Patsfan34 asked:
I have 11 african cichlids and I was wondering how can I tell the gals from the guys? I have only had them for about a month and they are doing well, they have plenty of caves but there is one who seems to be a real bully. However, he does get challenged by only one other, but that one gets along with the rest. I just wanna know hw to tell the sexes.
I have 11 african cichlids and I was wondering how can I tell the gals from the guys? I have only had them for about a month and they are doing well, they have plenty of caves but there is one who seems to be a real bully. However, he does get challenged by only one other, but that one gets along with the rest. I just wanna know hw to tell the sexes.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:55 am
every cichlid has different features. some are really hard to tell while others are pretty simple. many male mouthbrooder cichlids will have spots called “eggspots on” the anal fin. usually males are more colorful, but this again depends on species. males usually have longer fins.
July 5th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
We have to know what cichlids you have before anyone can help,there are hundreds if not thousands of African cichlids and without know which ones you have it’s impossible to be any help.If you don’t know the names of them try describing them, posting a picture or visiting the profile section on one of these web sites.
July 8th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Without knowing their species it is very difficult to be able to tell you. Sometimes the males are more colorful, sometimes the females are. Sometimes the male is a totally different color than the females. Usually most will be the same color as juveniles. Males tend to have what are called egg spots on their anal fin. Egg spots are the small white or yellow spots on the fin under their tail fin. Males usually tend to be more aggressive, so the bully is probably a male. Cichlids can be very territorial and some don’t mix well with others. This is why you should do research on the fish before you get them, that way you know what to expect from them and know what you can put with each other. Here is some sites that can help you determine the type of cichlids you have and will show you some pics of males and females to help you sex them easier.
And some cichlids like angel fish, you cant tell whether are male or female until they usually get ready to spawn. Convict males tend to be bigger and have a hump on their heads when mature, and their females will have orange-red bellies and stay smaller. Jack dempsey males will have hardly any blue speckles on their lower jaw under the gill line, while females tend to have more. Kenyi males will be yellow when mature and have egg spots on their anal fin, while females will stay a blue color and not have the spots. Male red zebras will can either be blue where the females stay orange, or the males will stay orange but have more egg spots on the anal fin and won’t be as brightly colored as the female. German blue ram males will have their first couple of spines on top longer than the ones after, and won’t have any blue in their black spot, where females will have blue speckles in their black spot and the top spines will be shorter, plus having a slightly pink belly which darkens when getting ready to spawn. These are all cichlids and there are hundreds more species, so knowing how to tell which ones of yours are males and females will be tough. Also when you are dealing with most african and tanganyikan species, you will want to have at least 3 females to one male if you want the female to survive the males wrath. Yet species like convicts, rams, angels, jack dempseys will all choose a partner and should only be kept in pairs.
Edit: Then there is the process of venting. But it can be difficult to do if you don’t know what you are doing. What you do with this is take them out of the water using a net. You will have to turn them upside down. Next you will see two holes at the back, one will be their anal hole and the other will be their sex hole. The anal hole is the one closer to their head. For females, the sex hole will be larger than the anal hole kinda like Oo and for males they will be about the same size like oo. It is the only for sure way of telling males from females.
July 9th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Like CC said, you can’t give any quality input here based on African Cichlid alone. You need to know the species. Several species are sexed much differently. I can say this much but it’s very vanilla. The most accurate reliable method of sexing is venting. I don’t vent my fish, but even in places like cichlid-forum, of which I am a member of, you’ll find people say this is the most reliable method.
Many Africans do get sexed by colors. As a general “rule” the males are the ones that show the color. Typically, the more plain looking the fish, the better the odds it’s a female. This doesn’t hold true of all species, which is why I say a general rule. Now if you could list your species, or even better, post some shots of them, that would be a huge help.
July 11th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
It depends on the species, africans are very different, alot of males have the fake egg spots on their anal fin although some females also have a few, reasearch the species you have and you should find your answer.