# please!!!!! sex my red forest jewels



## kfenk

:thumb: now i know there are so many different kinds of red jewel cichlids, apparently they are _Hemichromis lifalili_ (thats what i got told). heres a vid of them. please help


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## 810Aaron

I would guess that both are females because of their size.
I'm sure a more experienced member will chime in soon.


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## oldwheat

It's difficult to tell much from the video. How large / old are the jewels? To me, it appears to be a pair with the male being the larger one. Have you noticed any interactive behavior such as the larger fish displaying in a nose down attitude to the other fish? They seem to be getting along well which is another indication of some pair bonding.


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## kfenk

dont know how old they are. the bigger one is jus under 2" and the other is a little smaller. the bigger one seems to be darker now and a little aggressive to the smaller one. if thats any help


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## BRANT13

too hard for me to tell from the videos sorry


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## oldwheat

I took another peek @ your video & still believe that you have a potential pair or possibly two males. As I mentioned before, look for signs in their behavior. Two males will assume a side by side posture, facing opposite directions & spread their fins & 'shimmy'. Usually in mid levels of the tank. A male displaying to a female will put his nose down, spread his fins & 'shimmy' near her head (usually near the substrate). Inter-specific aggression is par for the course with most cichlids ; especially hemichromis, & is not a good determination of sex although a male will often chase a non-responsive female. Look for an increase in girth in the smaller fish indicating egg development, also a good indicator of sex..


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## bigpipe

The jewels and the africans should be separated, as jewels are infamous for killing all other fish in the tank when spawning.

The 180 litre is not really large enough for the africans, youd be better off with a 75G 48" rectangle tank or larger for them.


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## oldwheat

bigpipe said:


> The jewels and the africans should be separated, as jewels are infamous for killing all other fish in the tank when spawning.
> 
> The 180 litre is not really large enough for the africans, youd be better off with a 75G 48" rectangle tank or larger for them.


 I've been breeding hemichromis in community situations for over 40 years without mishap & often in tanks 1/2 that size. The rep that they have of being more aggressive than most other cichlids is pretty much 'urban legend' IMHO. The bright red coloration is there to keep prospective fry predators @ a distance. Most fish are smart enough to do so & if not, the parents will send them on their way. Extensive chasing or mayhem are not part of the game plan as it would tend to leave the fry open to attack. However, other territorial fishes such as cichlids can present a problem as they may be stupid enough to stand their ground.


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## kfenk

heres a new video. i think they are two males (but im no expert). they dont seem to attack each other but they do flare fins. sometimes the bigger one goes a more red color but the smaller one stays the same. also the bigger one seems to chase the other one every now and then but mainly during feeding


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## kfenk

sorry forgot to paste the link lol :lol:


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## mbargas

Here's a brief film clip of my female lifalili which I posted on another thread






The male is much darker. I'll try to get a video of him.


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## kfenk

good news i think. i took the fish out, changed the tank around a bit and added a driftwood and plant. the drift wood seems to have yellowed the water but the fish seem happier. i also added another red jewel and two seem to have paired off. i think.... they chase the smaller one off whenever he come out of hiding. will remove if they spawn. but im still not 100% sure they are a pair. help any one? will post vid if any one interested.


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## BRANT13

lets see the vid :thumb:

heres the female from my old pair guarding her eggs


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## kfenk

this vid prob wont help much but you can see them colored up now. they seemed more interested in me standing there with my camera.


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## BRANT13

hmm....mine were always a dark deep red...ures look alot paler and almost gray with the exception of the more colorful one....i cant really sex them from the video sorry.


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## kfenk

its hard to tell because of the color of the water but the other big one isnt grey its more of a deep maroon color. its hard to get them on camera behaving towards eachother because they are more interested in me standing there waiting lol. can anyone give specific behaviour a pair would have from when they first pair up til eggs are laid? i was also told they probably wont lay because the other fish is in there. is this a big problem?


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## oldwheat

If they are going to spawn, they will just send the extra fish packing. ( See kfenk's video ) You can also a lot about sex differences in the video. The male is the larger/slimmer fish doing most of the chasing & the female is the brighter red, chubbier fish. Actually, the fact that they haven't spawned by now & that the differences in appearance are minute makes me concur that in all likelyhood , you do have 2 males.


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## kfenk

finally got the smaller one out. got while feeding lol not to quick for me after all. it seems much happier now living in my community tank. even colored up a little. now lets see what happens with the other two. knowing my luck so far nothings goin to happen


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## kfenk

looks like it worked taking the small one out. my two happy red jewels are now proud parents of a s**t load of eggs. only just found this out after getting hm from work. would have loved witnessing all my hard work pay off first hand, oh well. its great watching them take turns in fanning the eggs while the other wonders around. when i got hm i found the darker one hiding behind the filter, now its fanning the eggs lol. i try get a vid on, just wanted 2 tell evry1 first[/img]


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## kfenk

here you go, vid of proud parent fanning eggs


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## oldwheat

Congrats!! Just when you had me almost certain that it wasn't a pair. BTW: That's mom in the video.


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## steve_58

Congrats and don't get excited right away if the eggs disappear and you can't see them or the newly hatched fry. The parents will hide them as soon as the eggs start to make any movement or signs of hatching.They usually hide them in the gravel and gaurd that spot very well.In a few days u should have fry swimming. Don't forget to cover filter inlets and turn off any ugf if u have one.It is very wise not have any other fish in the tank now that they are parents.


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## steve_58

I wanted to say also i just looked at ur first vid and i'd say it looks to me like u got 2 males and 1 female. I may be wrong tho.


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## fishy18

One way that never fail for me is the tail. Look at the tail the male will have dots from top to bottom, as the female has dots only on the top half on her tail.
This one way, and this is how I know. Watching them laid eggs always work for me.


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