Male or Female

[smokeythebair]

I think its a female but im new to this. I had eggs in my tank and i don't know how. I have african and south american none of the same. The tank was running for 4months and then i saw eggs so i didn't buy a pregnant fish. Is it possible for a south and african cichlid to mate??

 

[smokeythebair]

convict m or f

 

[Dark Jester]

Convict females will have an orange patch on their bellies. I don't see orange on yours, but the pic is a little blurry. Here's some pics of mine:

Male:

Female:

I think its a female but im new to this. I had eggs in my tank and i don't know how. I have african and south american none of the same. The tank was running for 4months and then i saw eggs so i didn't buy a pregnant fish. Is it possible for a south and african cichlid to mate??

It is possible for some cichlids to cross and form hybrids. Females may also lay eggs without a male present. The eggs die because there is no male to fertilize them.

 

[smokeythebair]

Thanks. I think hes a male then. It has spots on the back fin and bottom fin. Someone said that they are suppossed to look like eggs so the females go to the male is that true?? I noticed all my africans have white spots there and my convict has black ones. is this true that the spots mean male???

 

[smokeythebair]

What is the mix you should have in a tank if they are different kinds like 1 male to 3 female????

 

[Bazinga]

looks male

 

[Dark Jester]

Don't know about the spots, never really looked at that before. Some cichlids are easy to tell apart. Other cichlids can be difficult to tell without venting them, but convicts are fairly easy. Females will pick up the orange belly as small as 1".


If looking for a breeding pair of most cichlids, generally 2-3 females and a male will get ya a pair pretty fast. Once a pair forms, you usually want to take the other females out or the pair will harass them til they die from stress. With convicts you really only need 1 of each, they will pair up almost 100% of the time. Lot of running jokes about cons breeding:

• They'll spawn in the bag on the way home.
• They'll spawn on a wet paper towel.
• Just add water.
• etc, etc, etc.