Sexing Plecos?

[missbarbie]

I need help sexing my plecos. Well just one in particular. It is quite obvious that the 1 is a male. He is definitely bushy as can be. The other is less bushy by far and is much small...so I am thinking female. Then I see some posts of males that are minimally bushy. What are your thoughts? Both are about 3 or so years old.

 

[Andy Sager]

You should be able to see eggs on the sides inside of the female's body. Some females do get some bristles around their faces so seeing eggs would help identify. If the second fish in question is still small however, I would say it's most likely a young male just starting to show. Not being able to see the whole fish makes this only a best guess.

 

[missbarbie]

You should be able to see eggs on the sides inside of the female's body. Some females do get some bristles around their faces so seeing eggs would help identify. If the second fish in question is still small however, I would say it's most likely a young male just starting to show. Not being able to see the whole fish makes this only a best guess.

This is probably not any better. This one is being a bit stuck on what they want to do. They are both the same age but the bristle one is definitely a bit larger but both are about 3inches or so and well past their juvenile stage where it would be too early to confirm. Can there be a beta male where they don't grow much bristles due to a more dominant tankmate?

 

[Andy Sager]

Possibly. I'm not pleco expert tho. I will say that in my tank, multiple males develop full face so it may just be in your tank or you have a bristled face female?