Which of these 2 ladies should I breed.

[Red Cichlids]

I like the first one better. She looks like she has developed quickly and put on weight easily. The golden one looks a little stunted, as noted by the size of the eye in comparison with the rest of the body.

One thing that breeders can do accidentally is select animals (of any type) for breeding that are not the most vigorous, and over generations end up producing stock that are not as large and strong as wild caught ones. This doesn't happen in the wild with natural selection, unless the least wary and most aggressive eaters end up getting picked off by larger predators when they should be more attentive to their environment.

The first one is big and stout, and has a great kok for a female. I would breed off of her unless you are specifically trying to go for the golden-based or red texas look.

One final note, and this comes from a quarter century of breeding dogs, is that siblings will often produce offspring that look like their own siblings. In other words, the golden one will likely end up producing some, or even most, offspring looking like the big one and visa versa.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

I like the first one better. She looks like she has developed quickly and put on weight easily. The golden one looks a little stunted, as noted by the size of the eye in comparison with the rest of the body.

One thing that breeders can do accidentally is select animals (of any type) for breeding that are not the most vigorous, and over generations end up producing stock that are not as large and strong as wild caught ones. This doesn't happen in the wild with natural selection, unless the least wary and most aggressive eaters end up getting picked off by larger predators when they should be more attentive to their environment.

The first one is big and stout, and has a great kok for a female. I would breed off of her unless you are specifically trying to go for the golden-based or red texas look.

One final note, and this comes from a quarter century of breeding dogs, is that siblings will often produce offspring that look like their own siblings. In other words, the golden one will likely end up producing some, or even most, offspring looking like the big one and visa versa.

Yeah the big girl was the biggest one of the whole batch while the lil one was one of the smaller ones. The big girl is shy most of the time only she has another fish to bully. The small one is just full of personality and attitude compared to her big sis but she is likely growth stunted as you mentioned. I know for a fact that the smallest one from the whole batch was growth stunted as it stayed .5in for over 4 months straight.
The only problem I face with the big girl is that she is just so big already that it's getting near impossible to find a male big enough for her.