Is your Poly male or female? Poll
- Thread starter The Masked Shadow
- Start date
Here’s a place to sex them: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/post-here-to-get-your-bichir-sexed.738257/
Could you please link to the article?Hello everybody,
I recently readHendre ‘s article about Polypterus. It mentioned that a poll taken showed that most bichirs are female. Do you know if this is true? Vote in the poll and Tell me how many bichirs you have and of what percentage of them are female/male.
Everything you need to know about bichirs.
Everything you need to know about Bichirs. Foreword Polypterus is a genus of prehistoric fish found in Central and Northern Africa known for being one of the oldest groups of fish, having retained a similar structure for up to 100 million years. Since their scientific discovery in 1802...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
I actually have a 50-50 split right now in my tank; however, It does seem like most people on the forum typically have more females than males.
The female to male ratio might also be different in a wild population vs. the aquarium trade/in hobbyist homes. Obtaining a sufficient population sample from the wild would be a great start, then looking at variables would be helpful. Is there anatomical or physiological differences resulting in one sex potentially surviving for a longer period of time? How are the fish selected for sale? Are larger, mature fish typically captured(do these tend to be females?)? Do negative stressors (shipping, catching, transport, etc) equally impact both sexes' survival rate after transport? In the wild, does the environment affect sexual differentiation in the embryos resulting in deviance from the theoretical 50-50 ratio of male vs. female? Additionally, it is imperative to consider collecting rules/laws for importers in Africa, ie) only a certain number of males could be collected at a time, fish of a certain length, etc.). Unfortunately, I have no ideas on what these are. And most importantly, does the sexual ratio in the aquarium trade/hobbyist bichir population reflect the same trends as the wild population?
Of course, if anyone has any information or resources on any of these questions, please point me in the right direction. I'm just thankful for these awesome fish and this awesome forum! I know I have learned a lot about bichirs from keepers on this site. Moreover, hopefully, more research continues and we humans continue to respect their existence and protect their habitats. They really are great fish.
The female to male ratio might also be different in a wild population vs. the aquarium trade/in hobbyist homes. Obtaining a sufficient population sample from the wild would be a great start, then looking at variables would be helpful. Is there anatomical or physiological differences resulting in one sex potentially surviving for a longer period of time? How are the fish selected for sale? Are larger, mature fish typically captured(do these tend to be females?)? Do negative stressors (shipping, catching, transport, etc) equally impact both sexes' survival rate after transport? In the wild, does the environment affect sexual differentiation in the embryos resulting in deviance from the theoretical 50-50 ratio of male vs. female? Additionally, it is imperative to consider collecting rules/laws for importers in Africa, ie) only a certain number of males could be collected at a time, fish of a certain length, etc.). Unfortunately, I have no ideas on what these are. And most importantly, does the sexual ratio in the aquarium trade/hobbyist bichir population reflect the same trends as the wild population?
Of course, if anyone has any information or resources on any of these questions, please point me in the right direction. I'm just thankful for these awesome fish and this awesome forum! I know I have learned a lot about bichirs from keepers on this site. Moreover, hopefully, more research continues and we humans continue to respect their existence and protect their habitats. They really are great fish.