Can Kribensis Change Sex? Video Attatched

[TimNorwich]

Hello, I just collected two full size kribensis cichlids from somebody that lives closeby. They must be 2-3 years old and are bigger than I've ever seen anywhere. He said when they were younger he had a few batches of babies, and since then he's had none. To me they both look similar, neither of them have the red belly.

Is it possible that they are both the same sex? If so are my chances out of the window of breeding them?

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=oijWPukbH0E

That is a short video of the two, not very easy to video as they are shy still. You can sort of see that one has a longer tail.

Thankyou,

Tim.

 

[BadBadger]

Hello, I just collected two full size kribensis cichlids from somebody that lives closeby. They must be 2-3 years old and are bigger than I've ever seen anywhere. He said when they were younger he had a few batches of babies, and since then he's had none. To me they both look similar, neither of them have the red belly.

Is it possible that they are both the same sex? If so are my chances out of the window of breeding them?

Thankyou,

Tim.

When fully grown, Male and Female Kribs look completely diferent in size, colour, fin shapes.... So if they look similar, your chance of breeding is.... nil

 

[TimNorwich]

What are the key differences? If you couldn't tell one of the Kribs has a tail that points upwards and is shorter, the others tail is longer and curls downwards.

 

[BadBadger]

Have a quick look on here matey....
http/www.justbajan.com/pets/fish/species/krebensis/index.htm
Should be able to sex them after looking at that

 

[TimNorwich]

Having looked at that, I can say that the male in the second picture down looks like mine, but the top picture looks more like my female if that makes any sense?

There is certainly a difference in the two that I have. I will follow closely their behaviour around eachother. Hopefully after a week or so they should colour up a bit more.

Is there any reason why the chap that had these Kribs before me only had a few batches of eggs?

All the best,

Tim.

 

[BadBadger]

From the video i'd say 100% both male matey. You see the dorsal fin on both of them is similar to a spade, where as females have more of a normal fin shape. Also, there not much different in size, and from looking at mine the male is almost twice the length of the female. And the last thing is, my pair follow each other everywhere!! On the video it looks as if there doing there own thing.
I dont know how the previous owner has managed that haha

 

[Curiosity101]

I dont know how the previous owner has managed that haha

By lying at my guess... or if telling the truth then he could have left the fry in with the adults for ages and then got one mixed up...? Eitherways I agree with badbadger. Both 100% male.

 

[TimNorwich]

Hmm, well they were free fish, the chap was closing down his tank and needed shot of them ASAP. I guess my next job is to find a suitable female then. I guess also that I need to get shot of one of the males as they will both fight over the female.


Does it not matter that the female will be significantly smaller?

 

[Curiosity101]

It can matter as if the male is pushy enough about breeding then they can harass females to death. However it's worth a go if you can't find any fully grown/mature females.

 

[BadBadger]

Yeah I'd get rid of one of the males and find a fully mature female.

 

[TimNorwich]

Right, I found a chap that was clearing out his tank who I've collected some fish off before, he had a female and I've just picked her up and he took a male off my hands. She's is about two inches which is half the size of the mature adult, it's definetly a female and he said he's had babies from her before.

 

[Curiosity101]

Wow that was fast! Females do tend to be a bit smaller than males anyways and so long as she's mature (not neccesarily fully grown) then she'll hold her own against the male.

 

[TimNorwich]

Yeah I know He only lives 20minutes from me. Hopefully my mature adult will still have it in him to produce some young. Is there a stage where they will no longer breed? Hopefully as they both haven't bred for a while they will be raring to go!

 

[TimNorwich]

The male seems like he wants to eat the female, but the female keeps showing off her colours to him even though he is domestically abusing her. They are also hanging around the coconut cave a lot. Will the male always try to kill her?

I will upload a video shortly so you can compare the size of them!

 

[Curiosity101]

Sounds more like he's 'persuading' her to breed. I reckon you'll have eggs within 48hours. You could always take a video?