Hello sexing JD help.

[bmurr83]

Well I'm new to the forums here and been browsing around So hello!
Ok well I have a JD in my 90 gallon tank and I was hoping to have a breeding pair but I need some sexing help here.
Here are two pictures I was able to take with my camera phone so sorry if the quality isn't that great.

and again

sorry for the bad quality but thats a camera phone i guess. Any help is appreciated currently he/she is only about 4-4.5 inches

 

[arise1dwr]

looks male to me, try taking a close up of his head only

 

[bmurr83]

Ok well I tried to get the best close up that I could.

also what are the main differences in male in female so i know what i should look for when getting a mate.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

All those pics look male. Easiest way to tell a male from a female is the gill plate. The females will be mostly blue/green and the males won't.

 

[chadly831]

i thought you could tell from their anal fin?

 

[mostlycichlids]

Its a boy!

 

[fishorama]

I vote male too

 

[bmurr83]

So after all the replies saying he is a male, I went and got a female a few days ago. I was able to tell by color on gill plate(very obvious when you know what to look for ty Vicious) and more rounded fins. She has been chasing him non stop and doing the little "shakey" dance next to him and he seems to not be too interested half the time and just runs from her in the tank. Is this normal behaviour for a set of fish to be pairing off? He doesnt looked stressed from her advances btw.

 

[Stargazer53]

Definite boy. Congrats!

 

[Dr.Dovii]

Operculum color has nothing to do with it; to much variation in the species as a whole. Colour patterning is also unreliable as there is both hormonal and "mood" control over this feature. Shape of the unpaired fins is reliable but only works consistently with fish of similar ages; it is more of a gestalt thing when you have several to compare. I had a pair for over a decade and the female's fin extensions would make you think she was a male (much more elongate than your male's). That is until you compared her side by side with her mate.

Aside from slicing them up and comparing chromosomes, the only 100% reliable way is to watch one lay eggs, she's the female. If you get a hatch, then the other one is male. And yes, 2 females can and will spawn together each depositing eggs. Of course, there will be 0% hatch.