How can i tell the sex of my oscar and rb pacus

I got a 3" oscar and a 2" red bellyed pacus. The pacus has already got bigger then the oscar. How can i tell what sex they are?

 

I'm not sure about pacus, but with oscars, there's basically 2 ways to sex them. The first is by witnessing a successful spawning. The breeding tube on the female will be larger and blunt on the end (she will also be the one laying eggs, obviously). The breeding t ube on the male will be smaller and pointed on the end. And just because one is laying eggs, it doesn't necessarily mean the other one is male. Sometimes 2 females will go through the process, but the eggs won't get fertilized. The downside of this method is a) they have to be of breeding age which is about a year old and b) you generally have to have a breeding pair.

The other way to determine the sex of oscars is to vent them. They have 2 opening on their bellies just in front of the anal fin. The opening closest to the head is the anus and the one closest to the tail is the vent/reproductive opening. A female's vent will be larger than the anus (oO) and a male's vent will be pretty much the same size as the anus (oo). The problem with this method is it takes some practice to be able to tell accurately & consistently and the oscars have to be fairly large. Mine where around 6" when I vented them. If they're smaller than that, you could probably still vent them, but you'd likely have to remove them from the tank in order to get a good look.

Here's pics of my 2.

Male:


Female:


-Chelle

 

Thank you for the information and the pictures. your information will be very helpful in the future.

 

I have heard of a way to sex the pacus

http://www.postring.net/pacuforum/index ... owtopic=18

 

THANK YOU PACUMAN FOR THE INFORMATION,.

 

Sex of my oscars?

Chelle I have tried to view all your photos but they will not display? I would love to be able to tell what my oscars are. But, I can not see the pictures. Any info to help would be great.

 

Re: Sex of my oscars?

probably becuase this thread is a few months old so it wont hold onto pictures in order to save memory. your best bet would be to PM chelle and ask for the pictures.... :y_the_best:

 

Sorry about the pictures. I've been changing things around on my webserver. Try this (info on sexing will be towards the bottom).

http://chelle.mine.nu/oscarcaresheet/

-Chelle

 

Hi wizard, On Pacus the first ray of the dorsal fin on male goes straight up an back. On the females the first ray is slightly rounded. It really doesn't matter much unless you have an extremely large pond. Tanks are too small for them to breed in.