How to sex ornate bichirs?

[JESTERX626]

At my petstore we just got a shipment and that included ornate bichirs, about 5-6 of them, at around I would guesstimate 5-7 inches?

How do you sex bichirs? any surefire way or do I still have to use some process of elimination?

 

[Infblue]

they can be sexed just like any other bichirs and ropefish. I know there are diagrams posted on here before, you should be able to find it by doing a search. males have wider and more muscular anal fin, whereas females have narrow anal fins. BUT this will NOT be obvious until the fish have reached a certain level of maturity. Until that happens, there's no surefire way to tell. and ornates at 5"-7" are too small to sex.

 

[beblondie]

hops on one foot yup what he said right there

orntes actually need to be 10-12 inches to be certain

 

[JESTERX626]

Oh i see. Would it help If i checked our shipment of ornates one by one? We got 5-6 in, should I try to see any noticeable different anal fins? Btw, how big does a male grow? and a female?

 

[Infblue]

you can try, but honestly it wouldn't help much at this size.
both sexes can get to at least ~18" (after a while, since growth slows after they pass the 12"-14" mark). the max should be somewhere between 20"-24" in captivity, again after a long time. females may have an easier time getting bigger. But unlike some of the other fish, no distinction is made between male/female bichir max size, so presumably max size info apply to both sexes.

 

[JESTERX626]

you can try, but honestly it wouldn't help much at this size.
both sexes can get to at least ~18" (after a while, since growth slows after they pass the 12"-14" mark). the max should be somewhere between 20"-24" in captivity, again after a long time. females may have an easier time getting bigger. But unlike some of the other fish, no distinction is made between male/female bichir max size, so presumably max size info apply to both sexes.

Oh I see. As juveniles(I think), around 6-7 inches, which gender grows a bit bigger at first? The females or males? For example, male cichlids would normally be bigger than its female siblings at a small size. Is there such thing as that kind of difference in bichirs? Just wanted to be clear. thanks!

 

[beblondie]

The only way to sex bichirs with accuracy is by the size of the anal fin.Mature females tend to be bigger than the males.Unfortunately there are no reliable ways to sex Polypterus ornatipinnis until they have reached 10-12 inches when the sexual dimorphism becommes clearly appearant-Anne

 

[Infblue]

what anne said...
also about your question, i don't think there's that kind of growth rate difference in bichirs. it all depends on the individuals...the greedy eaters will be faster growing.

 

[JESTERX626]

I thought I read somewhere that the males anal fins are the ones that are thicker, while the females are more narrow? correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Infblue]

i thought we got that cleared up in my first reply to your post well here it is again

they can be sexed just like any other bichirs and ropefish. I know there are diagrams posted on here before, you should be able to find it by doing a search. males have wider and more muscular anal fin, whereas females have narrow anal fins. BUT this will NOT be obvious until the fish have reached a certain level of maturity. Until that happens, there's no surefire way to tell. and ornates at 5"-7" are too small to sex.