How to sex a Paratilapia Polleni?
- Thread starter slowef
- Start date
Found this:
Marakely are easily sexed. Males grow up to a third again as large as females. At a given age they are longer-bodied than females, have a much more rounded cranial profile and sport longer, more pointed soft dorsal and anal fins. These distinctions are clearly evident in fish six months old and become more pronounced with increasing age. Color differences are less marked. According to Raminosoa (1979), the pattern of blue and gold spangling is more extensive in males than in females. This observation proved true for the grandparents of my fish as well (Stiassny and Gerstner, 1992). However, Bardin (1983) presents a photograph of a sexually active pair of P. polleni in which the female is clearly the more extensively spangled of the two. Among the numerous descendants of the pair studied by Stiassny and Gerstner, the sexes are either indistinguishable in this regard or else the female sports more spangling than the male. Given such a degree of interand intrapopulational variability, color pattern does not appear to be a reliable indicator of sex in this species.
Source: http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=76
Here's another good read on spawning them
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/spawning_paratilapia_polleni.html
Marakely are easily sexed. Males grow up to a third again as large as females. At a given age they are longer-bodied than females, have a much more rounded cranial profile and sport longer, more pointed soft dorsal and anal fins. These distinctions are clearly evident in fish six months old and become more pronounced with increasing age. Color differences are less marked. According to Raminosoa (1979), the pattern of blue and gold spangling is more extensive in males than in females. This observation proved true for the grandparents of my fish as well (Stiassny and Gerstner, 1992). However, Bardin (1983) presents a photograph of a sexually active pair of P. polleni in which the female is clearly the more extensively spangled of the two. Among the numerous descendants of the pair studied by Stiassny and Gerstner, the sexes are either indistinguishable in this regard or else the female sports more spangling than the male. Given such a degree of interand intrapopulational variability, color pattern does not appear to be a reliable indicator of sex in this species.
Source: http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=76
Here's another good read on spawning them
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/spawning_paratilapia_polleni.html
I remember reading those articles, and then finding another website that said that there are accounts of it not being exactly correct. Keep in mind this was only a few people studies. I noticed with the pair that I picked up that one had more spangling, darker color, different body shape.. turned out, they were both females. I sold the other off..
I still really have no clue how to sex the Paratilapia other then getting them to spawn (which my females did many times) but the finnage and body shape might not always be exact..
I still really have no clue how to sex the Paratilapia other then getting them to spawn (which my females did many times) but the finnage and body shape might not always be exact..