MR OR MRS SNAPPER

[beatsworkin]

can anyone out there pls tell us how to tell us how to sex these fish(snapper) ;D
thanks Shane

[devocean]

Give em your credit card and watch what happens

[saphire]

Yes if it spends lots of money on useless silly toys its a male fish.
saphire.

[beatsworkin]

come on guys and girls you can do better than that

[dasher]

Give em a mobile phone. :o

[Big_Kev]

If it has pink flippers its a female.

[snappa]

:o u can tell by their eyes.... ???

[mal-laurie]

i only know about the undersize ones,if you kiss them before you release them the females will kiss you back.

cheers mal

[Volvo]

Just read through your post n gotta be honest mate, wouldnt have a clue as never tried ???...

[matthill80]

red wine works for me mate ;D ;D ;D


cheers matt

[Angla]

Take it to bed ....if its cold ....its female

anonymous

[bignick]

If your wallet gets emptied of all that is yours and your mobile phone has been interfered with (ie. who's on your numbers list), it is definitely female. If there is still any doubt, take the fish on a long highway touring drive. If the fish has to go to the toilet 5 minutes after stopping at a servo and getting going again, guess what: FEMALE!!!

Cheers,
NICK.

[beatsworkin]

has anyone got anything serious to say as i would like to know

[jugs]

I thought Snappa was a fella??? ??? ;)

[Willo]

I have found generally the Snapper with the big Bumps and the bigUgly Nose are generally Male the Snapper with the more streamlined Heads usually turn out to be Females. This theroy turns out to be right when you gut them and find out wether they are rowed up Female, or have the Melts Males

[once_bitten]

when shane asked the question i was curios as to the true answer
and im happy to find it
now all i have to do is figure out which one is true

[Bad_Bubby]

Its easy to tell the difference...position the anal fin over your teeth and squeeze. Male ones have the strawberry taste ;).

[HAZ]

Don't squeeze too hard or you'll get chocolate !!! ;D

[Kiktz]

Bad_Bubby
You are in need of help........

[bidkev]

Some brilliant replies :-)

I really don't know mate. I do know that of several tropical freshwater species such as red devils and malawi and rift valley cichlids who grow bumps, only the male grows a bump on it's noggin'.

The lump on a snapper's bonce is supposed to enlarge with age and is used as an indicator of that and not sex, but I have seen some big snapper with no lump. Other folk say that there are too many snapper with bumps for 'em all to be male. I have a theory (someone can correct me here) that it may well be that females are "spent" from spawning and pop their clogs long before they get to a big enough size to grow the bump (if in fact they do) and perhaps all snapper with bumps may well be male. It is recognised by some, in fish keeping circles, that most species of females will die long before males because of the toll exacted by mating and spawning regularly. Then again though, some female cichlids will kill their partners if they're not up to the job.

I've never seen the bump id used in regards to Snapper but if there's no other means of id and in light of the fact that in many species only the male grows a bump, then I'd personally go with this unless it can be disproven.

cheers

kev

[beatsworkin]

thanks for ur replie kev i used to have african cichlids and some of the fish were easy to tell because the females have little colour such as the electric blues its only the male that have the bright blue colour and the females just a tinge of blue the reason i am asking this question is that i have caught a few snapper around the 60cm mark and some have big bumps and and some not

[Leo_N.]

I have found generally the Snapper with the big Bumps and the bigUgly Nose are generally Male the Snapper with the more streamlined Heads usually turn out to be Females. This theroy turns out to be right when you gut them and find out wether they are rowed up Female, or have the Melts Males

I used to work in a snapper hatchery and found this to be a very reliable method of identifying the difference. Males also get a red band around their eyes (looks a bit like a red mask) when they are in spawning condition, but when in spawning condition they also release milt very readily when you run your fingers down their sides towards genital and anal openings.

As for the size thing, it may be the case that females die earlier but I haven't seen any data on this. I think it is more likely that size is limited by energetic inputs into reproduction. It is very common for fish to slow their growth dramatically when they reach sexual maturity, and this is more pronounced in female fish because of the increased nutrients invested in eggs.

[caloundra]

don't know about snapper's
but with mud crabs
the boys have mud d!cks
and the girls have mud flaps