A visual guide to sexing new world cichlids
- Thread starter duanes
- Start date
Here are parachromis managuense...
Pics of my two together prior to spawning...the observation that fishman09 made on basic female parachromis patterns is evident..in that pic the male is about 7 inches the female about 5....
In the first pic of the male solo zoom in to see his pointy male vent a couple of spaces before his anal fin starts..
In the female solo pic you can see her rounded vent...it was more prominent than usual as she was preparing to lay eggs...
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Pics of my two together prior to spawning...the observation that fishman09 made on basic female parachromis patterns is evident..in that pic the male is about 7 inches the female about 5....
In the first pic of the male solo zoom in to see his pointy male vent a couple of spaces before his anal fin starts..
In the female solo pic you can see her rounded vent...it was more prominent than usual as she was preparing to lay eggs...
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Duanes here is a side profile of the previously posted Cuban. Very male in my book
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I think it's important to note in most of the fish posted here I've seen sub dominant males look female, I've seen proven males with black blotches on the dorsal... Don't assume it's 100% just based on visual characteristics.
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I agree with Clockwork, that your Cuban looks to be a male.
I also agree that sub-dominant males often masquerade/appear as females.
When an alpha male Paratilapia male I had died, another one in the tank, that I thought was female had a dramatic head profile change, and grew exponentially almost over night.
I wondered if she changed sex to fill the void.
I also agree that sub-dominant males often masquerade/appear as females.
When an alpha male Paratilapia male I had died, another one in the tank, that I thought was female had a dramatic head profile change, and grew exponentially almost over night.
I wondered if she changed sex to fill the void.
Thanks Duanes and aclockwork. Here's an example of male and female Paratheraps Hartwegi. Top is male, notice the larger head profile and much better coloration on the male where the female has a much more sloped head.
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I agree with this 100%. While apistos are well known for their 'sneaker males' (males masquerading as females), I have noted other cichlids (both SA and CA) sometimes doing this to defuse aggression ... most notably in my own experience, convict males that keep the orange spotting on the abdomen until removed from a tank with a dominant male (at the 4" range).
duanes - Congrats on the sticky!!
I just had some Herichthys bartoni mature, and it is now fairly easy to see the difference
female
male
female
male
