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Dicrossus maculatus sexing

Jordan

Member
Messages
33
Location
Tauranga New Zealand
Hello all,

I have recently received some dicrossus maculatus I believe, I was hoping to try breeding them.

However I have mostly males and one possible female, I am starting to think she may actually be a he as time goes on.

Any help in sexing these guys would be amazing.

I have an images below the first one is what all the known males look like and the last one is of the suspect.
Screenshot_2022-11-20-19-22-32-464_com.miui.gallery.jpg

Screenshot_2022-11-20-19-21-28-044_com.miui.gallery.jpg
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
How big is the suspected female? If it's past 5cm the likelyhood of a male is very high. Dicrossus have a tendency to show it quite late.
 

Jordan

Member
Messages
33
Location
Tauranga New Zealand
How big is the suspected female? If it's past 5cm the likelyhood of a male is very high. Dicrossus have a tendency to show it quite late.
The suspect is sitting at 4-5 cm while the rest of the confirmed males are all 6-7 cm I have 7 maculatus in total with this one being the smallest, also showing the least coloration.

I am hoping for a female but not holding my breath, last time these guys were imported here was over 20 years ago and only 20 came into the country.
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
The size difference sounds great, the length of the pelvic fins and the colouration in the caudal and around the mouth are bad signs. And in almost every group there is a runt.

Do you have another picture, maybe in direct comparison to one of the others?

Also, what is the other's behaviour towards it?
 

Jordan

Member
Messages
33
Location
Tauranga New Zealand
The size difference sounds great, the length of the pelvic fins and the colouration in the caudal and around the mouth are bad signs. And in almost every group there is a runt.

Do you have another picture, maybe in direct comparison to one of the others?

Also, what is the other's behaviour towards it?
Not the best photo as they are always on the move, but here is one with the suspect and another male near.

The behaviour isn't much behaviour toward this one, the other males are usually chasing eachother around if they get too close to one another, this one is mostly ignored.

The first photo is of one of the other males in the tank shaking at another male which is a behaviour the small one doesn't get.
Screenshot_2022-11-20-20-45-11-327_com.miui.gallery.jpg

Screenshot_2022-11-20-20-42-16-510_com.miui.gallery.jpg
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
Still leaning towards underdeveloped or sneaker male. Guess you will have to keep observing for some more weeks. D. maculatus are just not as easy to sex as D. filamentosus.
 

TerraFerma

New Member
Messages
15
That one bottom right of the last pic looks like it has a good chance it's a female based on the head shape and lining. I used the below to sex my group of 5:


Per my eyes I thought I had 4 males and one female. Ended up with two males and three females.
The male/dominant male will be clear pretty early on. They get big quick, and any smaller males will hang back as long as they can biologically . The others took a while to become apparent. Things became clear once I started feeding live baby brine for a few months and everyone went into hyperdrive.
The third female took a very long time to start flashing female colors. I was convinced it was a sneaker male. It remained dull and was hated equally by the males and females. The two same sized females were on fry and it still remained as such. Eventually it announced itself as a female with the fin coloring.


In conclusion it takes time to figure out. The better you feed the faster you will figure it out.
 

Hellfishguy

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
127
Location
Brooklyn, New York
In my experience if there is a trace of a pattern on the caudal fin in young fish they always turn out to be males. Female D. maculatus develop red anal fins, as opposed to D. filamentosus, which have red ventrals.
 

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