Help sexing GT (sorry for another one of these threads)

[swifty]

LFS told me male, although after reading online I'm not sure. I read some things about a faint "H" leading to females, and that pointed fins/brighter colored wasn't always a good tell either because some females can develop those. The nuchual hump was another tell, but because my GT is still a sub-adult (about 5-6" total length) I'm not sure. I also saw him/her digging a pit last night as well, which I thought only females did.

Not looking into breeding, she/he will rule a tank alone so it's more of a want than a need to know basis.

Ignore the small white spot, that's a missing scale from the other day when he/she attempted to jump out of my tank and banged the forehead against my plastic hood (ordered a glass top yesterday to prevent this in the future).

 

[Manu8__too]

LFS told me male, although after reading online I'm not sure. I read some things about a faint "H" leading to females, and that pointed fins/brighter colored wasn't always a good tell either because some females can develop those. The nuchual hump was another tell, but because my GT is still a sub-adult (about 5-6" total length) I'm not sure. I also saw him/her digging a pit last night as well, which I thought only females did.

Not looking into breeding, she/he will rule a tank alone so it's more of a want than a need to know basis.

Ignore the small white spot, that's a missing scale from the other day when he/she attempted to jump out of my tank and banged the forehead against my plastic hood (ordered a glass top yesterday to prevent this in the future).

View attachment 943793

I've always used the fins/body shape as a reference when determining the gender of a young Gold Saum (not the length of the fin(s), but rather the reticulation). More often than not, females will not show a lot of color/reticulation in the fins (especially the dorsal). Males on the other hand, show a lot more pattern/color on the fins. That being said, I would say this is a young male.

 

[Jc1119]

All my male cichlids ferocious diggers so I wouldn't go by that. My male Festae pretty much never stops.

Fin shape looks a little more male than the female I had, but I had a silver saum.

Nice fish either way!


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[pigoo]

...but because my GT is still a sub-adult (about 5-6" total length) I'm not sure. I also saw him/her digging a pit last night as well, which I thought only females did.

Digging is definitely done by males & females...so not a good indicator of gender. My understanding is that GT's grow pretty slowly...so 5-6" isn't too young/small...unless you know it's exact age (I have a 10" GT).

Good luck!