# Crytocara Moorii, M or F?



## Matman1110 (Oct 13, 2011)

Here is my young Moorii about 2". I got him last week at the LFS and was hoping for a male. He was the largest Moorii in the species tank out of about 20 or 25 specimens. Can you tell his gender at this size?

Pic 1









Pic 2









Thanks in Advance


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

It's a young male. Look at the anal fin, the bottom edge is straight back to the point. On a female, it rounds up so that the point is roughly in the middle of the back end. A commercial breeder in Florida showed me this in 1976, and it is usable down to about 2-2.5 inches - long before they develop the head hump.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

I don't know if that works with the anal fin.

C. moorii are atypical for a Hap, they offer little visible cues. Even bigger ones may not be obvious at all.


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

It hasn't missed in 35 years, and I've helped ID a lot of _moorii_. No one has ever come back and told me I got one wrong, but several have come back and told me I had it right. Trust me, I'm amazed at the accuracy of the method myself, but it works. Look at a hundred or so pictures, you will start to see it yourself.


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## Matman1110 (Oct 13, 2011)

Chromedome52 said:


> It hasn't missed in 35 years, and I've helped ID a lot of _moorii_. No one has ever come back and told me I got one wrong, but several have come back and told me I had it right. Trust me, I'm amazed at the accuracy of the method myself, but it works. Look at a hundred or so pictures, you will start to see it yourself.


I think I know what you're talking about. i browsed some pics online and see the differences in the anal fin. Heres what i found:

Pic 1: Top Moorii is a male, bottom is female








The bottom egde of the male's anal fin stays perfectly linear and the female's rounds up like you said.

Pic 2: An obvious male








Perfectly straight anal fin

Pic 3: An adult female most likely








Anal fin rounds up

Pic 4: A young male








Perfectly straight anal fin

The last 2 pics im not 100% certain and was not told the gender of them but assuming the anal fin theory holds true because there is a noticeable difference in the shape of the anal fins.


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## phinexswarm35 (Aug 4, 2011)

when i bought 2 cytocara moori before i dumped out the female,only after they were couple i only
realised its female,they are shows their sign sexual differ in their mature time, different look at the hump head and the colouration also


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