Sexual Dimorphism in Ageneiosus sp(3)

[Martin S]

I have asked Wildwoods to see if it's possible to sex the five of these they have in (as if I am going to get 2 or three then I would want at least a pair), and they say that there appears to be no obvious signs of sexual dimorphism in the fish that they can make out - I would expect, if they are not all females, for any males to be obvious, but having never seen these in real life, I am just assuming they can be sexed in the same way as most other auchenipterids, and the cat-elog says that this is correct, so am just looking for confirmation.
I don't suppose keeping all one sex would be an issue, but obviously would prefer to have one of each if possible...
Thanks
Martin

[Marc van Arc]

Problem with Ageneiosus is that both males and females look fairly alike outside the breeding season - in which they differ from all other auchenipterids afaik. Even the genital papilla gets much less thickened, sometimes to the extent one could think it's gone completely.
My two males are already "losing" their papilla and longer dorsal spine, but not quite.
So ask them for (even a hint of) a genital papilla and/or an elongated dorsal spine.

[Martin S]

Thanks Marc.
I guessed as much.
I will plan to pay them a visit (and see if we can make it a mini-PC trip) after this weekend's trip to Istanbul is over, and take my chances at attempting to sex them myself - at least having the male Tetranematichthys as a reference as to what to look for, I will hopefully be able to spot the differences (on the assumption they are not actually all females anyway!)
Thanks again
Martin