Sexing Dragonfaced Pipes

[nastronaut]

Hey there,

I've reviewed all the posts on this topic but felt I'd make a 2020 version as I'm having some confusion.

So I finally got my pipefish pair! Yay! My LFS got them in and I saw them eating well and being active at the store. The two I went with were acting quite "paired", following each other around, touching tails, and only splitting up for quick bites - seeming to hunt pods together.

We looked at their underbellies at the shop and one was very light, assuming female, and one was a darker yellow spot, assuming male. Though I didn't see the blue tint.

Once home I've obviously been staring at them a lot and noticed the one with a lighter belly (bigger of the two) does have two light yellow dots, not completely white belly, and the smaller one has the bigger and darker spot on its belly.

I'll try to get some pictures and update. Just curious of anyone who has more experience sexing the pipes has any input.

Overall I'm super excited to have them in the tank! They're doing a number on my pod population already and seem very active and healthy.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[nastronaut]

Presumably male.

Presumably female?

Hanging out together.

 

[minus9]

Males will have noticeable yellow/orange spots on either side of the vent, females do not have them. The pic above noted as female is correct.

 

[nastronaut]

Males will have noticeable yellow/orange spots on either side of the vent, females do not have them. The pic above noted as female is correct.

Awesome! Pretty sure they're male and female then :)

 

[ThePurple12]

Thanks for the info, this might be useful for me someday!

 

[minus9]

This should help. Males look like this.

 

[nastronaut]

This should help. Males look like this.

Nice pic! My male has spots just like the one you posted. Oddly I wasn't even seeing the darker "blue" spot on the male but today it's looking a lot more colored and pouch-like.

The female has very small yellow spots, which are much less noticable. (Which is what threw me for a loop)

More pics of them together from today:

 

[minus9]

Nice pic! My male has spots just like the one you posted. Oddly I wasn't even seeing the darker "blue" spot on the male but today it's looking a lot more colored and pouch-like.

The female has very small yellow spots, which are much less noticable. (Which is what threw me for a loop)

More pics of them together from today:

Nice! Females do have markings, but they're a lot smaller or extremely pale, which kinda get lost in their normal markings/coloration.

 

[nastronaut]

Nice! Females do have markings, but they're a lot smaller or extremely pale, which kinda get lost in their normal markings/coloration.

Thanks for the insights minus!

Super helpful for myself and surely other future people looking to sex their pipes.

They've been doing a number on my pod population today. Still have tons but getting my culturing going asap!