Sexing electric blue acara

Just picked up this beauty first time keeping a EBA if someone can help would like to keep a pair.

Hmm...hard to say because it's still small but from the round forhead I'm going to guess male

The water is cloudy. Check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

Too young to sex it. if you want a breeding pair of cichlids, buy 8-10 young fish and grow them up together. When they mature they will pair off naturally and you can move the prs into their own tanks, or keep a pr and remove the others.

As a general rule, male blue acaras get longer more pointed dorsal and anal fins when they mature. females have shorter more rounded fins. Electric blue acaras are more inbred and don't always have the same quality fins so you might get males with shorter fins.

Thank you appreciate it. water is good sand got blown around thats why it looks cloudy. When are EBA mature? My lfs has 3 more maybe I’ll grab them tomorro.

Most smaller cichlids like blue acaras are sexually mature around 6 months of age, assuming they are well fed and have clean water. However, if conditions aren't good (lack of food, lack of water changes), they can take 12 months to become sexually mature. They are usually around 3 inches long (including tail) when sexually mature.

Ok great thank you. just picked up another one does this look like they are sizing each other up ? Fighting or looking to pair?