Commonly asked questions about Zebra Plecos

   
The male zebra is half as wide as he is long , has whiskers over his gill plate
and the pectoral fins are different .
The best place to see the difference in fins is at planet catfish , in the catfish of the month  archives  under zebra pleco's
 
Generally the male is big all over
 
The female has a much slimmer head
she looks smaller even though she may be the same length as a male.
She has no whiskers.
 
If you look at a group of zebras from above the tank it is much easier to sex them
 
Even in very young zebras say 1 inch long you can see the difference of the sexes as long as you are comparing the same length fish.
   
All zebra pleco have individual markings, so it is easy to tell the apart as the strips are like finger prints in humans.
 
With some they may be only slightly different but you soon learn to tell your own zebras apart.
 
Even as hatchlings with large yolk sacs they already have there stripes but being quiet small it is harder to differentiate them till they are a bit bigger.