My turn to have my Aurantis sexed!

[Madou]

Hey guys,

They seem to get along fine, but at that size, I suppose it is to be expected. I don't think they're a bound pair, not quite yet anyway as I still have inhabitants there and alive. I have two more aurantis coming in on friday, in the hopes to form one, but I doubt I'll be that lucky!

Anyway, what do I have here? FM? FF? MM?

Sorry for the picture quality, while the camera is amazing, the user sucks like a panaque on bogwood.



View attachment Channa 010.JPG

View attachment Channa 014.JPG

View attachment Channa 015.JPG

View attachment Channa 017.JPG

Edit: Oh, and for those interested, 240 FPS slowmo HD shoot of those greedy lil fishies jumping out of water for a worm (You can clearly see the "Wtf?" expression on the one jumping out late...)
https://video-ams3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/h...=a1fb29f373698742ebf6efb553810f03&oe=55D08A24

 

[-DC-]

Hard to be 100% certain from those pic's,(i cant see the video) they also look quite young which makes them harder to sex. With that said one is male for sure ( the one flaring in the pic's), the other MIGHT be female but i'm thinking it's more likly a less dominate male a couple side pic's of it flaring that dorsal fin would help confirm it's gender.

I give more detail on what to look for one post below,

hope that helps,

 

[Madou]

Hard to be 100% certain from those pic's,(i cant see the video) they also look quite young which makes them harder to sex. With that said one is male for sure ( the one flaring in the pic's), the other MIGHT be female but i'm thinking it's more likly a less dominate male a couple side pic's of it flaring that dorsal fin would help confirm it's gender.

I give more detail on what to look for one post below,

hope that helps,

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

I will try to take some better pictures as following your instructions would still leave doubts as I am not quite as experienced as you guys may be.

One thing that makes me think i might have a couple is that they seem to always stick together, which as I have read could be a good starting point, but more importantly, I tried introducing two more of a slightly smaller size, and one of them got literally torn apart (I found the head on one side and some pieces of the body on the other.. Talk about an expensive meal!). The other kept hiding in the floating plants, until i assume he got chased and found his way out of the tightly fitting cover.

I know for a fact i can't add more (I was hoping to have 5 to 6 to have more chances of a pair), so I really hope that it was a sign of a pair killing any threat more than just two lone specimens killing any addition because they can. (Which I assume is still possible)

All in all, costy and painful attempts at grtting a pair i hopefully already have!

 

[-DC-]

How big are they now? They look a bit small to be paired , in my experience it's around the 8" mark that pairing happens.

For best chance at pairing you'll want to ad 3 or 4 more (if you can), even if they are m/f they are less likely to pair without more competition to spark the bonding process. To introduce more your best bet is too put those 2 in a tempory home for a couple days and completly redo the tank . Then reintroduce them along with the new ones all at the same time. I'd also only try this with fish that are under 5" or so.

That will get your best chances of them excepting the presence of newcomers but be warned , I'd still say it's only a 50% chance it works , less likly if they are over 5". The species is incredibly territorial even when young.

 

[-DC-]

Oops double post

 

[Madou]

How big are they now? They look a bit small to be paired , in my experience it's around the 8" mark that pairing happens.

For best chance at pairing you'll want to ad 3 or 4 more (if you can), even if they are m/f they are less likely to pair without more competition to spark the bonding process. To introduce more your best bet is too put those 2 in a tempory home for a couple days and completly redo the tank . Then reintroduce them along with the new ones all at the same time. I'd also only try this with fish that are under 5" or so.

That will get your best chances of them excepting the presence of newcomers but be warned , I'd still say it's only a 50% chance it works , less likly if they are over 5". The species is incredibly territorial even when young.

Hey,

They are definitely at or close to the 8" mark. I did try to introduce two more, which ended terribly for the two newcomers. Moving the decor around did no good either, even as i unrooted some cabomba to give a lot more water level covers on more than half the side. :/

I noticed them chasing my biggest polypterus away whenever he would come to the left side of the tank, which is where there is no cover, but also where i feed. But only that one poly, the other similarly sized, identical poly was fine to come, so are the remaining cichla and festae, all of small size.

I really need to make better picture, perhaps closing the big shutter so that the room is darker to give it a much better contrast and not have to use flash!

All i know is that they are always together, resting on eachother at the surface, but it may just be me wishing they are bonding so much that i misinterpret behavior

 

[-DC-]

All you can do now then is wait and see.

You'll have to split them from that tank though , they will kill everything else after they gain a couple more inches .

Adult auranti will not tolerate tankmates . Also all those tankmates are tropical & if you keep those Auranti warm year round they will eventually rot away on you , they require subtropical temps for most of they year .

Good luck with them!

 

[Madou]

All you can do now then is wait and see.

You'll have to split them from that tank though , they will kill everything else after they gain a couple more inches .

Adult auranti will not tolerate tankmates . Also all those tankmates are tropical & if you keep those Auranti warm year round they will eventually rot away on you , they require subtropical temps for most of they year .

Good luck with them!

Hey -DC-, thanks for taking the time to reply.

I had a full tank and when my bleheris had to go because my bedroom tank was too small for them anymore, i kind of died a little inside, so i NEEDED channas again. I tried to get pleuros for over a year to no avail, as they are the only ones that i know of who will accept tankmates. I got rid of my gar, my aro, and most of my fishes. I simply haven't found a home for the remaining cichlids due to their adult sizes.

I kind of hoped for my cichla to grow fast enough that they wouldn't be able to dent it and therefore would need to ignore it -if i ended up not having a pair-. Appears the cichla, whilst totally greedy for food, doesn't eat quite enough to match the aurantis' impressive growth And since i would really like babies, nothing shall remain in the tank anyway!

I turned my heater on 15°C the second I ordered my channas, as they have the same needs as bleheris, except in much bigger, which is also why i chose them. Temps will drop in winter quite considerably, which is perfect and that's when my cichlids have to go at the very latest.

So do not worry, my channas will not suffer the tankmates needs, the opposite would be more likely!

As i read on another post, and I think is so damn true: Once you go channa, you never go back

(Been wanting a 3000l micropeltes tank for quite a while, i'm just too iffy about having to clean the tank when i see how fast aurantis go for my fingers before they realize what they are and wouldn't have the money for another 6 months xD)

 

[-DC-]

Sounds like you've got the right plans!!

Keep us updated as things progress !

 

[Madou]

Hello,

Here are a few more pictures. Some to try to sex them, some to show their behavior.
I never thought pictures could describe a behavior as well as these do!

Picture 3 and 4 hopefully help sexing them!