Help sexing my Zonatus

[LIGNARI]

Here are pics of my Zonatus.
He/She is about 6".

Male or female...what do you guys think???


http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g205/SOFIKO/zon_2.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g205/SOFIKO/zon_1.jpg

[ShadowStryder]

Cant tell from those pics. I could not tell with my male till he started breeding
with my female Bifa. I figured he was male when he started developing his nuchal and dropped his tube.

Here is my male if it helps. Male will have slim tube angled back, female will
have fat tube slightly curved down. See pic 3 not very good but can clearly
see the vent tube.

[Casper2000]

Woh never seen a yellow zonatus before. Looks kinda bifasciatus there. Nice fish

[Modest_Man]

Woh never seen a yellow zonatus before. Looks kinda bifasciatus there. Nice fish

The yellow one is a bifa.

Don Conkel told me that female zonatus have a metallic dorsal fin while males don't. Here's my old female for comparison.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r265/Haole_Built/dscn2496.jpg

[Freakdaddy]

Hi,
I've just sold my breeding pair of these.To be honest you cant sex them until they breed. what I had considered the the male by virtue of being bigger and better coloured turned out to be the female;)

you can see her laying feeder eggs in this vid.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jVJzYuuDQV4

[Casper2000]

Modest_ were you the one with the really mean zonatus? I remember someone talking about their zonatus terrorizing their tank.

[Modest_Man]

Yeah, she was the single most relentless fish I've ever owned. Pick one out of the crowd and harass it to death, then start the process over.

[Au Duong Phong]

Cant tell from those pics. I could not tell with my male till he started breeding
with my female Bifa. I figured he was male when he started developing his nuchal and dropped his tube.

Here is my male if it helps. Male will have slim tube angled back, female will
have fat tube slightly curved down. See pic 3 not very good but can clearly
see the vent tube.
Your's looks long like a hartwegi.

[darthodo]

Hi,
I've just sold my breeding pair of these.To be honest you cant sex them until they breed. what I had considered the the male by virtue of being bigger and better coloured turned out to be the female;)

you can see her laying feeder eggs in this vid.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jVJzYuuDQV4

The male seems to have more red on the dorsal and caudal fin.

[LIGNARI]

Thanks for your replies.

I'll be loaning it to a friend who has has several of these.

Hopefully, it will pair off with another and I'll definitely find out male/female when it starts breeding.

[nutty]

Your's looks long like a hartwegi.
I thought the same, looks a lot like my old fish which was never 100% identified.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd49/nutty-73/IMG_0691-1.jpg
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd49/nutty-73/IMG_1889.jpg

[orbit]

All of these fish are beautiful! Especially nutty's! Look at the colors! Awesome.

[LIGNARI]

Female. She laid her first batch of eggs yesterday.

[orbit]

Female. She laid her first batch of eggs yesterday.

Wow! Cool. Is there anything in the tank with her? Babies?

[LIGNARI]

She's in a community tank where breeding was never the plan.
I just let things run their course (and eventually the sailfin gibbi did its night-time raid).

[orbit]

At least you now know, cool fish! Id like to have one... Of course.... LOL