Hemichromis lifalili

[jbnebres]

I recently acquired some jewels from this very nice lady breeding them in Edison. There is a 3 inch female(vented), a 2 inch male(?), and one that is barely an inch.

Here are terrible pictures from isight. The female is hiding in the cave, while the other two are to the right.

I am pretty sure they are Hemichromis lifalili, please correct me if I am wrong.
I have several questions, hope you can help.

1. When is a jewel considered "mature"? (Age/Size)

2. Regarding the supposed male(2 inches), is he going to stay bright and light colored or is he too young for the time being? Better yet, am I going to see the redder tone only when he is ready to breed?

3. Are lifalilis supposed to be the aggressive variety of jewels? Or is it depending on the individual fish for the most part?

4. Lastly, are there any visible physical traits that differs between the sexes, or am I going have to vent the 2incher? Or is he still too young to determine?

Any advice would be truly appreciated.

 

[Titania]

Can't see the pics, so I can't help you with the ID. But I'll give you my experience with lifalilis.

1. My females max out on size at about 2-2.5". They spawn when they hit that, as well. My males are mature at about 4-4.5". At this age, they are bright red and have a different head profile than the females, making them very easy to tell apart.

2. My dominant males stay bright red 100% of the time. Non-dominant males stay light.

3. All jewels are aggressive...murderously so when it's spawning time.

4. At 2 inches, you'll be hard-pressed to sex. Like I mentioned before, as they get older, I notice the head profile changing. Females maintain their pointed heads, males get a slight hump.

 

[jbnebres]

thanks for the feedback. very helpful. sorry for the pics, dunno why they disappeared. ?
But yeah. I will ask the lady who bred them if she has any dominant males left over.
The female has been very colorful lately and pushy when it comes to her territory. We'll see.

One more question.

Do subservient males breed, or are they forced to be losers the rest of their lives.
I know my "male" is lightly colored right now, have you ever seen these fish attempt to breed with the females?

 

[Titania]

thanks for the feedback. very helpful. sorry for the pics, dunno why they disappeared. ?
But yeah. I will ask the lady who bred them if she has any dominant males left over.
The female has been very colorful lately and pushy when it comes to her territory. We'll see.

One more question.

Do subservient males breed, or are they forced to be losers the rest of their lives.
I know my "male" is lightly colored right now, have you ever seen these fish attempt to breed with the females?

My experience, with a group, has been that a single male will take over being dominant. One particular female will select him, and they will pair off. I've never seen them switch partners. But, remove one of the other males to a tank on its own with a couple of females, and you give another male the opportunity to become a dominant. I split up a big group recently, and as soon as I moved both of the other big males, they colored up instantly. One spawned with a female within a day of being moved. I had one male, however, that never colored up.

I'd be careful about breeding a male that has really crappy coloration, though. You don't want to dilute the color genes in your line. You may have gotten a bum male. In the wild, females select on color...you want to give them that opportunity.