# question about female cichlids



## awilson0001 (Sep 2, 2010)

some fish like kenyi will change to display a male color if no male is in the tank.

do all fish do this? i have some vics and i think i have more males than i was supposed to get.
i think this because a few of them are showing very mild colors and are chasing each other and defending territories... all while there is a dominant male in the tank.

are these males?


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## awilson0001 (Sep 2, 2010)

can not believe no one knows if female Pundamilia nyererei will show male color?

ill try cichlid id also.


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## StructureGuy (Jul 27, 2002)

awilson0001 said:


> can not believe no one knows if female Pundamilia nyererei will show male color?


I've kept several variants of P. nyererei and have never seen a female display male colors. As you likely know, sub-dominant males will "hide" by showing mostly female coloration. That is probably what you are seeing.

The chasing behavior doesn't indicate that it is a male. If they are old enough, look at the anal fins. Is the anal fin yellowish or is it either clear or trimmed in red?









The above is a 3 year old female nyererei

Kevin


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## awilson0001 (Sep 2, 2010)

sorry, bout the double post... no one seemed to answer and i figured it was in the wrong section. i would of deleted this one first but we cant delete our posts.

anyway, i removed the male and the sub male. after doing that, another male started displaying color.

one of the remaining three is pretty fat and i am guessing its a female as it has not shown any color and was trying to be mated with. the other two both have some yellow in the anal fin.
i dont know at this point... i figure i will continue pulling the males out till no more show lol.

again, sorry bout double posting.


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## illpoet (Jan 20, 2011)

in colony type cichlids the hiding of color by lesser males is very common, i have an aulonocare group that males keeping showing up in, when originally i thought i had 8 females and 1 dom male and 1 subdom male. i know its a different lake but i've seen it in a few species and would figure its a viable survival trait. although it kind of reminds me of prison for some reason...


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