Sexing Gobies

[Charlutz]

So Sarah, aside from inviting you and Bill over to the house every time I want to know, how do I tell which of my gobies is the male and which is the female? While I have your attention, same question for the bristlenoses. BTW, the gobies are not aggressive toward each other. One of them has tried to take up residence in a rockpile close to a pair of spawning leleupi and gets evicted quite often, but the gobies are fine with each other. I think my female cyp spit after one day.

 

[longstocking]

Gobies are VERY hard to sex. Behavior is a big indicator to me. Along with sutle differences in coloration and the snout area doesn't protrude as much. Honestly they are one of the hardest to sex.

BN's.... the female is rounder in the bellie area ...also females don't have the bristles or very little ones on their snout area.

Glad the gobies get along... that's the first step

 

[Charlutz]

Gobies are VERY hard to sex. Behavior is a big indicator to me. Along with sutle differences in coloration and the snout area doesn't protrude as much. Honestly they are one of the hardest to sex.

BN's.... the female is rounder in the bellie area ...also females don't have the bristles or very little ones on their snout area.

Glad the gobies get along... that's the first step [/b]

From the articles I read, male is usually bigger. Do you think the ones I picked up are fully grown? One of them has a little more of the red stripe along the top of the caudal fin. I have a powerhead angled down and pointed at the short side of the tank to swirl the water and keep the sand clean. One of the gobies has taken up station there with his head pointed into the current. Looks a little funny resting up against the front glass. The other one roams a bit more but sometimes sits right behind the one facing the current, like they are just hanging out together.

 

[longstocking]

No I do not think they are full grown. They came in very small. Gobies grow VERY slowly. But can reach a good 4 inches.

Yours are wild so size is not a good indicator. You could have an older female and a young male. There is no way to know. I do know that I did not pick out the largest female.

Sounds like they are very happy From what you are describing you might have a pair. Like I told you up there. I've had better luck placing a random female and random male together when trying to form pairs with gobies.