Anyone have any ideas for this Carpintis? It’s about 2.5+” long. May be too small to tell, but just curious. I was thinking male since I don’t see the dark spot on the dorsal, but not sure at what age a female would develop that.
Sexing Carpintis
- Thread starter RTCfan86
- Start date
None of the gender I.D. cues are apparent on this size, or age fish.
The black spot apparent on females is not present (or has yet to appear)
but the forehead profile of males is also not present.
this may be due to age, or if there are no other carpintus in the tank, there may be a delay.
In the pick below its easy to spot the dominant male(s) (dead center) at only 1.5" in the group of females.
with age, females will display a black blotch in the dorsal, but when young, as in the photo above it has not yet developed.
Below a young female with black just starting to show (@3")
below its obvious when mature (5"+)
Below a young mature male, note the high cranial profile and lack of black in the dorsal compared to the more torpedo shaped female above.
The black spot apparent on females is not present (or has yet to appear)
but the forehead profile of males is also not present.
this may be due to age, or if there are no other carpintus in the tank, there may be a delay.
In the pick below its easy to spot the dominant male(s) (dead center) at only 1.5" in the group of females.
with age, females will display a black blotch in the dorsal, but when young, as in the photo above it has not yet developed.
Below a young female with black just starting to show (@3")
below its obvious when mature (5"+)
Below a young mature male, note the high cranial profile and lack of black in the dorsal compared to the more torpedo shaped female above.
Carpinitis are hard to sex till they get some real size on them. Especially if kept in a dark tank that makes them darken up and hide the one way we can tell them apart. Females have a dark spot in the dorsal fin. Otherwise you will want to look at body shape. Males have a much steeper forehead as compared to females.
Female
Male
Here some in a dark tank. See how the skin turns a blackish color, making it impossible to see the dorsal spot.
Same fish in a lighter tank
Female
Male
Here some in a dark tank. See how the skin turns a blackish color, making it impossible to see the dorsal spot.
Same fish in a lighter tank
Thank you very much for the info. Is it safe to say then that the vertical bars I mentioned are not gender specific?
I have seen them in both genders, they come out more when stressed
Here is my group when I first got them and a day or so later. You can see the bars in all of them.
Same fish after settling in.