got jacks?

[jamesward76]

Does anyone know how to tell the differance between male and female jack demps.

 

[blakwidoe]

Male fins are usually longer and more pointed on the ends

 

[jamesward76]

Thanks for the info. are there any color differances. they are still pretty small and i cant really tell looking at there fins right now.

 

[AquaUK]

You really need to wait while the fish are bigger to tell.

But by the time you can tell hopefully a pair should have formed.

Find it a lot better that pairs form there self rather than us putting them together.

 

[juanveldez]

actually there is a way to tell the difference between the sexes without having to wait for a piar or using the old stand by of the fins.
on the female Jack Dempsey the blue marking of the body and face are more on the gill cover and lower part of the face while on a male the blue runs more through the body and the upper half of the face.

here is a pic of my male, the flash has washed out some of his color but you can see that the blue on his face is more of the upper face and into the body compaired to a female.

 

[EX-AmP]

vent them

 

[juanveldez]

yes that is the only 100 percent way to do it but not everyone is a pro at it and could potentaially harm the fish.

 

[jamesward76]

what is venting?

 

[juanveldez]

to vent a fish you would have to take it out of the water hold it upsided down, and between the anal fin and pectoral fins is the vent. that is about all I know about it, I don't vent my fish, as I am not a pro at it and don't want to harm my fish, while trying to figure it out.

 

[drobbins27]

what is venting?

Yes, I am also interested in the meaning of that term

 

[juanveldez]

here is an article about venting cichlids.

venting article

 

[juanveldez]

I just wanted to add that with small cichlids that it would probably be best to have some sort of magnifying glass avalible as it would be hard to see what you need to on a small cichlid

 

[missyintx_99]

I have a beautiful male. Males are usually a lot more colorful and have the long trailing fins.
Its really best to let them grow to determine sex. Since you have 4 of them, chances are very good that you'll have one of each sex and not 4 of one.

Here's a picture of my male, Hercules: