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

[Jobro]

Here comes the last one for now:
6.

Thank you very much in advance. Any input is very much appreciated.
I would like to know the reasons for your decisions, so I may understand the sexing of hypancistri some better. Thank you.

[Jobro]

*bump*

Hello guys, nobody even gonna give it a try? Did I miss something?
I'm not expecting spot on genders. Just some Insights on what could and could not be. Thanks.

[Barbie]

Have you looked at the Catelog? Read any of the articles on them? More importantly, what colors are their stomachs? 1 and 5 are probably female, 2 is definitely male. You don't say if that measurement is with tail (TL) or without (SL) so it's quite difficult to gauge.

Barbie

[Jobro]

Hello Barbie,

thank u for your reply.
Yes, I have read the articles. Quite a lot about various Hypancistrus. I also have been keeping two L260s for a year now. Still I dont feel like being able to sex them, yet.
I don't know about the belly patterns, as those pictures are all I got. And I read belly patterns are not very reliable?
Measurement should be TL. Sorry I didnt even think about it, as it's not common to measure any fish by SL in germany.
He said the fish are all about 8cm/3", though the importers tend to be a little optimistic, so not all fish might be that big.

Yeah I was pretty certain about 2 being a male as well.
And I guesstimated 1 being a female, just going by body shape.

What makes u think 5 is a female as well? Cant be body shape, I guess? So maybe the narrow and long head? Most of those fish, except #2, lack odontodes on the pectoral fin. So I'm not sure if that criteria is usefull here.

Any input about 4 and 6?
4's head seems to be really different from the others. Its more round and not as edgy as the others. Maybe it's a totally different bloodline? But in the same batch of newly imported fish?

6 seems to have thinner pectoral fins with no sign of odontodes on it. The pectoral is also getting thinner towards the end, but it tends to go thicker on dominant males, right? Body shape seems to be good for a female for me, only head shape seems to be very wide, which would suggest a male to me. But as I told above, I'm really not sure about any of this.

Thanks for any further help