Sexing Bichir

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W

Werra

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 30, 2013
10
0
1
Australia
Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and I hope this is in the right spot. I have two young senegal bichir that I wish to sex, I'm not sure if they are old enough yet, but I'll see what you all think! Both are same age and get fed the same things, I watch them eat. One is a fair bit larger than the other and seems to be fatter. The other is a little smaller and thinner. Their anal fins are different shapes from what I can see, but I really want a boy and girl so I may be biased. Would love to hear what everyone thinks. I can get other pictures if needed.

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This is one.


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Second one.

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Still kinda young but from your pics, you can clearly see the difference. The first set is the male. They have the really beefy and large anal fin because that's what they use to transfer the sperm to the eggs. The females have a really skinny anal fin.


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Thanks so so so much for the quick reply! Really appreciate it. That's pretty good news for me, pure luck to get a pair. I'll take some more pictures when they get older just incase because they are so young (hence in with my L's). But from the difference in their fins hopefully it proves to be true! Thanks so much for the help and advice, now I know what I'm looking for.

They are siblings and from what I gather in most fish species it isn't a issue. Is that true for the Bichir? In Australia we are very limited with Bichir and don't have many at all. I know I paid 550each for these guys and they've doubled in size since I've had them. So I was just curious to see if I should be hunting for another or not if breeding siblings isn't a good idea.
 
I wouldn't be too worried if they were siblings because they've been mass bred for so long. Just curious, how do you know that they're related? If they do prove to be male and female, it'd be pretty cool if you were able to breed them since they're so rare there. I can imagine you'd make a lot of money. You should check out the stickies under the polypterus section. There's a lot of good info there and there's a lot of experts that could tell you everything you'd like to know. Just a warning though, you'll see polys that are just insane that would be difficult to get for you. Even here, a lot if them are pretty pricey so I can't even imagine how much they'd be for you if they showed up.


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Brilliant! Thanks again. I got them from a lady who actually bred them herself, she hadn't had a whole lot of luck breeding the parents and managed to get 4 babies to survive and then sold the parents. She was going to keep the babies but is moving and didn't have time for them any more. So I bought two and the other 2 had already been sold. I got to see photos of the parents and know they are all from the same hatching. So I really got lucky. That is my aim, not so much for the money (a bonus yes), but to experience growing these guys from small into adults and then if I'm able to breed them, that would be fantastic. It would give more people a chance to own these awesome fish! I'll go and have a look now, always up for learning haha. That is the worst part about Australia, we aren't allowed to import any more and some of the species are banned altogether. Quarantine is very strict here and certain states are stricter than others. But apparently if they are bred in the country it is fine. Still I am always devastated at not being able to have such beautiful fish like some other countries but will have to settle for pictures haha.

Thanks again for the help, pleasure to meet you and meet such lovely people! :)
 
I know exactly how you feel. I'm actually way more into reptiles than I am fish and perenties and lace monitors are 2 of my dream lizards. I've only seen perenties for sale once but that was a really long time ago and when I see lace monitors, I'm always bummed about how expensive they are. They were usually around $1500 and that was years ago. I never see them for sale now :(


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Why wiuld they be so expensive over there? Here in canada sengal bichirs go for 20 bucks a pop
 
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