Those would probably be fine. A 2 or 3 inch x 3 or 4 inches would work I think...It'd be nice if there were a smallish hole in the back to allow some water movement
Finally figured out the gender ratio of my dwarf cichlids, now there's a new problem
- Thread starter Snagrio
- Start date
Another advantage I didn't think of, the females won't be introduced alone once everything's gone through quarantine. Between the black neon (and glowlight) shoal and fairy cories, that's a lot of new faces appearing all at once. The males will be too bewildered by the chaos of new introductions to immediately hone in on the females.
What's more, on the same day of transfer I could do the plant reattachment I need to do, which involves taking out the driftwood and dragon stones my anubias and Java ferns are on and replacing the rubber bands/string with gorilla super glue gel for a more permanent solution. And all that movement of tank objects should disrupt the males' territory placements which further puts everyone on "equal footing."
What's more, on the same day of transfer I could do the plant reattachment I need to do, which involves taking out the driftwood and dragon stones my anubias and Java ferns are on and replacing the rubber bands/string with gorilla super glue gel for a more permanent solution. And all that movement of tank objects should disrupt the males' territory placements which further puts everyone on "equal footing."
I decided to take the most dominant male of the 3 back as the other two had already segregated themselves to opposite ends of the tank which should make pairing compatibility easier down the road. And I managed to get what I'm pretty sure was the only female out of a tank of half a dozen males. In fact I think the reverse was happening and she was masquerading as a male to avoid being harassed because she had little hints of blue when I was bringing her home that have since reverted back to full yellow.
The original female however has been giving her a bit of a hard time. Periodically flaring and chasing her around. After taking these pics I did a water change, moved things around and added some more fake plants to hopefully give the new female enough breathing room to stay out of the other's sight. Fingers crossed they tolerate each other enough long enough before transferring to the main tank.
Pics of the original female for color comparison.
The original female however has been giving her a bit of a hard time. Periodically flaring and chasing her around. After taking these pics I did a water change, moved things around and added some more fake plants to hopefully give the new female enough breathing room to stay out of the other's sight. Fingers crossed they tolerate each other enough long enough before transferring to the main tank.
Pics of the original female for color comparison.
I don't want to be a buzz kill, but blue spangles could mean a "lesser" male...Like I've said before, females can be little terrors with an unready male...but also with other females...I can't tell. Fingers crossed
I've already decided on the way home today that if it is in fact another male, then I'm returning the remaining two males before the transfer and just having the two from QT as the lone pair, assuming they don't kill each other first. Be it that or it's two females to hopefully make two pairs, I'm not jumping through anymore hoops. This has been more than enough of a wild goose chase just for one species of fish.
Yeah, I can see just going with 1 true pair but give the newest "female" time to decide on its gender. Pretty fish deserve extra time, lol.
Nearly a week in and the newer of the two is assuredly a female. Has remained yellow the whole time and hasn't developed the more elongated fins characteristic of males. However, I'm going to move the introduction date a bit up to later this week (likely Thursday) because both the males and females are constantly bickering with their own sex.
I'm going to do everything in my ability to even the playing field as I'm going to do a water change, move decor around (I need to take out some driftwood and dragon stones to glue Java fern and anubias to them as rubber bands and string haven't been working out) and add smaller synthetic rock caves right before adding the new residents. But even then needless to say it's going to be, interesting when the genders collide...
I'm going to do everything in my ability to even the playing field as I'm going to do a water change, move decor around (I need to take out some driftwood and dragon stones to glue Java fern and anubias to them as rubber bands and string haven't been working out) and add smaller synthetic rock caves right before adding the new residents. But even then needless to say it's going to be, interesting when the genders collide...
