Vieja Synspilum Sexing

[Matthew1626]

Hello all,

Would you be able to sex this Synspilum by just looking at these pictures? I'm not sure about the venting process or how it works. I had a group of 7 and this one is the biggest and most dominant, so I'm assuming it's a male, but am not certain. I'm also very hopeful that a nuchal will begin developing soon. This fish is about 8 months old.

Thank you for looking!
Matt

 

[tlindsey]

Hello all,

Would you be able to sex this Synspilum by just looking at these pictures? I'm not sure about the venting process or how it works. I had a group of 7 and this one is the biggest and most dominant, so I'm assuming it's a male, but am not certain. I'm also very hopeful that a nuchal will begin developing soon. This fish is about 8 months old.

Thank you for looking!
Matt

View attachment 1348296 View attachment 1348297 View attachment 1348298

dan518
Gourami Swami
duanes

 

[Stanzzzz7]

It looks female to me. I would expect a more pronounced and masculine head shape on a male of that age. It also has gold eyes and not blue that you see in most males.

 

[Matthew1626]

Bummer, I thought male the whole time. Thanks for your reply :-/

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I would hang on a little longer to see for certain, Veija are not the most easily sexed fish until maturity.
To me yours looks like a dominant female among a group of sub dominant females.
Here is my old male at around the same age for comparison.

Notice the blue eyes and the shape of the head.

 

[duanes]

I agree with Stanzzzz7, although the largest in a group any species of Vieja is often a male, it is not always the case.
I grew out a group of V bifasciata where the smallest turned out to be the only male. The females all beat him to the punch eating, and constantly harassed him.
Only after I put him on a separate tank to grow out alone, did he catch up, and spawn with a number of the females. Once by himself, he had an amazingly fast growth spurt, catching up quickly.

 

[Matthew1626]

Welp, that was a rookie mistake on my part. I assumed the largest would be a male and sold off 4 of them when this one was clearly dominating. I will let these three grow out more before I take the next steps....

Patience is key, I suppose. Thank you all for your replies!

Matt

 

[Gourami Swami]

The "easy way" (not 100% of the time) with synspilum (now called melanura) is the eyes, most males have blue eyes, like stanzz stated. My guess on your fish would also be female, I agree with the other posts about head shape as well. Very nice fish either way!

 

[Matthew1626]

Okay, we’ll that’s good to know as I did just recently buy a couple of Lago Peten from CoA, and one has blue eyes.

 

[Matthew1626]

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