Florida Flag Fish Breeding?

[Bmeasure]

Anyone have experience with these fish? I have had them for about 2 years with several fry produced at various times! One thing I've noticed......every fry is female! Why am I only getting females? I know that sometimes the water hardness or pH has something to do with this but what should I be aiming for to get males? My tap parameters are 7.7 or 7.8 at about 5.2 hardness and less than 5ppm nitrates. I have a planted tank which these fish have recently been moved to from an indoor tub which had lots of live plants and monthly water changes (I believe at least one brood happened inside). Before that they were outside in a 30 gal rubbermaid tub with almost no water changes except rain water overflow (Savannah Georgia----pretty decent rainfall). They were in this outdoor tub for the entire summer until about September, then in an indoor tub till 2 weeks ago! Any ideas?

Summer temps went up into the 100's and the indoor temps were about 75 to 78 degrees. I'm sure the summer temps were a bit high for them (not being in a lake or stream of lower temp) but they seemed to do great (breeding..and such)

 

[Bmeasure]

I asked this about a week or so ago and got no replies....things go quick in this forum and I just wanted to renew for possible replies! thanks

 

[tricksterpup]

Anyone have experience with these fish? I have had them for about 2 years with several fry produced at various times! One thing I've noticed......every fry is female! Why am I only getting females? I know that sometimes the water hardness or pH has something to do with this but what should I be aiming for to get males? My tap parameters are 7.7 or 7.8 at about 5.2 hardness and less than 5ppm nitrates. I have a planted tank which these fish have recently been moved to from an indoor tub which had lots of live plants and monthly water changes (I believe at least one brood happened inside). Before that they were outside in a 30 gal rubbermaid tub with almost no water changes except rain water overflow (Savannah Georgia----pretty decent rainfall). They were in this outdoor tub for the entire summer until about September, then in an indoor tub till 2 weeks ago! Any ideas?

Summer temps went up into the 100's and the indoor temps were about 75 to 78 degrees. I'm sure the summer temps were a bit high for them (not being in a lake or stream of lower temp) but they seemed to do great (breeding..and such)

Hmmm I have had the mix of fry on this. Male and Female. So it might be an issue with temp.. but have you ever thought about placing these guys in an outdoor container and see how they do in there?

 

[Bmeasure]

Hmmm I have had the mix of fry on this. Male and Female. So it might be an issue with temp.. but have you ever thought about placing these guys in an outdoor container and see how they do in there?

Taken from original post:
Before that they were outside in a 30 gal rubbermaid tub with almost no water changes except rain water overflow (Savannah Georgia----pretty decent rainfall). They were in this outdoor tub for the entire summer until about September, then in an indoor tub till 2 weeks ago! Any ideas?

 

[qtaquaman]

Ph often affects gender of the fry. Yours seems high.

 

[Bmeasure]

Thanks qtaquaman, that's what I was thinkin! That's really the only variable I've heard mentioning fry sex ratios. In the next year or so I'll be setting up a breeding room with R/O systems, and I can work on this a bit. Maybe I'll be able to write an article on my findings.