Post here to get your bichir sexed! I need my delhezi bichir sexed. At what size can you sex them at, and how?
Post Here to get your Bichir Sexed
- Thread starter The Masked Shadow
- Start date
Answer is in the stickies at the top of the Poly forum. Took less than 5 minutes to find.
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
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
Sexing bichirs is a little different from most fish, where patterns, colours, body shape or size are used to easily distinguish between genders. Polypterus sexing is done almost exclusively through the differences in the anal fin; males have a thick, fleshy fin while females have a reduced, pointed fin. This diagram posted byOddball @Oddball shows the difference clearly:
This differentiation becomes apparent in juvenile fish and is about the only way to sex them at a young age. Mature females may be slightly larger than males, especially when swollen with eggs.
Another point of interest is the difference in maturation times; males will begin breeding at 2-3 years of age while most female bichirs mature after 5+ years. Female bichirs also seem to be more prominent than males. A poll on the forum gave a rough ratio of 30% males to 70% females, this was also observed by Budgett in his studies of polypterus. The exact reasoning behind this is unknown but may be to ensure that a greater amount of female fish survive to maturity.
Polypterids an introduction and primer 4.0
Edit 4.0 - Fixed formatting, grammatical errors and layout - Done by @Hendre Introduction Polypterids are the sole survivors of the Order Polypteriformes whose distribution included Africa and South America and can be dated back at least 100 million years in the fossil record. They are among...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
I thought this was a thread for u to help people sex there bichirs lol.
Post a picture of your bichir's anal fin if you wan it sexed.
Venting requires you to take the fish out and flip it over to see the vents. Taking a picture of the anal fin just requires a picture of it while in the tank and the bichir showing it clearly expanded
