How to sex nicaraguan cichlids

[steve p]

Hello everyone. My 125g tank has now finished cycling :bday:. i've decided to go with american cichlids. Over the last week i've been looking at some nicaraguan cichlids at my LFS. The chap working there says that he has two that have formed a pair. Im not really conviced that he knows if they are male and female (in the past i rang to see if he had a male krib and he didnt know how to tell the difference). The male nicaraguan cichlid is 4 inches and the female is 3 1/2 inches (so say). I have read that when fully grown the male should be larger but at the stage they are now size irrelevant. They look identical apart from the size but he assures me they were taken out of the tank with others in after they paired off. Can someone tell me if there is a way to tell a male from a female that i can see visually or should i just trust my LFS.:help:

 

[liv2padl]

as they grow larger, the male will lose that longitudinal stripe while taking on a gold hue with green head, while the female will have the stripe for life. also note the pointed dorsal fin and larger 'head' of the male.

 

[steve p]

Thanks for the info, do you know roughly what size the male will be when his dorsal fin becomes more pointed than the females?

 

[liv2padl]

by 4 inches you should see a definite fin difference between the sexes.

 

[AikidoGuy]

Males have a pattern on the dorsil, anal, and caudal fins. Females do not have the trait. At 4" it should be noticable.

 

[steve p]

Thanks all for the info, Now i know what to look for i will go to my LFS today and look to see if there is a difference between the male and female. Hopefully they will be a pair as they look so nice.

 

[toddnbecka]

The female doesn't have the spots on her fins either, it's typical of the species, not just the ones in the pic. I had 2 spawning pairs some years back. I used large plastic cups for spawning caves, their eggs aren't adhesive like most S/A cichlids. They were excellent parents. I ended up selling them because they kept spawning, and I didn't have room for all the fry. At one point I had a couple hundred juvies in a 30...

 

[steve p]

Hi all, I called into my LFS last night and picked up the pair of nicaraguans . They are getting along very well, when i looked at the tank this morning i noticed they have been busy clearing the gravel away by some of the stones.

 

[mikebuko]

Hi all I've just found this post can you sex mine please ....many Thanks

 

[fishorama]

We will need more pics of your fish. What size are they? Are they adults? I see longish dorsal fin (top fin). But I also see a short both 1 pointed (male) & 1 rounded (female) so I really can't tell.

Please start a new thread for your fish & not from 16 yo threads. How long have you had them? The top pic looks very colorful, pretty!