sexing pseudochromis zebra (sp?)

[azriel]

ive got two cobalt blue zebras, two red zebras, two albino zebras all between 3.5" and 4.5" and i was wondering if anyone can describe to me a fairly accurate way of sexing them. ive been told that all africans can be sexed by the number of eggspots on their anal fins but i dont have much stock in that method as i had a socolofi and peacock interbreed (accidentally) and they both had three similarly sized eggspots. any info would be greatly appreciated. thanx.

[JSchmidt]

Eggspots are not reliable indicators of gender. The only real way to sex many africans is to net them and vent them (i.e., take a look at their nasty bits). Here's a web site that describes how:

http://www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex.htm

An alternative is to ask a knowledgeable LFS employee to do it for you.

Good luck!

Jim

[ChilDawg]

I think that you mean Pseudotropheus (Maylandia, Metriaclima) zebra.

[VoodooChild]

I think it's Maylandia now (same with estherae) and I've found that the closer they are to being wild (F1, F2, etc) the eggspots are a fairly decent indicator, not guaranteed by any means, but seems to hold more water than those that have been bred in captivity for a few generations. Just my thoughts. That's a good article though. Thanks.

[ChilDawg]

Okay, I did not know that because my references had gone with Metriaclima, but he could find info on them by looking for one of the three.

[VoodooChild]

This is true. I think most places out there still list them under Pseudotropheus, so I'd shoot for that. You know, I've really been into the hobby for 3 years, and when I started it was Pseudotropheus. 2 changes in three years (actually I think it's been Maylandia since last year). I love taxonomy (I'm not joking, all I do at my professors lab is help him with taxing out Cyprinidae)!

[ChilDawg]

Yeah, my sources are probably the same as the ones which you had when you got into the hobby three years ago, so I wouldn't taxonomically trust them. I am glad to know that the Metriaclima/Maylandia debate has been resolved, but Mark Phillip Smith has some 'splaining to do as to why he thought that Metriaclima was the winner between the two!

[VoodooChild]

Hey, maybe you're right. I just heard Maylandia used more on the net, which kinda says something. I need to get ahold of Ad Konnigs is what I need to do. Ah well. Fortunately everyone knows what a "zebra" is. I read an article once in TFH where Labeotropheus trewavase was the author's favorite cichlid because it was the only African he could think of who's latin name hadn't changed since he got into the hobby 40 years ago.:p

[azriel]

you guys are right about me meaning pseudotropheus... my brain was crossing labidochromis and pseudotropheus... heehee. well either way im still not right. thanks for the replies.