Umbee, sorting out a male.

[Freshwaterpredators]

Hope I can sort males out at 3.5 inch when I have more experience. Here in the UK there are fish keepers crying out for a male Umbee. Both my males never looked male to me. Until pairing at 5 to 6 inch.
I've had tanks of 8 in the past, and one by one they all end up spawning, some as small as 3.5 to 4inch. They whole batch female.
3 years ago 5 so called pairs can into the UK from cota at 4inch. They where £130 a pair. Out of the 10 fish we only ended up with 2 males.
So there's cichlid keepers here who would love males. So any tips would be very much appreciated.

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Very nice pair you have. Sexing umbees can be difficult at times sex at times. Generally a dominant male will show signs early. But if you have a dominant female then they will keep everything at bay and it will take males longer to show, usually till around 5-6"

 

[Andy woods cichlids uk]

Very nice pair you have. Sexing umbees can be difficult at times sex at times. Generally a dominant male will show signs early. But if you have a dominant female then they will keep everything at bay and it will take males longer to show, usually till around 5-6"

Thank you for your advice. I don't mind if a male shows itself at 4to5 inch 6to8 inch or even 10inch. It's just I've raised so many in the past to find one by one they all spawn. Whole batch female. If there's a male in the group I will spot it.
This thread ( Umbee sorting out a male) was ment to be a the story of me growing a jug of fry to sort out a male. Not a how to sex Umbee thread. There's to many sex my fish threads

 

[terrors r us]

Terror r us, try posting pics in different thread and I can help you sex your umbees.. I've had pairs spawn at 3.5" umbees can be tricky to sex sometimes

I have some pic`s now and will open up a new post as not to derail this thread

 

[cichlidsickness]

Nice quality shots Andy. My favorite pic is the side shot of the fry in the measuring cup because they look like little predators.

Growing out fry from a quality pair is the best way to get what you want in my opinion. Right now I've got some synspilum growouts I've been slowly thinning down. They're starting to eat me out of house and home and water changes don't stop!

 

[Andy woods cichlids uk]

Update on my Umbee fry
There growing steaderly. Some time next week I'm going to sort out the larger ones from the smaller ones and divide them into separate tanks. I will keep two lots of 8, hopefully this will allow them to grow faster. Must admit I've neglected these a bit, there on the bottom rack of my fish shed. I've been so busy moving tanks and fish around to make room for my new 7 x 2.5 x 2 tank in the house.

 

[Andy woods cichlids uk]

Some new pics of the father to the fry, my largest male Crazy joe.

 

[Frank Castle]

Some new pics of the father to the fry, my largest male Crazy joe.

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yea, you can kinda see the nuchal hump, but not very defined.....I can see why these guys could be a PITA to find pairs. Well worth the trouble though, clearly.

 

[BigTex]

The fry are looking great! Hopefully you've got a couple of males in there.

 

[MP_cichlid]

Crazy joe! (TBH in my head I said that in an English accent lol) I can't seem to help saying all the names of ur fish without he enthusiastic accent LOL, love your fish man, some of the best out there. Keep it up and you'll get some seriously nice males Andy!

 

[Andy woods cichlids uk]

The fry are looking great! Hopefully you've got a couple of males in there.

Thanks, should have time will tell.