seeking keyhole cichlid info pls!

[odannyboy]

hi
i have two keyholes which i bought to try and breed.they live very happily with there community tankmates but no breeding action!? i have noticed mouth locking once or twice and they always hang around together plus they occationally will flare there gills at each other and kind of slap one another with there tail.is this:
1)breeding attempts that are stiffled by the action of other fish in there area?
2) false breeding behaviour as there the same sex?the larger i think is def male.smaller poss male but unsure.
appretiate advise.cheers!

[liv2padl]

it's virtually impossible to sex this cichlid unless you 'vent' them. thus, you may have two males, or two females ... or a pair. http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/aequidens_maronii_6.jpg

if you're interested in breeding them, the best way is to purchase 5-6 juveniles and allow them to form pairs on their own. then, if/when you have a pair, you'll know it when they spawn.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=breeding+keyhole+cichlids

[mooman]

Sorry to say, but the mouth locking and "fish slapping" would seem to indicate two males. I've often seen a male/female pair doing the "fish slap", but have never seen a male and female liplock. I could be wrong as my experience is with various dwarf cichlids and my own group of keyholes is still growing out. Although not 100% accurate (especially with juviniles) males will often have longer fin extentions. liv2padl is right though, keyholes are especially hard to sex. Good luck.

[jessicar613]

They are great fish. I love them! I have two and they flirt all the time. I've never seen any mouth locking. Shaking and circling mostly. The male is quite a bit larger than the female, and his dorsal fin has developed a "flip" in it. I've looked through pictures on the web and haven't been able to find an example of the "flip", which is only apparent when he raises his dorsal. Unfortunately I haven't gotten a good pic w/ my digital camera. For some reason they are terrified of the camera. I'd be interested in knowing if this is a typical development or just a "glitch" in my guy.

My keyholes spawned after several months of being together. They were very attentive to their eggs, before they ate them. :o