firemouth gill flaring

[rhettdepauw]

hey all, I had a question as to weather or not female firemouth cichlids also display this "gill flaring," that the males do. I recently purchased a few with high hopes of obtaining a pair, but was somewhat dissapointed to see them all flaring there gills periodically. I was under the impression that only males had this ability.

these are pictures of two different specimens that i have had for less than two weeks. sorry about the low quality.



female hopeful



male hopeful

 

[Donny417]

Both males and females do this behavior. I have a breeding pair of jags, and they are both some gill flarin' mo-fos.

By the way, I think your fish are very easy to sex and I would agree with your conclusions of which is male and female. Blue gill plates, color dimorphism, fin elongation; all make the choice pretty clear (at least in my eyes). Someone chime in if I'm smoking crack.

 

[klmt]

yep both will flare and it does appear that you have a male and female.