# Sexing 'Geophagus' sp. "Bahia Red"



## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

I have a 3 yr old male in full prime, and a female who's waiting to join him. Last time I put them together, it wasnt' pretty. so I put her back in a 30 and got her a little bigger, and more colorful. 6 months later she's actually more colorful than I thought she'd be... 
So now I'm wondering... is she, a he?

Any sure fire ways to tell them apart?

TIA


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Oooeeehmpfff,.....I hope it isn't a male! Brasiliensis Bahia Red do show the common Brasiliensis behaviour and can be mean ********. The male will chase the female all around until they become a pair. Females are mostly significant smaller as males. But,....a couple of years ago I bought 3 of them. One larger and obvious male and 2 smaler that looked like females,......after all they turn out to be 3 males! My dominant male did grow out to a size of 11 inch! There is a pic of him on the profile section when he was the size of abouth 8 to 9 inch. Beautiful fish but they come with quit some character and temper. Best way of determining the gender is to vent them. Males have a pointed vent (pointed to the tail) and females a blunt vent. You have to create plenty of escape routes and spots for the "female" to hide. If they are both males the small one will be killed eventually.


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

Maybe a pic will help to determine it's gender ..


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

The fish to the left looks like a Brasiliensis and not like specie Bahia red. The bahia red do have a red/orange or red/purple snout and this fish doesn't seem to have color at the snout at all. Besides that his body color (yellowish) seem to be brighter as what is normal with the Bahia red. The body shape and size could point to a female but to be more accurate we need a clear sharp pic of the vent. The fish to the right is the male? I like to see a pic of him as well. At this pic he is definitely in a bad mood (dark colors). Older males also defelop a head hump what makes their head shape more blunt compared to females.


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Here a pic of the male I maintained abouth two years ago. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=456


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## nothing else matter (Oct 2, 2007)

my bahia red looks different from what you have (in the left). mine looks the same with that of dutch dude. no color blue on any fins. just red/orange shade and the snout is of different shape too (looks the same with your fish at the right pics). but cant determine its sex also. hope that gave you additional useful info


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

Thanks D.D. and n.e.m.. That is the male in the right hand corner, and I do have better pics of him that I'll find this evening... 
If that pic is of a female wouldn't it make sense if she's not as colored up as the male?


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Did you know that there are 2 color morphs of Bahia red? The once I have are the most common seen. Back in the 80's there was an other color morph availeble and those had orange/red snout.

I am quit sure the fish you label as female Bahia Red is in fact a common Brasiliensis in stead of a Bahia Red.


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

Here's a couple of pics of the male...


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

The male is indeed a Bahia Red. Although his snout isn't much colored, he does have the red cheeks. He doesn't seem to be as large as the one I kept and doesn't have the high body,...what is his size, 8 inch? He seem to be healthy and shows a light body color that confirms he feels OK. When they are stressed or not feel happy or become mad their body color becomes quit dark,....but you probably noticed that already. When I fed mine Krill or earthworms he brightened up even more and sometimes get a yellow body color. I guess he liked the foods :wink:


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## Alleycat (Dec 2, 2006)

With any live foods, colors come out best. Earthworms even more. He's 8 inches at minimum. The tiger loach beside him is at least 6. He isn't as deep in the body as some of the Geo. Pics I've seen but thought that was perhaps a characteristic of the bahai reds. I don't keep many SA cichlids. In fact these two will be heading to the auction next weekend.

So judging by the other picture, is the smaller, less colorful one a female?


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Hard to tell if the small one is a female. It isn't a Bahia Red of that I'm convinced.


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