Hello.
I am new to flowerhorns, but learning as much as I can. (I am a snakehead veteran, those are a piece of cake compared to these!)
I have a female that has been alone for around a month, has laid eggs and is now at around 3-4" (not including tail).
I took a friends advice to find her a male, explained this to my stockist, he got me a male.
They are in a tank together but seperated. All seems OK, neither has any stress signs, and are going about their business occasionally staring at each other through the divider.
The problem is the male is smaller than the female. He is around 2-3" (not including tail). So I need to get him grown bigger than her without starving her or overfeeding him. Any ideas?
The main problem I have though, is that I am not 100% sure he is actually a male.
The stockist (who normally specializes in chichlids) is very very sure it is a male.
here are my findings:
There is no black spots on the dorsal. (not acurate, i know but this is one point)
The colors are a little deeper than the female. (this means nothing though right?)
I have tried to vent the said fish, and It was very difficult. My females egg tube is pointing straight down, the new guys tube is aiming towards it's tail end slightly.
But I tried the U or V identification, but this was too hard. The female is bigger and you can clearly see the U, the new guys vent starts of like a U (or a V for that matter, but where the V would join to a point I just couldn't see. It was too dark and obscured. Is he maybe to small for a U/V check?
Anyway, here is some pictures of both my 100% female and the new "questionable" to see if you can help:
Questionable (the one i need IDing)
This nex pic is my 100% female (has laid eggs):
What do you guys think? Any help would be great, as I would rather know if it is not a male sooner so as I can return it and get another rather than wait for it to lay (or not) eggs.
Cheers, TG
I am new to flowerhorns, but learning as much as I can. (I am a snakehead veteran, those are a piece of cake compared to these!)
I have a female that has been alone for around a month, has laid eggs and is now at around 3-4" (not including tail).
I took a friends advice to find her a male, explained this to my stockist, he got me a male.
They are in a tank together but seperated. All seems OK, neither has any stress signs, and are going about their business occasionally staring at each other through the divider.
The problem is the male is smaller than the female. He is around 2-3" (not including tail). So I need to get him grown bigger than her without starving her or overfeeding him. Any ideas?
The main problem I have though, is that I am not 100% sure he is actually a male.
The stockist (who normally specializes in chichlids) is very very sure it is a male.
here are my findings:
There is no black spots on the dorsal. (not acurate, i know but this is one point)
The colors are a little deeper than the female. (this means nothing though right?)
I have tried to vent the said fish, and It was very difficult. My females egg tube is pointing straight down, the new guys tube is aiming towards it's tail end slightly.
But I tried the U or V identification, but this was too hard. The female is bigger and you can clearly see the U, the new guys vent starts of like a U (or a V for that matter, but where the V would join to a point I just couldn't see. It was too dark and obscured. Is he maybe to small for a U/V check?
Anyway, here is some pictures of both my 100% female and the new "questionable" to see if you can help:
Questionable (the one i need IDing)
This nex pic is my 100% female (has laid eggs):
What do you guys think? Any help would be great, as I would rather know if it is not a male sooner so as I can return it and get another rather than wait for it to lay (or not) eggs.
Cheers, TG
