Help needed to ID the sex of this Bandit Angel

flameangel88

New member
The Bandit is approximately 5.5". My initial feeling was female but after looking more and more it appears to be a male.

What's your opinion?

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I was always told the males have elongated body and females are more rounded. I don't have a known female to compare with and always have a difficult time judging the sex on Bandits.

Here's a 5" Bandit that was ID last year as a male
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I doubt anyone can say for certainty. Chances are male, but if you want to pair it add a smaller one.

In mature pairs males will be more elongate and females will be round (with eggs) and shorter or smaller.
 
That is definitely a male right now Kevin.

Look at the stretched out body as well as the gill spine.

THe dead give away is the length of the body...he is oval and not round like female angels.
 
That is definitely a male right now Kevin.

Chris: What I saw and what my heart wanted was two different thing...will have to find alternate plan for this big boy.


tcmfish: I usually add smaller one to pair up but the 2 7/8" I got back in April grew less than 1/2" so it may be a while before they will pair up.

Thanks!
 
Austin - looks like a female. Look at the forehead. It goes up to meet the spines. Compare it to Kevins photo where the forehead is flattened out and the body elongated.

Her gill spine is significantly shorter than the male above as well...another great marker for these angels.
 
Cool, thanks Chris.

In the first photo showing her left side you can see her gill spine - this one is the larger of the two. I see what you mean about the forehead too... I'm looking forward to a pair down so this is very helpful, thanks!

Sorry Kevin, I'm not close to you.
 
Interesting ideas you guys are coming up with. Does anyone have a pair that spaws that we can look at? I have two and I have seen the larger one place its mouth near the smaller ones vent area, but is that really related to 'spawning'? It could also be one fish dominating the other? I think the big one would be happy to see the small one go.
 
I have two and I have seen the larger one place its mouth near the smaller ones vent area, but is that really related to 'spawning'? It could also be one fish dominating the other? I think the big one would be happy to see the small one go.

John,

Sorry to hear that. I'm about to pair a 3.25-3.5" female with a 5" male. They grow so slow it may take a while before they mature and bond.

What size are they?

Kevin
 
Kevin,
My small one was 2.75 inches last Febuary (now 3.25 inch ?) and the bigger one is at least 4.5 inches (?) That's my best guess.
 
Tim,
Twilight period? Good question, the fish are on Hawaiian time, (Lights one 12noon to 1am EST) . I will have to pay better attention. My best guess is later in the day when I check and feed the fish, its hard to sneak up on the tank, they see me and there one thought is FOOD. I had a pair of small flame angels years ago that did that and was told by Frank B (RCT) that it was spawning behavior.
 
Yeah that is how angels spawn. The female is at about a 10 degree angel pointing down, and the male will have his nose at her vent, pointing up at about 45 degrees. They will rise and then the female will shoot down releasing eggs, and the male will briefly shoot up and then down VERY quickly releasing sperm and the eggs are fertilized.

Make sure you pay very close attention to see if when they exhibit this behavior if anything is released. If you can I would try and shut off the pumps a little before they exhibit this behavior if you can predict when it will happen. And then after they spawn check the surface of the water along the edges of the tank to see if you see eggs. They will probably be between 1 and 2mm large. It will help if they lights are off in the tank and room and you shine a flashlight from the SIDE of the the tank UP THROUGH the surface. You can pretty easily see them with the naked eye.
 
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