Is this a firemouth cichlid??
- Thread starter Scorpio99
- Start date
It's about 4 inches now, is there a reason why it does not show much colors, or does it normally show colors in adult stage?
Stress will affect its coloration. I've had a relaxed firemouth show much better colors on even just play sand.
Cichlids color in general are effected by multiple things. Stress, Food, tank mates, environment, the presence of opposite sex, even the color of the substrate or the lack there of will change the color or intensity of the fish.
Is it possible to identify the gender of my firemouth cichlid without having to do venting?
In general males tend to be slightly slimmer and have more pointed dorsal and anal fins with brighter and more red on their throats and gill plates
Where as females will have thicker bodies with more rounded dorsal and anal fins, with slightly less red color.
It’s hard to tell from the picture.
But I’m going to take a guess that this is a male.
It looks to be stress and the color is washed out a bit.
If you want to see the best out of firemouths I would make sure that they are the dominant fish in the tank.
Firemouth are tough fish and will defend a territory but as cichlids go their not that aggressive so if there are other more aggressive fish in the tank the firemouth will probably try to remain subtle and blend in to hide.
A darker substrate will help intensify the color as well.