# Quick Convict Q



## sweety (Jan 10, 2010)

I asked about the sex of my Convict a little while ago & it was a bit 50/50 if it was female. Well it has now grown some & faster than I thought it would & is now about 2.5-2.75" inc tail but i'm still unsure on the sex. If I look closely at the belly I can sometimes see a couple of faint orange scales but you have to look closely for them & was wondering do males get the odd orange scale or is it just a very faitly marked female. Body color is gray on the upper part of the body & more blue on the lower part & there are also little extensions on the fins ? One of the reasons I ask is this Convict has such a bad temper on it & I mean bad :roll: I know it had been raised in a mbuna tank so also wonder the early stages of life with these had rubbed off on it. I'll try & get another photo of it but don't think it'll show up the faint orange scales


----------



## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

Generally colour on the body indicates female. But i HAVE had males with a tiny amount of colour to the body. At that size the males will have noticeably pointier fins than then females and will be more butch and 'male' looking. Photo would be helpful


----------



## sweety (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks for that & i'll try & get a pic in the morning 23:25pm here as the little moster has went all camera shy. I saw some lovely female cons in a lfs & they had loads of orange on them & were lovely I have to say & seamed so calm compared to mine which is another reason i'm thinking it could be a male. At the min it's not to much of a problem unless it gets over nasty & it'll have to go in a small tank for a month until it's new tank gets set up (new heating system being fitted to the house & need to decorate top to bottom first) but am thinking of getting it a mate so want to get the right sex


----------



## sweety (Jan 10, 2010)

Managed to get a couple of pic's but there not great so sorry about that but con is camera shy of won't stop still for more than a second. In the first pic if you look closely you should be able to see the 4 faint orange scales now my phone didn't pic them up to well sadly but have noticed sometimes you don't notice them at all other times you can seems as if they come & go with mood as they often show at feeding time & sometimes when chasing everyone else in the tank. The second pic sadly doesn't really show up the small extensions on the fins very well but hopefully from the body shape (it had just nicked most of the bloodworm) might help someone in the know about it's sex


















Cheers for the help :thumb:


----------



## Azedenkae (Apr 19, 2012)

Looks female.


----------



## Zombie Cichlid (Jun 26, 2012)

Azedenkae said:


> Looks female.


i agree.


----------



## sweety (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks very much guy's :thumb: I was wondering as I saw some lovely females the other week in a LFS & they had loads of orange on them & their fins where edge with a lovely blue which got me wondering about my dull convict. She is very sweet towards us & always comes to say hello when you go near the tank just wish she would calm down with her tank mates but never mind she'll be getting her own tank in just over a month & a partner once I find a good looking male so might live with my largest FM until then as he keeps her in her place.
Thanks again guys you've been a great help


----------



## wesnox1982 (Jan 22, 2013)

if there is gold shine on the belly it can all so be a female


----------



## Azedenkae (Apr 19, 2012)

Convicts can go from dull to very pretty very fast, depending on their mood. Of course there's always the duller specimens and the prettier ones. Mine when I bought it was always dull, but the moment it started to become interested in breeding it showed the best stripes, the best orange coloration, the best everything. So a lot of the time it's hard to tell definitely if what you have will always be dull, or if it can actually be amazingly pretty.


----------



## sweety (Jan 10, 2010)

Cheers guy's going to be a few more months before I think about getting her a mate as need to fix a tank i've got for her as the end panel is cracked but the tank was free & i've got some glass just not the time at the min due to getting a new heating system put in the house & we've got snow at the min :roll: so will have to fully redecorate the house first, but my wife has given me the go ahead to build a rack in the diningroom so will have 2-3 tanks on the diy rack :thumb: On the plus size adding the larger FM has calmed her right down now which has shocked me as he's very calm but the few times she went to chase him off or to nip him he never moved :lol:


----------



## Azedenkae (Apr 19, 2012)

You might have some fries from them. XDXD


----------



## sweety (Jan 10, 2010)

Just a little update, my dull female has turned out to be a male :lol: the orange scales turned to bright blue once he was put with the female  & 4 days later they spawned & now have wrigglers in the plant pot


----------

