Sexing Africans

[Raven]

The fry i bought at the auction back in october are alot older looking now and i was wondering how do i tell which are male and female. With the acies their are slight differences in colour, but with my princesses and albinos they all look the same. Only one has died, and it was a princess surprisingly, that was picked on alot for being the smaller of the 4. How much older do they have to be before i have to start worrying about fry in the tank?

[malawi_luver]

The best way to sex is to vent

http://www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex.htm

but i dont think you can their tooooo small...

[Raven]

yah i think they are too small to tell yet, the biggest fish in the tank ( a acie) it just over a inch and a half. How bif will they have to be for me to tell in that manor?

[Vallisneria]

Here is some info about sexing the fish you have

Sexing Pseudotropheus acei can be difficult. Both sexes are similarly colored, and both have dummy egg spots. In fact, the only way to be 100% sure on their sexing is either to vent them or to observe them breeding. There are, however, some very good rules of thumb to go by. Males tend to have more vibrant colors. They are also usually darker as well. In general males are thicker and deeper bodied then the females. The very best guide to use when attempting to sex an acei is their behavior. Males tend to flare their fins at passing fish, especially other males. Females, on the other hand, tend to ignore the other fish in the tank and stay in the school. Another good indicator is their adult size. Males reach a size of up to six inches while females usually top out at about four inches. Be aware, though, that adult size is not foolproof, small males do exist.

http://www.xdeleon.com/hccc/articles/acei.php

Sexing brichardi is not an easy task. There are some guidelines to sexing them but Brichardi tend to push and break these rules of the sexes often. Venting is not the easiest task either being small lamprologines. Here are a few pointers and hints that may suggest male or female.

1: Males have a more pronounced sloped bulge on the forehead while females tend to have a more straight forehead.

2: males often have longer lyred tails than their female counterparts.

3: this way has personally been easiest way for me to tell. In good quality live stock males have easily more noticeably pronounced gill plate markings while females is slightly more subdued in comparison

http://www.cichliddepot.com/african/brichardi.html

As for your albino(what species of albino is it?) you probablycan tell sex from looks. YOu will probably have to wait and see when they start breeding.

If you want more info do a google search. Type in the species name and "sexing" and lots of helpful links come up.

[Raven]

thanks alot, the info looks to be realy helpful. Either way, i think im going to have to wait till they grow up a bit more. I really hope i get a bigger tank too, how long till they out grow the 30 g? lol.....