i just recieved a pair of jewel cichlid from my friend after he regretted another impulse buy, so after checking them out i took them in, the both are healthy and active, but in his tank i noticed taht both of them looked incredibly similar except one was showing of a bright red hue, which was what i thought were breeding colors but im not sure, providing pictures would be a difficult task. Does anyone know how to sex them, because the internet is a bit inconclusive for me.
sexing jewels
- Thread starter loucas6290
- Start date
it would help to know what kind of "jewel" cichlids these are? there are 9 species which are "red". generally, the female is smaller and 'wider' in all of these species but brighter red is not a good identifier since it only is evidenced when spawning is in progress and is different per species. for example, lifalili females are 'brighter' red while letourneauxi males are brighter.
Im pretty sure the males will have a dark spot on thier flank, and the females don't.
Pots edit: didnt know there were so many kinds. Ive only seen the one kind my lfs has and thats how they are sexed, but im not sure what the sci. name of those are. :huh:
Pots edit: didnt know there were so many kinds. Ive only seen the one kind my lfs has and thats how they are sexed, but im not sure what the sci. name of those are. :huh:
i too need an answer to this. Have 4 jewels - 2 are slightly larger than the other two, all are the same type though - Hemichromis guttatus - with the dot near the tail. The two larger ones tend to show red throat area when chasing the other two away from their chosen 'territory' in the tank. Funny thing is, it changes to wherever they are in the tank, not one specific spot. Anyways, was trying to figure out if they are male or female - red line on tail only goes halfway down the tail, on all 4 fish. I was told that was one way of 'sexing' them. Is that the only way?
The unfortunate way I have seen jewels be sexed is buy a bunch of juveniles and see who pairs up. I currently have fry in my tank free swimming and out of the five jewels I have in the tank, only one male. He is in breeding dress so thats how I know for sure.