Doryrhamphus janssi (Cleaner Pipefish)

[ThRoewer]

Both I got are females - score! :bounce3:

Man wish you were in Chicago and could determine the genders of my two!

Take close-up shots of their snout profile and their bellies and post the pictures here.

 

[ostrow]

I dont see how I will do better than the one on the previous page. Will try tho

 

[ThRoewer]

This picture is actually pretty good to tell you what to look for:

I hope im allowed to upload a picture of a german internet site. not my picture but it got watermark. Helped me with the gender

heres a link to the internet site http://www.kimmich.ch/syngnathidae.htm

Only the males have spikes on the top of their snout. Females have a smooth snout.
On adults you should also be able to see the pouch on males (quite easy since they usually swim belly up). Females have a smooth belly and usually no blue stripe running down the center of the belly which markes the separation line of the pouch on males.

 

[ostrow]

Yeah yeah I know all that. I dont see any of that on either. So small so slim so fast!!!

 

[ThRoewer]

One of the new females is already eating frozen mysis. Unfortunately it is also chasing the other female so I will have to separate them later today.

The pair I have in the 20 gallon tank is definitely spawning now. Unfortunately the eggs are rather small, probably half the diameter of a bluestripe egg. This means smaller larva and more difficulty in raising them.

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[ThRoewer]

Well, I got lucky and found another male at the local store (AC, they still have a small female). So if none dies during quarantine I will have 3 pairs.

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[ThRoewer]

New male didn't make it. Also, upon closer examination at least one of the females has very fine teeth on the back of the snout. It's not as pronounced as on my males, but the back of the snout it also not smooth. But there is no pouch on its belly, so I'm still confident that it's a female.

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[ostrow]

My larger one has disappeared. The smaller was clearly dominant. Still can't figure out the gender. Want to try to pair it. Hate playing roulette but my eyes just can't make anything out. To me, snouts appeared smooth but both had the blue stripe...

 

[ThRoewer]

Sexing these reliably may be one issue, pairing them up is for sure another. I added a well quarantined female to the male in my 100 gallon tank and she was never seen again...

I also noticed that the specimen in the trade seem to be predominantly males.

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[ostrow]

Oh. Damn. Not good news there

 

[ThRoewer]

Well, the one pair I have is spawning again, but the female is still too small to produce a full clutch - at the moment she produces at the most 20 eggs. Once the clutch sizes get larger I might give it a shot to raise them. Though the eggs are small, about half the size of those of bluestripes.

 

[ostrow]

Dibs on some offspring!!!

 

[ostrow]

So have they continued to spawn?