Sexing Chichlids

[FrankSlapperinni]

Ok, I have a tank planned out for the future, but I need to know how top sex the fish in it (it would be a fatal mistake to get 5 males and 1 female ). so here are the fish I'm going to add

Pseudotropheus acei

labidos hongi

Cynotilapia axelrodi

Pseudotropheus zebra (blue cobalt zebra)

pseudotropheus demasoni

also, what order would I stock these fish? probably the Acei and the Cynotilapia axelrodi first but then...

 

[semper fi]

the only effective way would be to vent them. depending on where you get them they may either vent them after netting them for you. or let you vent them after they vent them. venting is where you basically flip the fish over and look at the two small holes on the underside of the fish. two perfectly round holes=males, one round and one slightly oval=females.

need good eyesight and lots of practice for this.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Tank it out of the water and flip it upside down? wouldn't that hurt the fish?
don;t most of the fish (except the demasoni) have color differences between male and female?

 

[smb]

Tank it out of the water and flip it upside down? wouldn't that hurt the fish?

Not if done properly. You can use a new, wet washcloth. That will keep the fish safe and allow you to control it w/o exerting any pressure on him.

don;t most of the fish (except the demasoni) have color differences between male and female?

Yes, most males are brighter than females if I had to generalize. Also males will usually have more eggspots on their fin. This is thought to be so the female will think they are eggs and try to gather them up. meanwhile the male can fertilize the real eggs that she's holding when she comes near. Ps. zebras are kind of hard to tell in this way because sometimes the female will have the same as the male.

Also, as in Ps. lombordi, if more than 1 male is present, he will not turn yellow until a very later age sometimes because the dominate male will go after him when he changes from the female colorations.

So sometimes it's hard (almost impossible) to tell until they are 3" or more.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Thanks!