Sexing GBRs

[Eridinus]

Hi, does this look like a male and female?

 

[Colin_T]

The fish with the pink belly is female.

 

[Eridinus]

Would you say the other is a male? His pectoral fins are so long! His belly is nowhere near as pink as the other.

 

[Byron]

If these are in the same tank, their interactive behaviours might be your best guide. Sit very still in front of the tank for a spell, 20-30 minutes without movement, and the fish will forget you are there are probably be more "normal" in their interactions.

 

[Eridinus]

Well they just laid and fertilized eggs, yep male and female!

 

[Byron]

Well they just laid and fertilized eggs, yep male and female!

Good. Now you have the issue of whether or not this lasts. Neotropical cichlids must select their mate and bond. Any female will not be accepted by a male, and the reverse too. They may spawn a few times (I had a "pair" or Bolivian Rams spawn four times before the male turned and killed the female). If they have bonded, they should be good parents. If not, hard to say how long before a divorce.

 

[Colin_T]

The following link has some info on culturing live food for baby fish. Baby rams can eat newly hatched brineshrimp as soon as they are free swimming. There is a section on hatching brineshrimp eggs in the link and if you start preparing now, you will have food for the babies when they start swimming about, assuming the adults don't eat the eggs.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/back-to-basics-when-breeding-fish.448304/#post-3790221

 

[Eridinus]

To be honest I really can't deal with the fry right now - not until they're in a bigger tank.

Will removing the eggs make them less territorial until they next spawn?

 

[Byron]

Will removing the eggs make them less territorial until they next spawn?

If you mean territorial as in the male considering the tank "his," the answer is no. If you mean defending the eggs, obviously they will not be doing this if the egg clutch disappears. Once a "pair" spawn, they will do so at regular intervals, and these can be shorter if the eggs/fry disappear. If there are other fish species in this tank, you may not have to worry about eggs disappearing or the fry if they hatch. For example, cories and most catfish, being nocturnal, find eggs and fry very easy pickings. I observed two cories devour a shoal of fry once and the female guarding them had not the slightest chance of saving them; they were gone in less than a minute and that was in daylight when the female was actively defending the shoal.