Sexing L129

[Thomas1209]

Hi folks.
I had the chance to buy 2 L129 relatively cheaply but in the tank it was impossible to sex them. I took some pictures in my aquarium and I was hoping that you could tell me a bit about the sexes. The fish seem to be quite thin since they were left overs in a shop. My guess would be that I have 2 males since they have some odontes on their cheeks and based on their head shape. Would be nice if anyone can confirm this. First post is the first fish, second post the other one.
Cheers,
Thomas

[Thomas1209]

And the second fish.

[Jobro]

Second is a male. First could be a female. But the first fish is in bad shape and needs lots of food!

This is just a guess though. Others might want to disagree

[Thomas1209]

Thanks for your answer Jobro! Taking a better look at the pictures I think I agree with you. The fish were leftovers from an order and we all kind of forgot about them, that's why I decided to take them home. The second fish is a male for sure I think, he has quite a lot of odontes. The first fish also has some odontes on her/his cheek as you can see in the picture. I just fed them bloodworms and every fish in my aquarium seemed to love it. I will feed them alot upcoming weeks and we'll see after that. Can anyone make a guess based on the papillia? I always find it hard to determine based on that charactere.

[MarcW]

I would guess they are both males, as they both also have thick first rays on the pectoral fins.

That first fish is very skinny, a couple of my Spectracanthicus zuanoni looked like that when I got them a couple weeks ago, just make sure they have constant access to food. Repashy is good for that as it will hold together overnight, as I'm not sure they will eat vegetables, try the bottom scratcher mix if you have it.

Good luck getting them into shape, once they are eating well it should be easier to sex them.

[Jobro]

Can anyone make a guess based on the papillia?

I was taking the papillia into consideration. That's why I think #1 could be female, even though it has some odontodes. But many Hypancistrus females grow quite some odontodes as well.