Need help to ID the gender of the multifasciatus individuals.

[rockarolla70]

Hello all,
I need a help in identifying these 10 multies gender, these are the ones I have with me past 4 months in my 11 gal Tankanyikan tank specially for multies & 8 of them are either 1 inch or 1.5 inch. I just want to be sure if I have the right balance of male and females. Every pic in the google drive provided here are numbered so that it will be easier for you folks to just quote the number and mention if the individual is a male or a female.

Help appreciated in advance !!

Multies Pics

 

[tlindsey]

Hello all,
I need a help in identifying these 10 multies gender, these are the ones I have with me past 4 months in my 11 gal Tankanyikan tank specially for multies & 8 of them are either 1 inch or 1.5 inch. I just want to be sure if I have the right balance of male and females. Every pic in the google drive provided here are numbered so that it will be easier for you folks to just quote the number and mention if the individual is a male or a female.

Help appreciated in advance !!

Multies Pics

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RD.
james99

 

[RD.]

Sorry, never kept this species. I would only be guessing based on typical male/female features.

 

[Milingu]

I am keeping a group and I can tell male and female apart by behavior and size difference according to the age (I might lose track of that after several generations).
When only seeing a single individual it is really difficult to tell when you don't know the age.

Guessing beside these difficulties I would say:

10 female
9 jung male
8 female
7 male
6 female
5 male
4 male
3 female
2 male
1 male

 

[RD.]

I was pretty close to above, 4, 4a, and 1, males I would think as well. A few more sub dom looking males, and the rest females.

 

[rockarolla70]

Thanks tlindsey RD. & Milingu for all the assistance in helping me in finding out the genders. Highly appreciated. Now this brings me to another question. I will explain the history ...

1) I bought all the 10 from a breeder, they all were together past 4 months & all had their piece of real estate (approx 3 shells each) in the tank.
2) Last Monday that is 1st Oct #10 (female) was banished from the group on that afternoon & all of them were pushing this individual to the top column of the tank.
3) Sensing the danger that this individual might jump out of the tank due to bullying from other, I fished it out and I put it into to a makeshift emergency tank (as you see in the pic)
4) Later I identified one corner of the tank where no shells were there so I placed some shells on 5th (Saturday) night when the light were out & when all were in their shells & re-introduced #10 (female) back into the tank.
5) My presumption was that by giving a new patch for this individual and re-introducing it back when everyone were in their shell, they would accept this individual.
6) Days breaks & once everyone was out, they pushed #10 back to the top column of the tank and constantly bulling. So am back to square one where I have fished out this individual and put it back to the make-shift tank again.

- After so many days of co-existence why this change in the tank ??
- My question is if #10 is female, why are they pushing her out of the colony when there are many males ??
- Is there better way or the right way to re-introduce this individual back to the tank ??

 

[Milingu]

I had single individuals pushed out of the group several times. But there were always enough hiding spots (they also hide under rocks or in small caves).
This normally happened when all shells were occupied. One female can occupy several close shells while breeding in only one. Breeding females with freshly hatched fry can be very aggressive towards other females.
After 2 - 3 days they were able to join again (females), they found a new territory (males) or they managed to mix with some bigger juveniles hiding in the group.
I never had to take one out of the tank.

I would still say 10 is female. But who knows. The fish looks still young.

How big is the tank?



Here are some pictures of my group for comparison.

Females:




Males:



Male in the background, female in front:

 

[RD.]

OP stated tank is 11 gallons, so perhaps a bit tight in footprint size for enough territory?

 

[Milingu]

Sorry, didn't see that. With that size I would put only 1/3 maximum 2/3 individuals in the tank to start the colony.
When the fish are all from the same batch I would go with 1 or 2 big and 3 small ones.

 

[rockarolla70]

Sorry, didn't see that. With that size I would put only 1/3 maximum 2/3 individuals in the tank to start the colony.
When the fish are all from the same batch I would go with 1 or 2 big and 3 small ones.

Yeah it is small I must admit. As I had told when I started this tank in separate post that if this works then I will be going for a bigger tank & that will be only by end of November. A 3feet tank (130 ltr) exclusive for these multies. When I started with these cichlids I was not sure about perusing with this fish, so it was more or less a experiment tank. But now I am dig these cichlids so will be going for a big tank. Till then I should live with this tank, so what I understand is that I can't expect any offspring's of these till I've my big tank right.