electric yellow

[darksheep]

hi

wasnt really sure in which forum to post this so i posted here

gotta couple of questions, ive got a a couple of electric yellows both male (i think they because i was told that if they have thick black lines through the bottom fins they are male) one of them is intent on drigging holes/caves everywhere is he trying to build a nest or something?? (fun to watch ) any i want to get a female yellow electric so i can get to breed, i was wondering how do i tell if they are a female seeing that they mouth brooder?

 

[Eelzor]

Its pretty normal for electric yellows to dig like you have descrobed. from what i have seen at the shops anyway. Im not sure about the breeding though.

 

[juanveldez]

very common they will do it mostly becuase if there were a female in there they would be trying to get her into their cave, so woever has the best cave gets the girl.

 

[semper fi]

the pit you are describing is called a birthing pit. the male dis the pit and the female will deposit the eggs in the pit. the male will swim over and fertilize the eggs and then the female will scoop them up in her mouth and hold them for approximately three weeks.

mbuna are best kept in groups of one male for every three or more females. they are harem breeders and mouthbrooders. adding one female will cause the males to fight over her and the winner may also kill the female if she is unwilling to mate with him.

 

[darksheep]

thanks i kinda unstand what hes doing it for and i no what i wanna do (get 2 or 3 females) is there any easy way of identifying the females

 

[unmphysics]

Well from what ive seen several people claim there is no easy way to tell males from females, but ive heard that the females wont have the black on their pelvic and abdominal fins..just as you said b4.

If you are looking for a female, be sure not to get one with a black strip across its eyes (usually means its the dominant male), but unfortunately this doesnt tell you what to look for...just what NOT to look for.

 

[semper fi]

the only effective way to tell the males and females apart is to vent them. egg spots, or dummy spots are unconclusive. markings are also deceiving as some will carry the female colors to prevent from being beat on by dominant males.

 

[darksheep]

oh ok, so i pretty much gotta take a punt on what i think is a female, not getting any with black on thier lower fins or accross eye, the pet shops where i am only get small ones bout 2 to 3 cm, vent them im not sure what u mean by that??

thanks in advance

 

[unmphysics]

well i think semper fi is saying u gotta look under their skirts

 

[semper fi]

pretty much. venting is where you flip the fish over keeping your hands wet and the fish wet so as not to disturb their slime coat. you will notice two small holes on the underside. males have two perfectly round holes and females have one round and one lightly oval shaped hole. only way to efffectively sex fish.