sexing a texas cichlid

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FishFreak95

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 3, 2009
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New Mexico
Ive tried the venting thing and couldnt do it. i heard that one of the sexes usually have a black spot on the dorsal fin. and mine has a black spot on the dorsal fin. what do you think it is?

also it might be a pearl scale.

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I heard the black spot theory, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I bought a group of four carpentis and the fastest growing, and largest, has a black spot on the dorsal. However I've heard the males are bigger and grow faster so I don't know. A pic sure would make things a little easier.
 
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pretty much 99% of the time, females will have the black spot in the dorsal, also look at the body structure, males will have a taller chunkier body, with a somewhat pronounce forehead (not really a nuchal hump just where it slopes sharply down and creates a sharper forehead look between the eyes and mouth) while females will have a more slender, elongated body
 
For some reason the dorsal fin spot is gone. It appeared when I fed "her" . It may show up according to its mood, I dont know. And my texas or carpintis almost always has her dorsal fin down so you cant see it unless its up. If I can I will try to get a picture.
 
picture.php


Heres a pictue that doesn't show the dorsal up. Can you tell the sex? And is it a texas or a pearl scale ?
 
To me it looks like a female Carpinitis (what you're calling "pearlscale".) because of the larger spots. I bought 6 Carpinitis from FishFarm and not one single one showed a dark area anywhere, I guess they were all males. But I see a definite dark area along the dorsal in yours that none of mine ever had.
 
Sarah88;3921689; said:
pretty much 99% of the time, females will have the black spot in the dorsal, also look at the body structure, males will have a taller chunkier body, with a somewhat pronounce forehead (not really a nuchal hump just where it slopes sharply down and creates a sharper forehead look between the eyes and mouth) while females will have a more slender, elongated body


100% agree. The black spot is an indication for female sex. The spot can fade in and out though.

Not really sure what to say based upon your pic, but if you see the black spot, then I'd say female.
 
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