Jaguar cichlid: Male or Female?

Galactik · Nov 5, 2020

Rocksor said:
Juveniles shoal in numbers for safety. The 2 could be "helping each other" as they recognize the hierarchy between themselves. It looks like the 3rd is being told it is in the bottom. It doesn't mean pairing up, which doesn't happen until they are ready to breed.

Ahh that makes sense.

Perhaps letting them settle things out on their own for now might be the way to go then

If I dont get a pair out of those 3 maybe I can try to re introduce the bigger one when they are all bigger again.

Hopefully by then I'll have a better idea of their gender

Also... I noticed this batch of jags seem to have a blue shine on them sometimes. I never observed that with the bigger one.

Is that normal for jags? Maybe a location characteristic?

Thank you all for the help. I appreciate all the knowledge shared.

Rocksor · Nov 5, 2020

The blue shine can go away over time, or fade quite a bit. I know that catch locations can definitely have varying coloration, but unless you bought the jags from a vendor who directly imported them from the wild, you could just be seeing color variations from breeding jags from different catch locations.

Galactik · Nov 12, 2020

So I was able to re introduce the bigger jaguar to the remaining 3 smaller ones in hopes I can get a pair.

Things went a lot smoother this time - not sure if all the other precautions helped or just got lucky-

Anyhow the bigger jag is looking like a female to me based on some of the info you guys shared - what do you think?-

The other 3 are much smaller but seem to swim together with the bigger one until she decides to retreat to her spot. But not murder inent that I can see yet.

Guess now I just have to wait to see what happens and start separating until a pair is formed? If it does happens at all...

I'd love for the bigger one to pair up as she has really intense looking eyes

What yall think?

maxstillen · Nov 14, 2020

Yes your bigger one seems to look like female. The rest you just gotta give them time to grow and see what they are going to be in gender wise.

duanes · Nov 15, 2020

maxstillen said:
Yes your bigger one seems to look like female. The rest you just gotta give them time to grow and see what they are going to be in gender wise.

Agree with this, the one in your latest pics, looks female.

Galactik · Nov 20, 2020

Keeping my eye on this guy. Not sure if he's male but so far seems to be the one on top of the pecking order. Not afraid of the bigger Jag and chasing the other smaller ones.

Also noticed he keeps his colors on almost all of the time. Lot of blue on him as well.

maxstillen · Nov 20, 2020

This last one looks male for sure. Looks very nice.

Galactik · Nov 30, 2020

So im still keeping my eye on the same little guy. So far he's always held the same intensity in colors and the spots all over his body. Hes probably close to 4" now and getting very possessive over his pot territory. Won't let anyone or anything hang for long around it.

What do yall think? I'm starting to lean male as well.

I've gone back and forth on the stocking for this tank but I think I've made up my mind to simply keep a confirmed male jag solo. Based on what I've been reading I think a pair might be pushing it on my 125g. I think I'd rather have a more interactive solo fish than dealing with dividers and inevitable aggression during breeding.