Sexing wild Ancistrus

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
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seb47
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Sexing wild Ancistrus

Post by seb47 »

Hello all,

A store near me had wild Ancistrus claro, which are at the top of my wanted list. When I got there they had 4 left out of their original shipment, all 4 being around 2" +/- 0.5". I know they're probably too small to sex but is there any (semi)reliable way to sex them?

All 4 had bristles around their lips, none had any along the top of their face and they all looked a tiny bit "bristly" all along their body, which I assumed to be odontodes. None looked particularly plump either. there was 1 that was an almost black grey vs. the other ones that were light grey but is that just natural variation?

I've never seen them around my area before, but since the plan is to breed them I don't want to impulse buy a group of 4 males.

Any help is appreciated
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Shane
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Re: Sexing wild Ancistrus

Post by Shane »

Unfortunately there is no reliable way at that size. As many of us have learned the hard way, either commit to buying the entire group in hopes of getting a pair or pass them by. Buying just two and hoping for the best rarely works out.
-Shane
"My journey is at an end and the tale is told. The reader who has followed so faithfully and so far, they have the right to ask, what do I bring back? It can be summed up in three words. Concentrate upon Uganda."
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seb47
Posts: 52
Joined: 28 Feb 2021, 01:29
My cats species list: 5 (i:0, k:3)
My aquaria list: 1 (i:0)
My BLogs: 3 (i:2, p:101)
My Wishlist: 5
Spotted: 12
Location 1: Toronto
Location 2: Canada

Re: Sexing wild Ancistrus

Post by seb47 »

Shane wrote: 21 Oct 2021, 12:03 Unfortunately there is no reliable way at that size. As many of us have learned the hard way, either commit to buying the entire group in hopes of getting a pair or pass them by. Buying just two and hoping for the best rarely works out.
-Shane
Ok thank you. I'll see if the store will give me a discount for buying all 4 and might bite the bullet and take them.
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