Senroc Posted February 7, 2013 Report Share Posted February 7, 2013 I refound my fish passion again with the Cichlids. I was perusing the isles at Picses this morning making a list of the fish I'd like to add into the tank, once I'm able to fire up the larger tank later this year. My question is about sexing the fish. What should I be looking for when buying the fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJanzen Posted February 7, 2013 Report Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) This is a typical male fish, the females will look somewhat different. :rofl: Edited February 7, 2013 by AJanzen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal Posted February 7, 2013 Report Share Posted February 7, 2013 Lol. It depends a bit on the species and age of the fish. Some species are easy to sex when young, some are nearly impossible to sex no matter the age. On average, from what I have seen, the males from the same clutch are a bit bigger than the females and a bit more elongated. The adult males are a bit slimmer than the adult females. Sometimes simply watching a tank of sub-adults or adults there may already some that have paired up to help you guess at the gender. It really depends on species, can you at least give us a guess? or at least location? African? Mbuna? South America? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfong Posted February 8, 2013 Report Share Posted February 8, 2013 Mouthbrooders are somewhat easier, the males tend to have egg spots on their anal fin. Sometimes the male is more colorful than the females (eg. Aulonocaura sp.). Others are more difficult, some south americans, the males tends to have more pointed fins and the females more rounded fins. If they are really young, then the best bet is to get 6 so that you have an almost 100% change of getting a pair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senroc Posted February 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2013 This is a typical male fish, the females will look somewhat different. :rofl: Ah I see it now..lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senroc Posted February 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2013 Right now I just have a mix and match set of Cichlids. More for colour than anything else. Currently there is a jewel, yellow lab, red zebra, and I believe an Mbuna. The tank is on the smaller side so I didn't want to over do it. I'm not particuarly looking to breed them, but it would be neat I end up accidentally getting them to breed..lol. I have about a 60gal tank I'm going to test in the spring on the deck, but I'm thinking I might need to go bigger to do the kind of arrangement I'd like to have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sicklid Posted February 8, 2013 Report Share Posted February 8, 2013 (edited) Like Raymond said , with the peacocks (auloncara)the females are dimorphic , so they don't have the colour like the males. So if you want to just have colourful fish tank with no breeding you want to get males. If you are just setting up a tank and want it colourful there are plenty of different types of peacocks around and you could likely get over 10 different types in Calgary. Check with Harold (Fairdeal) and he could stock you up pretty well for a decent price. I would get them all at once , about the same size, and in a few months it would be an explosion of colour. Here is the link to a site that shows pictures of the different types http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=3 Have fun..... Edited February 8, 2013 by sicklid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senroc Posted February 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2013 Thanks everyone. That helps a bit for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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