# Male or female Firemouth?



## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Any idea? About 3" TL.

Thanks....Bill


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

Is that a Firemouth?


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## scrivz (Dec 2, 2008)

The caudal end of the dorsal fin is pointed enough that I would say it's a male. He's a bit too big to look for a dorsal splotch, but in any case he doesn't have one (which usually indicates female anyway).

As far as the species, it looks like a _T. meeki _(firemouth) that just doesn't have a ton of color. Did you just pick him up? He might color up with some high quality food and a little time to mature, but at three inches he should be showing some color already if he was going to be a colorful one.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

it is impossible to say 100%, especially at this size, just gotta wait and see, my female had longer extensions and nicer color then my male did when i had my pair.


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Ya, not so much fire. Got him from the LFS so maybe not the best genes. Odd thing is he is alpha in the tank and chases everyone else around. He was first one ine the tank for a month or so and is very settled in. He did have decent red in the store at 2".

Water parameters is good. Now I keep the temp at 76*. Should I try raising it? I feed Cichlid flakes, Cichlid Omnivore pellets and broken up krill. Should I get better quality (brand) food?.I have not used frozen food either.

Thanks...Bill


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Looks healthy to me. You could feed some frozen foods, but I don't think it's necessary. If you want darker coloring, just put it over darker substrate...will work for sure.


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

What are you feeding? Omega One color flakes and pellets have done great things for my fish and I am sire there are better alternatives to that as well.


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## Fishfeind (Jan 16, 2007)

I have a FM just like yours. Except mine has "rainbow" speckled belly that comes and goes with his mood. He will also go from having a grey belly to a full red belly in a matter of seconds. It's kinda cool.


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Mine will show a little red around his throat. But not like it should. He is very healthy tho.

The flake food is "Cichlid aquarium flake food" by OSI 
The pellets are "Cichlid omni pellets" by Ocean nutrition.

Is this ****? Should I try another better quality "name" brand?

Thanks for the help...Bill


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## scrivz (Dec 2, 2008)

I feed NLS and Omega One to my _Thorichthys _with good results, but those two you named might be fine. The fish looks healthy, just low on color; might just be genetics.

It's always a good idea to look at food ingredients, IMO. They're listed from largest amount to smallest amount, so the first couple ingredients are usually key. I personally try to avoid things that mostly consist of "meal" products, but that's hard to avoid unless you feed exclusively omega one. I also prefer to avoid fillers in the first few ingredients (wheat, flour, and rice are largely used as fillers), and pay attention to where the protein in the food is coming from. Fish products and yeast are the main sources, but I prefer it to be be from fish products.

As far as color specific for your FM, reds and oranges come from carotenoids, which naturally occur in shrimp, krill, and salmon (salmon have a somewhat lesser available form), or can be added supplementally. Looks like OSI adds it.



> OSI cichlid flake ingredients:
> Fish Meal, Wheat Flour, Brine Shrimp, Algae Meal, Shrimp Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Torula Dried Yeast, Fish Oil, Carotene, Natural and Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Palmitate, D-Activated Animal Sterol, DL-Tocopherol Acetate, Choline Chloride, L-Ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, Inositol, Niacinamide, Calcium d-Pantothenate, Ethoxyquin (as an antioxidant).
> 
> Ocean Nutrition Cichlid Omni ingredients:
> Fish meal, wheat, kelp, soybean meal, krill (Euphasia superba), tuna eggs, brewers yeast, lecithin, spirulina, salmon oil, MPAXTM (Marine Protein Amino eXtract: select fish meals, select amino acids (L-Lysine, DL-Methionine, Betaine, L-Tryptophan)), garlic, vitamins (ascorbic acid (vitamin C), biotin (vitamin H), cyanocobalamine (vitamin B12), riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), menadione (vitamin K3), folacin (vitamin B9), cholecalciferol (vitamin D3), retinol (vitamin A1), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), niacin (vitamin B3)), minerals (calcium carbonate, cobalt carbonate, copper sulphate, manganese sulphate, calcium iodide, sodium selenite, zinc sulphate, magnesium sulphate) and preservatives (BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin).


I hope that is more helpful than confusing. :lol:


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