Sexing Beaufortia's

[CatsandFish]

having watched my foursome of Beaufortia's for almost 2 days on end now.
I can seriously see a little difference between the sexes.
The index suggests males most likely are lighter in coloration.
2 of mine are bright in colours, 1 measures around 2" the other 1,5"
The other 2 are slightly darker and have aproximately the same sizes as the brighter ones.
But a better way to distinguish them is that the darker/females
like the sewellia spotties have more of a visual brow (the eyes seem placed a little higher on the head)
The bright ones/males on the other hand seem much more streamlined and have a more flattened head.
Unlike the Gastromyzon and Sewellia's though i do not see more "plumpness" in the darker coloured ones/females.
Yes i will lend that camera soon and hope to be takin some nice pics

Offcourse i could be way off course and just have 2 different species of Beaufortia in my tank but i,d thought i,d share and hope to inform.

Greetings.
Michael

[CatsandFish]

Wow............73 people read this and noone of you even took the effort
to atleast say:
"you're wrong Beaufortia's aren,t sexable just be patient"

I,m just trying to help out in the only way i can, by observing my fish.
Everywhere i read this is such a great community, well if not even one of you
took the time for a very wee little thank you for your ....... effort

nevermind i guess

[bullisbm]

I think all I have ever seen about sexing them is by the color. I have a few of them but can't for the life of me sex them.

[CatsandFish]

http://www.aquariophil.de/html/b_kw_kweichowensis.html

[Doc]

Interesting reading. I'm off to spend some hours looking at mine now to see if I can see the same differences. Don't be disheartened by the number of views compared to the number of responses, sometimes views are by guests, lurkers and sometimes people either cannot reply or the post is something they don't have the experience of.

[helen nightingale]

im not in the position to have hillies yet, but i like to read what people say about them. i try and absorb as much as i can, but as i dont have any experience i dont normally comment.

if i commented on everything i read here, i would never go to work. sorry you were dissapointed on your lack of comments. i have posted things that have had no comments too

[mickthefish]

Michael, don't think everyones ignoring your thread mate, i just read the title and did'nt have alook at what you'd wrote cos i've not seen any of these fish for quite some time where i live, but good on yer for the study you've done on them so far.

mick

[starsplitter7]

I open every thread so it doesn't stay lit. Since I don't have your fish, it doesn't serve you for me to comment on something I know nothing about.

[Jim Powers]

Sorry none of us got back on this sooner. I was actually thinking of how to answer it and have been a bit busy and haven't been able to.
I think you will find that most people on this site will not post something unless they have kept the species discussed in the thread.
The usual hillstream posters, myself included, have not been on this site quite as much lately. So please be patient.
I have not heard anyone positively sex beaufortia. There seems to be quite a variation in the beaufortias we see in stores. I have often wondered if we don't get several species. It will be interesting to see your pics. I only have one beaufortia at this time, so I can't compare it to any other fish. Its a large 2.75" (7cm) specimen that I have had for about 7 years.

[bullisbm]

That is an interesting thought Jim. I was kinda thinking that myself.

I have 3 of them now and 2 of them just seem a bit different than the other 1. I don't know if it is due to the size difference as 1 is very large but they just seem different.

Bret

[CatsandFish]

An apology from my side should be in place aswell

I guess i was a bit coarse back there, well i guess it,s my enormous enthusiasm for these kind of fish that got me so excited (in both ways)
i just very recently (say 2-3 months) got into this hobby and already knew i wanted one of these nice "suckerfish"
When we finally did get a tank none of the little guys we're to be found
So we decided on a community tank instead
when we finally had that (and a 2nd one ) up an running we stumbled upon them by chance and immediately got four of em.
having read here that they really love currents, but with the other fish in mind i created a "current corridor" (other topic) and placed a small 200 lph pump to create some current and 2 bubble stones for extra surface agitation.

And now to fully go on the agree with Jim here,
just today i purchased another 5 Beaufortia (Leveretti)
some of these guys have the weirdest of colour patterns (i will seriously post pictures next week) All of em have the spotted Beaufortia pattern.
2 of em are really dark in colour and have very light coloured heads, and the edges along the gills. The colouration on the head becomes conical towards the fin on the back <---(what,s that properly named again )
Also their general build seems very wide (like with Sewellia Spotties)
Sofar they are a little shy but not as shy as 2 from the first group in the tank.
2 of em are very pale in colour and the markings are further apart from each other, also the little fin just before the tailfin <---(again help please ) seems much longer then with the other coloured species.
these guys are generally bold they have been in constant plain view since they got in the tank, they aren,t even afraid of the Cheni's who generally scared all of the ones from the first group away.
Their build compared to the others seems relatively narrow compared to the others.
The best i saved for last, this one is very very dark in colour i was just able to distinguish the spots, but i haven,t seen too much of him since he got in the tank this one seems very shy

Well next week i,ll lend me a camera and get you guys some pics

P.s. also i upgraded to a JBL proflow mini 600 the Hillies seem to very much enjoy it

[Jim Powers]

Are the light colored hillies patchy in color?
If so, that can be a sign of a bacterial infection.
You might want to keep a good watch on them. Symptoms of the infection can include lack of appetite and the inability to stick to the glass walls of the tank. The fish will slide down the glass instead of staying in one place.
And don't worry. Your enthusiasm for your loaches is apprectiated here.

[CatsandFish]

Well they all stick to the glass like glue
Except for "blacky" (as i adopted him)
he,s been hidden since he got in the tank but he,s defenitely not patchy
Neither are the other guys they seem very well and are active.
And i,ve already spotted them eating algea wafers

edit: not just the glass offcourse
they also stick to the rocks in the "current corridor"

[theonetruepath]

I too have some 'Blackies' that I see rarely because they hang around exclusively on the back glass and ususally behind things as well.

They are darker and shyer than my other Beaus, and I have tentatively identified them as tigrinus because of the stripey pattern you can see if you manage to catch them unawares with a flash.

[CatsandFish]

Just today i spotted my "Blacky" sitting on the filter box when i was doing the regular weekly water change (offcourse no camera :S)
I will watch out for the "tigrinus" patern you mentioned.
In the meanwhile the other guys are still doing good
though we lost a Cheni No apparent reason he was just lying dead in the tank on his belly accompanied by a living one (it was like a funeral i guess ) the light coloured ones got a bit more sand coloured, but still have their markings a little further apart then the others.
the dark ones with the light coloured heads are doing great
They have very quickly established themselves as the dominant ones in the tank though 2 of them are a little damaged ,some scales came off
probably due to chasing them with a net in the fish killerstore
They are healing very quickly though, went away for the weekend and came back to quickly healing fish
that little jbl pump is working miracles in my tank it,s cleaner with a faster current and no manifold