ornatus sexing?

[rjkz28]

hey guys i have 2 ornatus that i got from rapps at around 4in male and female. what features do i look for in these fish to start telling them apart. they have def grown and gotten comfortable in the 150. ive had them for about a month or now.

 

[balton777]

Bump-

Other than venting, I have no idea. But would like to know too if anyone else does.

 

[Cichlidfever]

Yeah it would be nice to be able to tell the difference, hopefully someone will respond with the answer.

 

[NOLAGT]

Not really sure but the females are the ones that would show some bars from time to time. Don't know if thats at a certian size or not.

 

[balton777]

Apparently there is very little known about Ornatum.

 

[NorCaliCichlids]

I'd sex them similiarly to how you sex there cousins Festae and Atromaculatus. Look for the bar in the dorsal fin.

 

[NOLAGT]

This is my 7-8" male from my iphone. No shot of the females yet but at this size the females dont have the red on the tail fin...less blue spangling...and will show some bars (not sure if the males does as well just yet)

 

[balton777]

I've been thinking about this. When I bought mine, I only ordered two from Rapps and I asked him for a male and female. He kindly sent them to me without a word about them being difficult to sex. I'm pretty sure I have a male and female too. One is a little bigger than the other and is darker, more bluish in base coloration and has more spots. The other is smaller, has a more yellowish base coloration and less blue spots. I think the bigger, darker one is the male and the yellow one is the female.

 

[NOLAGT]

I've been thinking about this. When I bought mine, I only ordered two from Rapps and I asked him for a male and female. He kindly sent them to me without a word about them being difficult to sex. I'm pretty sure I have a male and female too. One is a little bigger than the other and is darker, more bluish in base coloration and has more spots. The other is smaller, has a more yellowish base coloration and less blue spots. I think the bigger, darker one is the male and the yellow one is the female.

I think your right. The 3 larger ones I have is just like that. Even the two smaller ones I have that are only about 1.5" see to possibly be a male and female becasue of those same reasons. Not so much the base color...but one definitely has more blue spotting than the other. Also the one with less spotting seems to keep the barring pattern more than the other...the other seems to be more black blotching.

 

[NOLAGT]

Here is a good side by side of my male (right) and female (left) at 7-8". They were biting at each other through the egg crate (fingers crossed)