Peckoltia & Odontodes

[Athomedad]

I have a 6" Peckoltia which I assumed was female up until recently. I added another 4" Peckoltia to the tank and now my 'female' grew many more Odontodes along it's side. Now I assume he's a male.

Does the Odontode growth happen at a certain age or did it happen because it is breeding season and I added a female?

I was wondering if this would help me age him as I bought him fully grown about 18 months ago. I'm not sure how old he is.

I haven't been able to get a good photo lately as he appears to be staking out his cave.

Thanks for any advice.

[Luke78]

Athomedad ,

Do you know what 'L#' it is? Pictures once you get them up will help out a lot.Growing larger or more odontodes along its body comes with maturity/age(juvenile to adult) please correct or add more if anyone else knows better.When breeding they grow more, when they arent very little growth.

I have a 6" Peckoltia which I assumed was female up until recently. I added another 4" Peckoltia to the tank and now my 'female' grew many more Odontodes along it's side. Now I assume he's a male.

Does the Odontode growth happen at a certain age or did it happen because it is breeding season and I added a female?

I was wondering if this would help me age him as I bought him fully grown about 18 months ago. I'm not sure how old he is.

I haven't been able to get a good photo lately as he appears to be staking out his cave.

Thanks for any advice.

[Athomedad]

I believe he's a L218. It was sold time as a L15 tiger pleco but I found a pic on the net once of a L218 and it was an exact match.

Here is a pic before the Odontodes growth recently.

Thanks for your help.

[2wheelsx2]

Sorry that pic is too tiny. A nice big one hosted on Photobucket, Picasa or Flickr would help. Based on the pic, from what I can see, it's not an L15, but at 6" it's not an L218. Without knowing capture point, and body morphology, it's difficult to even be sure it's a Peckoltia species.

However, Luke is right. Odontoides is a male dominance thing. If there is only one fish, you won't get much growth. If there are other males, the dominant will "spike" up, while the other will grow only a small amount. It's also a sign of good health, since obviously the fish won't be "in the mood" if it's suffering. Females will also have odontoides and the amount will vary. An overhead shot of the body shop and also showing the odontoidal growth compared to another one in the tank will most accurately sex it.

[Athomedad]

All right, first time to Flickr so apologies if link doesn't work, but here are pics I took yesterday of my Peckoltias. The first pic is of the 4" I bought from Charles and I believe he said it was a female. The 2nd and 3rd picture are of the 6" I bought from King Ed 1.5 years ago that I believe is a male. Thanks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75923394@N08/

[Jorg]

Are you sure you didn't mix up the pics they all look like the same fish

[Athomedad]

Definitely 2 different fish. Their tails are different and the 4" is more solid black.

[jobber604]

I'm certain that by introducing a female into the tank definitely would increase the male hormones in the male fish. In a similar situation, I had a bristlenose pleco for the longest time thinking it was a female. When I introduced another 3 into the tank, the supposed female started growing tentacles....which proves that it was a male.

[2wheelsx2]

The first one (from Charles) is an L147. Looking that the mouth of the second pic, it looks a bit like a panaque, but without a close up of the teeth, I can't be sure. Definitely not a peckoltia, from what I can see. Charles would know.

[2wheelsx2]

On second look, does it look like a Panaque changae (L226)?