sexing young BN

[wilson]

ok i have a small bn and i wanted to know how do i tell if its male of female :oops:

[markoshark]

Does it have bristles?

if not, then wait, if yes, are the bristles forked. like Y ?

Or do they look like |

Forked = male

Non-forked = female

Or too small to tell

[evilknieval69]

I read somewhere that you can run your finger accross their nose and if its rough its female and smooth its male, or vise versa, i dont know for sure....

[caserole]

You didn't say how small these b/n are?

common b/n females will never grow bristles, there are a few species of bushy nose b/n around where the female does have bristle but only around the lip.

[bdspider]

Males are broader than females. It's not exact, and easier if you have a bunch so you can make comparisons. But look at them from top down (or bottom up) and see who has wider bodies.

[wilson]

its about 3.5 cm from tip to tip

[coelacanth]

yeah, they can be sexed in a rough-and-ready way by how broad they are across the fore-body (males being broader), but you need a lot of experience to do it well (that is, have had lots of bubby bristlenoses go through your tanks). Hard to do otherwise, especially if you've only got one Best way is just wait till it grows bigger and see whether it grows bristles or not.

[caserole]

Yeah it is very hard at that size, when the body(not including tail) is 4 or 5cm you will be able to tell from bristle = male or lack of = female.

If you really want a pair your best bet is to buy 8 or 10 that will give a 99% chance of getting at least 1 of each sex.

[Alan]

Actually at that size it is simple to sex them.

Put them in a small tank and using a magnifying glass you can tell it is a male, well, if it is just the one, 50% chance of being correct.