Firemouths. Which sex?

Pietro

Registered Member
Aug 25, 2007
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Hi there all,

I live in London and I have 2 firemouths. One is definately female as she has laid eggs 3 or 4 times. The other I'm not sure???

She does have a tendancy to find/make 'caves' but he (if it is a he??) keeps his distance. He seems often slightly darker grey and red in colour. Dorsal fins appear more or less the same on both fish, which incidentally are about 5 to 6 cm long.

Behaviour wise may help. She will often come out of her cave and go over to him/her and be mildley aggresive (not full on fighting) often chasing him/her around the tank. He/she will rarely goes into her cave although occasionally I've seen them side by side there.

Apart from this I have no idea. Could the fact that she has produced eggs 3/4 times but they've never been fertilised give it away?? Also once eggs are produced the female is the one who guards them. Does this mean my other fish could perhaps be a less dominant female or perhaps its a male who chooses not to fertilise the eggs???

Anyhelp would be appreciated! Thanks

Pietro
 
Two females will lay eggs together. Based on you saying that the dorsal fin is pretty much the same I'm guessing that you have two females. Coloration is greatly variable in commercially produced fish, so the differences are expected. Males should be brighter, but not always for the same reason. The dorsal on females is going to be more squared-off looking while males will have an arrowhead-shaped or pointy dorsal. If the fish are well-conditioned, both males and females can have streamers on their dorsals that make them look pointy on the end. You have to ignore the tip of the dorsal fin and compare the main part of it when sexing. I would suggest finding some firemouths of similar size and selecting a definite male. Once they spawn and successfully produce fry, you can find a new home for the spare female.
 
Welcome to AC!

May I recommend starting a thread in the cichlid forum and include pics if possible. You will get much more response there.
 
Hello...........:welcome:
 
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