Best way to purchase males?

Tunabish

Exodon
MFK Member
Jun 15, 2021
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Mississippi
I’m relatively new to Fishkeeping and have purchased most of my NW cichlids off eBay which my experience has landed me a couple tanks full of females. Buying fish even at 2-3” are sold as “unsexed” seems to be a way to off load females? At any rate how do y’all go about securing males? Buy a group and hope for a male then rehome the others? Or is there a place you can purchase gender specific? Guess it’s difficult to do when you are purchasing them at 1-2”. Thanks for any advice
 
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Ogertron3000

Potamotrygon
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Nov 6, 2017
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At that size it’s almost impossible to tell male or female in most SA or CA cichlids, sometimes the biggest meanest fish will in the tank will be a good choice to pick if you want a male.
It’s probably best to go to an actual shop and pick your own rather than buy online unless someone can recommend a reliable vendor
 

fishdance

Redtail Catfish
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Jan 30, 2007
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The most foolproof method is to buy 12 or 20 fish, grow them out and pick out the very best. Even if you hand pick from prize breeders or award winning brood stock, you never know how a fish will turn out. And to get that very special fish, it's well worth the price of 12 or 20 fish. Not all fish are equal so not all fish are worth the listed price. You learn much more including personality and individual fish intelligence when you invest the time to outgrow. And growing 20 fish at once is much faster than buying one, growing it then deciding to grow another.

It's very easy to offload bigger sized unwanted fish, usually for much more than what you bought them for when smaller but don't be afraid to cull them too.
 
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Tunabish

Exodon
MFK Member
Jun 15, 2021
59
98
21
49
Mississippi
The most foolproof method is to buy 12 or 20 fish, grow them out and pick out the very best. Even if you hand pick from prize breeders or award winning brood stock, you never know how a fish will turn out. And to get that very special fish, it's well worth the price of 12 or 20 fish. Not all fish are equal so not all fish are worth the listed price. You learn much more including personality and individual fish intelligence when you invest the time to outgrow. And growing 20 fish at once is much faster than buying one, growing it then deciding to grow another.

It's very easy to offload bigger sized unwanted fish, usually for much more than what you bought them for when smaller but don't be afraid to cull them too.
thank you...this seems particularly helpful and kind of what I was guessing would be the case. I just love learning and applying that knowledge it is so rewarding in fishkeeping...an incredibly frustrating but those learning experiences are invaluable so thank you
 
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