# Red Zebra male or female?



## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

I've had this fish for almost a year and it was always a light orange color. The past couple of days I noticed the color changing a bit. I've read that some color morphs the male and female can be red/orange or also both can be blue. Is it normal for red zebra to start changing color? Can anyone advise on what sex this fish is and why it's changing color? Thank you


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Does seem like a male, orange males usually get a blue tint especially in the fins when mature. Orange males can get quite light when adult. Males also have longer pointed fins, and larger brighter eggspots and even eggspots in the back of the dorsal. Females can have a lot of small eggspots.

Now in nature there are blue males that are never orange, but there are rare orange males in nature and they have bred those to make aquarium strains that have all orange males. Females are always orange in the Minos Reef population, which is the common Red Zebra.

To add to the confusion, there are also blotched OB Red Zebra.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

noki said:


> Does seem like a male, orange males usually get a blue tint especially in the fins when mature. Orange males can get quite light when adult. Males also have longer pointed fins, and larger brighter eggspots and even eggspots in the back of the dorsal. Females can have a lot of small eggspots.
> 
> Now in nature there are blue males that are never orange, but there are rare orange males in nature and they have bred those to make aquarium strains that have all orange males. Females are always orange in the Minos Reef population, which is the common Red Zebra.
> 
> To add to the confusion, there are also blotched OB Red Zebra.


Definitely does add to the confusion haha. I had thought it was female for a bit since my electric yellow lab seems to fancy it. The yellow lab is always chasing and shaking in front of the red zebra like it's trying to mate. Now the thought that it might be male is confusing me lol.


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## CT_Eagle (Aug 24, 2013)

I bought 4 unsexed Red Zebras about 6 months ago. They all started out a very bright, rich orange. Since then the orange in two of them has faded to an almost peach color. There is the hint of blue in the fins as mentioned above. Both of these are males. The other two have retained their bright orange color. These are both females.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Why is he hiding like that?


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

CT_Eagle said:


> I bought 4 unsexed Red Zebras about 6 months ago. They all started out a very bright, rich orange. Since then the orange in two of them has faded to an almost peach color. There is the hint of blue in the fins as mentioned above. Both of these are males. The other two have retained their bright orange color. These are both females.


So with the blue on the body I'm assuming it's good to say this is male?


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

DJRansome said:


> Why is he hiding like that?


My electric yellow follows and chases him when he gets out. Thought it was due to it being female and the yellow being male but I'm starting to think it's just make on male bullying. Although I still don't know why the electric yellow seems to do the shaking to gets its attention. Any thoughts?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Shaking can be used as aggression.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

DJRansome said:


> Shaking can be used as aggression.


Good to know, guess I can't believe everything from the internet lol. When he does it, it is very subtle. He will swim in front of the RZ and then start shaking or shimmering. I always thought he was trying to flatter her. But now it seems my female RZ may be a male. Oh the joys!


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## CT_Eagle (Aug 24, 2013)

Electricyellow3 said:


> CT_Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > I bought 4 unsexed Red Zebras about 6 months ago. They all started out a very bright, rich orange. Since then the orange in two of them has faded to an almost peach color. There is the hint of blue in the fins as mentioned above. Both of these are males. The other two have retained their bright orange color. These are both females.
> ...


With my limited experience I would say that yes, if you see a little blue in the fins it is probably a male. Venting is the only way to be 100% sure though.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

CT_Eagle said:


> Electricyellow3 said:
> 
> 
> > CT_Eagle said:
> ...


Thank you!


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