pleco gender

[jlemauk]

how do i tell a male from a female pleco? i have one larger (darker colored pleco), which i suspect is a male, and a smaller one (very light colored), which I'm not sure about.

The darker has always lived in a small cave in the tank, while the other pleco was living about the tank for the first week or two in the tank (before i got it a log to live in), so I'm wondering if the smaller one has just camouflaged to my gravel? Both are common pleco.

 

[KnaveTO]

gender differentation on plecos can be relatively simple or relatively difficult depending on the type of pleco. What pleco do you have and can you post pics?

 

[RoseFishWatcher]

I dont know of any reasonable way to sex common plecos. It sounds like they are still pretty small, so even if it was easy to sex commons they are probably too small to tell.

As far as I know, it shouldnt matter much anyway, as Ive only heard of breeding commons in ponds. There might be an issue with territoriality and space as they get larger, unless you have a very big tank. I cant recall how territorial commons are.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

Sexing No obvious differences. Adult males may be smaller than females.

 

[mostlycichlids]

Sexing common plecos=next to impossible.

 

[Malefic23]

And breeding them requires about a three foot mudbank. Don't fret it.