Sexing Electric Blue Acara

[Oli]

Can anyone sex these EBA’s or are they still to young. One of them has started chasing the other…

- The first picture is the “chaser.”

-In the picture of both fish, the one on the right is the “chaser.”

 

[malfunction]

I have 4 of these, and found them really hard to sex until they start mating. If I had to guess I would say two males, but the smaller one might be a female

 

[Oli]

Fair enough! I thought maybe the fish on the left could be the female as it has more of a round body compared to the slimmer bigger fish. It is also being chased a little bit, I guess time will tell

 

[malfunction]

It’s really hard to tell with them (at least in my limited experience). I found even looking at their genitals unreliable as what I thought was my biggest male turned out to be my biggest female when “he” paired up with a female and started breeding. Her ovipositor didn’t full descend until laying eggs, so up until that point she looked male.

With the two that I have that paired up, the female’s body is more bullet shaped (like your one on the right) whereas the male’s upper back curves in the same way that your fish on the left does

 

[Oli]

Hmmm I suppose I’ll just have to give it some time. Potentially someone else might chime in. If that is the case, (the one on the right being the female) is there a reason it would be chasing the male?