# Aulonocara juvenile question (maulana bicolor)



## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

I've never really kept peacocks until recently (it's mostly been mbuna), so my experience with them is limited to just around 3-4 weeks.

Anyways, I've recently picked up a few more juvies, one of them being the maulana bicolor 500 at around 1", I understand that it'll take a while for them to color up, but from the pictures of females I've seen is that most of them are drab brown, which this juvie shows. So my question is do male maulanas also show alot of brown/brown sheen as juvies (and if anyone has any pics of their juvies, could you please post them)?

This is what it looks like now (not my pic, but it looks exactly like it):


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

good looking juvie! sorry i cant help


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## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

Need a photo of your juvie, they all look like that when they're small. Sometimes the females may tend to have a more enonganted/torpedo body than the make juvies, but that's unreliable.

Look at that fish and the Yellow on the dorsal. A male will usually start to show some sort of white there.... what I mean to say is taht it's noticably a white color and not a yellow. If you see them side by side, it's noticable. It can be a very this nine. Dominant males might start to show some early detail in the anal and the back of the dorsal fin. It won't be real 'color' but it's noticably the hint of color in the tank lighting... something that is defiately OTHER than the drab brown in your photo above. If you see ny color speckles at all in the fins, it's a male.

Body shape can be the third.. this may not be reliable, but female tend to be more elongated/torpedo shaped than males as juvies... but not always. But the most reliable is the dorsal fin. By the time they're 2", you should know... and may even have some hints of color.

I just picked out 4 x 1" juvie ruby reds for a friend, and I'm pretty sure they're 3m 1f, and I'm probably 70% certain on the sexing, as they get larger, it gets easier.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I'd bet on that being a female, but there is no way to be 100% accurate. I'm basing this on the finnage alone, but venting is the only way to be sure, and the fish would probably need to be a bit more mature for that to even work.

Is this an all male tank? (It sounds like you have more than this species of peacock, that's why I asked.) You don't want to breed peacocks unless they are in a single species set up. :thumb:

We raised the BiColours for quite some time. Be prepared for a very long grow out phase. By 2.5 inches, I could remove one dominant male at a time in order to allow another to colour up. But I can tell you right now that even with frequent feedings and water changes, it takes a long time to get a clutch of peacocks to that size!


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## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

I think.... that that's a stock photo.. it's not his fish.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Fish_Dude said:


> I think.... that that's a stock photo.. it's not his fish.


 

Now I read that!


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Thanks alot for the explanation guys and sorry for the confusion 

cichlidaholic, yep, it is an all male tank with only one of each.

I took some photos (as blur free as possible  ):


































Could you guys also take a look at this one (it's a hansbaenschi), pretty sure it's a male though, he's starting to show alot of blue across the body:


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It's too early to tell with either of them, unfortunately, and the flash tends to wash out the colour that you're seeing, so that can make it even more difficult.


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## Fish_Dude (Aug 13, 2006)

It's early, but I don't see any early signs of being a Male. It's true the flash could throw things off, but I would put it at more than a 50/50 chance of being female. 
Lets say... Likely female..


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Alright guys, I figured that much, will just let them grow out and see what comes of it 

Thanks again.


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