What are the sex if my EBA
- Thread starter Jake g
- Start date
Welcome aboard
Male and Female EBA are difficult for most to sex.
Venting is the best method
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/venting-monogamous-sa-cichlids.753376/post-8480562
Much easier to tell when they start breeding behavior. If you have a male and a female they will inevitably attempt to breed.
As an educated guess i would say you have two females. A mature male will be larger than the females and develop a sort of bulged/ridged forehead similar to kok growth in other cichlids. If there was a male amongst your two he inevitably would have been compelled by hormones to start displaying male traits by now.
In this tank i had 3x females and 2x males. The alpha male can be seen mangling my last remaining plant to impress the nearby female. The other male around the top of the tank can easily be distinguished from his lady by the head shape.
I will admit though, i was never 100% that one of the females was not playing as a "sleeper male", posing as a female to avoid competition.
As
tlindsey
said, venting is indeed the most reliable method, but im not even sure how foolproof that is against sleeper males.
As an educated guess i would say you have two females. A mature male will be larger than the females and develop a sort of bulged/ridged forehead similar to kok growth in other cichlids. If there was a male amongst your two he inevitably would have been compelled by hormones to start displaying male traits by now.
In this tank i had 3x females and 2x males. The alpha male can be seen mangling my last remaining plant to impress the nearby female. The other male around the top of the tank can easily be distinguished from his lady by the head shape.
I will admit though, i was never 100% that one of the females was not playing as a "sleeper male", posing as a female to avoid competition.
As
tlindsey
said, venting is indeed the most reliable method, but im not even sure how foolproof that is against sleeper males.
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ok great! Thanks!Much easier to tell when they start breeding behavior. If you have a male and a female they will inevitably attempt to breed.
As an educated guess i would say you have two females. A mature male will be larger than the females and develop a sort of bulged/ridged forehead similar to kok growth in other cichlids. If there was a male amongst your two he inevitably would have been compelled by hormones to start displaying male traits by now.
In this tank i had 3x females and 2x males. The alpha male can be seen mangling my last remaining plant to impress the nearby female. The other male around the top of the tank can easily be distinguished from his lady by the head shape.
I will admit though, i was never 100% that one of the females was not playing as a "sleeper male", posing as a female to avoid competition.
As
I have a pair breeding atm. So.....the male is much larger. He will also be more silver or lighter blue in color. His dorsal fins will trail back further and be more pointed. And there egg and sperm tubes are shaped much diff. The female is much darker...like a black blue color. If you have a mated pair. The male will follow the female around the tank like a lost sheep. They will start to shimmy and shake with each other doing a kind of dance. They will then lay and fertilize eggs on a flat hard surface and once hatched will move fry to predug pits in sand. Mine also dug multiple pits. This is all the things I have watched the past week with my own acaras., after writing all this I just realized I hope your post is recent. I'm terrible for not watching that.
Also looking at your pics they may be a bit immature right now. They both look female but its very hard when they are small or could just be the way pics are. My male is about 4.5 to 5 inches the female is about 3.5 to 4. Looking at yours, both look female buy there fins (top and bottom dorsal trailing back to rear.)
Thanks ! Yes they are still small. Just reaching maybe 2 inch currently
Well I wish you luck. So far mine have been great parents. We actually went out and got a third thinking they were both males. Ended up getting lucky. Finger crossed you are lucky as well. My temperature is about 86 to 87. I also have discus I am hoping to breed. The warmer the temp the faster the eggs hatch and fish will grow. I picked up microworms and vinegar eels for feeding. I can't even see them as the parents moved out of site. Probably after a week I will try to remove them to a seperate tank or container.
Wish you all the best. Keep us up to date.
Wish you all the best. Keep us up to date.
