Sexing my carpintis

[Mb2435]

Hi everyone,
I just got this Thai carpintis, and would appreciate your thoughts as to what sex it is. From the looks of the head and breeding tube I’m leaning towards male, but I’m not experienced with sexing cichlids at all…

Also, at what size can carpintis start breeding?
Thank you!

 

[Rocksor]

duanes

 

[Cichlids-r-beasts]

Looks male to me

 

[duanes]

My females would start breeding at about 3", males slightly larger
The facial (head profile) of the OPs photo look female to me.
But the tube, and lack of color in the dorsal are male traits.
It looks line-bred, or altered in some way, from normal carpintus to me, so the normal gender traits may not apply. (Not a surprise coming out of Asia)
Here is a normal male profile.

Note how steep it is.
Below a female profile.

Sometimes (as above) if a male is not in the tank, the dorsal melanin color does not become apparent.
If a male is in the tank though, females usually sport obvious gender trait colors, and shape, like the one below..

Even at barely 2" traits in normal carpintus are obvious.

 

[Mb2435]

My females would start breeding at about 3", males slightly larger
The facial (head profile) of the OPs photo look female to me.
But the tube, and lack of color in the dorsal are male traits.
It looks line-bred, or altered in some way, from normal carpintus to me, so the normal gender traits may not apply. (Not a surprise coming out of Asia)
Here is a normal male profile.
View attachment 1495189
Note how steep it is.
Below a female profile.
View attachment 1495190
Sometimes (as above) if a male is not in the tank, the dorsal melanin color does not become apparent.
If a male is in the tank though, females usually sport obvious gender trait colors, and shape, like the one below..
View attachment 1495191
Even at barely 2" traits in normal carpintus are obvious.
View attachment 1495192

Thanks so much for the informative reply. Yes this fish belongs to a line-bred variant. I’ve seen proven females of this variant with pointy snouts, hence my guess this one being male. No specimen of the variant regardless of sex has the deep body/face that a standard male carpintis normally has. Would you say the tube shape is a better indicator in this case?

 

[Cichlids-r-beasts]

Thanks so much for the informative reply. Yes this fish belongs to a line-bred variant. I’ve seen proven females of this variant with pointy snouts, hence my guess this one being male. No specimen of the variant regardless of sex has the deep body/face that a standard male carpintis normally has. Would you say the tube shape is a better indicator in this case?

Venting is always the most accurate way but the downside is that it stresses out the fish

 

[Mb2435]

Venting is always the most accurate way but the downside is that it stresses out the fish

Is the second photo good enough of a vent pic? Or do you mean a photo of the underside?

 

[Cichlids-r-beasts]

Is the second photo good enough of a vent pic? Or do you mean a photo of the underside?

It looks good enough to me, it’s too pointed to be female and I think the general consensus here is male.
duanes is basically an expert at IDing and sexing cichlids so I’d go with what he says lol