# PS Saulosi sexual maturity



## TheEdoubleDIE (Apr 25, 2010)

I have 6 Ps Saulosi they are all about 1inch give or take and 1/8in... I was wondering when do they reach sexual maturity, when will they start to change color, what size will they be when they reach sexual maturity, what are things to look for on the fish to determine th sex.

I have one that is a orange/yellow/pail color with a little more than faint vertical lines, is it male?
I also have a bright yellow/orange Saulosi its my biggest one who at times will have the same vertical line and at others it looks like a goldfish (as in color and even complection) lol.

Anyone know when you can tell and how you can tell sex before they change color or know whats with the disappearing male-like lines?


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## CaseyV (Jan 2, 2010)

Mine are at 2.5" and haven't started to mate yet, although I have seen the mating dance here and there! It's definitely too hard to tell the sex of a saulosi at 1" or under, patience is the only way unfortunately


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

To get you started:

Profile
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1
Article
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p_saulosi.php

I've had the smaller fish (Demasoni and Labs) hold eggs at 1.5 but that is the exception rather than the rule. And the males seem to need to be a little more mature, more like 2-3 inches. I'd say in about six months.

The barring or more intense colors come and go with mood. When he/she is trying to threaten another fish, you will see more bars.


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## thevein (May 10, 2006)

raised several hundred of these guys and typically won't see much of a color change until 1.5" at least, however, i have noticed that when i had 20-30 1" in a tank together males seemed to color up faster probably due to the competition for food at the crowding


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## TheEdoubleDIE (Apr 25, 2010)

vein i assume this woud never be the case for me my fish to water is 6 saulosi 2 (3" catfish) in a 29gal.


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

My larger saulosi are 2" and have not shown any signs of blue coloration. Altough the males do get very dark black markings on their fins and visible bars on their sides during feeding, aggresion, and courtship. They also started getting egg spots at around 1-3/4". Still no succesful spawning though. You learn to be patient.

I still have a few runts that haven't made it over an inch yet. I'm assuming their getting bullied for food because the bigger more dominant fish are always fat after feeding.


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## TheEdoubleDIE (Apr 25, 2010)

lol yes patience is not a strong suit of mine but hey what can you do... I am more concerned because of my male to female ratio.. you mentioned egg spots where do you look to see them and when will they appear?


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

The egg spots are on the anal fin. They will be solid light yellow spots. For the most part I've seen saulosi have one spot, but their could be a few. They are probably the first sign that a fish is a male. Although its not fool proof, aparently sometimes dominant females can get them too. Heres a good example of what to look for:










**Note: This is not my picture. I got it from this forum post: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/cichlid-discussion/45000-my-new-saulosi-pics-3.html

Just thought I should include that :thumb:


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Male and female mbuna get egg spots about equally, it's among the least reliable gender indicators.


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

Hmm, my mistake. Only my males have had them so far.


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## TheEdoubleDIE (Apr 25, 2010)

well if that is the case are there any other ways... and the only reason I am so concerned is that even though they arent "full blown" males will just the fact that their may be 5/6 males lets say i will have a dangerous situation on my hands despite the fact they arent even on the verge of coloring up yet?


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## tokyo (Jan 19, 2010)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you start seeing increased aggression to the point where it is a problem then you can start thinking about replacing some of the fish. Saulosi do tend to be male heavy, so you will probably end up having to get rid of a few of them. But you shouldn't have to start worrying about this for a few months at least. So you have plenty of time to think about a solution, if one is needed.

Most likely you will be able to tell the males by their coloration before you really need to start weeding them out. If you do need to remove some fish, due to aggression, before they start to color up, you could always just keep them in a holding tank until you are able to sex them. That way you don't get rid of any females.


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