# Is this peacock male or female?



## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

Hey all,

A couple of months back we bought this peacock. The guy at the LFS said it was really hard to tell the males from the females as all of the Flame tail peacocks were too small. He then saw this one in the bunch and he was very certain that it was a male. However, this was maybe around the end of August and as of today I do not see any color from this guy. Can you tell if it's a male or female?



















What do you think?

Thanks!


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

How big is it? I have a small peacock I am hoping is a male and it looks similar but mine is only maybe 1.5". It is really hard to say when they are small and almost impossible to vent when small. Did any of the fish show any color at all or maybe some different fin shape? I chose mine because his/her anal fin was a bit longer and more pointed and the fins looked a bit different. That is still no sure way to tell so I just took a chance. Also I have noticed that female peacocks grow a bit slower than males or maybe this is just my experience.

Can you take a pic with the camera flash with his/her fins upright?

Here is a pic of mine I took a couple weeks ago. This is with the flash on.


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## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

Sorry for the delay! Here are some better pics!



















I'd say it's about 1-1.5" from tail to mouth.

Thanks!


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Too young to tell at this point.


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## Brookforest_Lane (Mar 31, 2010)

Probably too young to tell for certain at that size but I am leaning heavily towards Female.

I just vented and removed a 3"+ female from my all-male tank that looked just like yours. Coloring was the same and the Dorsal/Anal fins were rounded exactly like yours.


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## KraKstar (Aug 15, 2011)

my flametail is only a half to a inch bigger then yours and its still looking drab. it has been the slowest peacock to color up for me so far. i have been able to use a led flashlight to see more color out of the fish. i could diff tell it was male then. did you get a mdoka yellow or a ngara red variant? ill take pics of mine tonight....


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

KraKstar said:


> my flametail is only a half to a inch bigger then yours and its still looking drab. it has been the slowest peacock to color up for me so far. i have been able to use a led flashlight to see more color out of the fish. i could diff tell it was male then. did you get a mdoka yellow or a ngara red variant? ill take pics of mine tonight....


Yeah...the one I posted above is still drab at about 1.75" give or take with no color except a tad bit of yellowish red on the anal fin. I am still hoping it is a male but just have to wait. He/she is growing very slowly.


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## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

So I may be getting excited over nothing, but about a week ago I noticed a blue speck on the left side of it's body, behind the eye. A few days later, I noticed the same thing on the other side. Oddly enough, to me it seems like it's growing much faster now that I've adopted the 4 or 5-day water change schedule. This is what it looks like as of today:



















Is that spec of blue and orangish/yellow on the bottom an indication of male?! (Click the pics for a larger view).


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Still too early. I have seen females develop HINTS of color as well. Just too early. For what its worth...mine still looks the same as well. I do 70% water changes on my grow out tank every 4-7 days as well. I feed on a regular basis making sure they are well fed. Still....growing rather slow. Hopefully the growth will pick up soon.


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## newbiecichlid99 (Jan 17, 2012)

looks like it could be a male !!! all depends on what your feeding it from what i have been told so i been trying mine on a few differant foods and bam he started showing his colour


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## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

Awesome! Speaking of which, where the heck does one get spurlina? I was told pet smart but all I see is spurlina brine shrimp, which I know is a no go.

What have you been feeding your peacocks?


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

I feed my Peacocks & Haps NLS and Dainichi color supreme.


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## Tangalawirifts (Sep 30, 2009)

I'm going with female and this is my opinion.


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## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

Just figured I'd post an update! I got this guy back in August of 2011. It was small...maybe 1"-1 1/4". It's now nearly a year later and as of this Sunday, this is what HE looks like :wink: 8) :lol:










On a side note, shouldn't it be much larger for a year's time? I would say it is roughly 2.5". Wondering if I need to be feeding more...?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Looking god so far. Growth depends on many factors including the fish itself. I think now that he is bigger and probably not hiding as much he may start to eat a bit more and be more active and start to grow faster. I know once mine started to show color it wasn't many months before they started to really grow. Just be patient.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

Looking nice! But are you sure it's a flametail?


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## ratherbfishnjp (Dec 21, 2011)

ha that was what i was thinking! Have you tried upping the water temp a bit to get the metabolism going more and feeding more during the day?


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## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

You know, someone else said that they do no believe its a flametail as well. They were thinking bicolor. This would be absolutely perfect as since I thought it was a female, I bought an adult flametail!

What would your guess on species be?


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

jnick said:


> You know, someone else said that they do no believe its a flametail as well. They were thinking bicolor. This would be absolutely perfect as since I thought it was a female, I bought an adult flametail!
> 
> What would your guess on species be?


I would just wait till it starts to develop a bit more. Probably in 4-6 months you should know.


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## Mike_G (Nov 8, 2011)

The egg spots seem wrong for an Ngara.


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