# Perlmutt pair? Which would be M & F?



## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq18 ... -08009.jpg

Can anyone see this pic and tell me if its a perlmut and if its M or F?


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

Absolutely not a perlmutt. Hard to tell for sure in that pic, but it looks like a peacock of some kind, maybe one of those "strawberry" ones or something.


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

I agree with SK, it's one of the strawberry/dragonblood peacock hybrids.


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

looks like my female strawberries.


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

A little offtopic, but bulldogg do you have any males and if so could you post some pics?


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

My male, sort of plain, no fancy blood red
http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd84 ... 1055-3.jpg
http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd84 ... 002-20.jpg


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Thanks, looks good


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Thanks bulldog7 - that pic is exactly what I have. So that one is a female. The other one I have doesnt look like your male. It's almost all white with very faint striping on the body. the dorsal fin and face are irridescent purple when the light hits it right and the dorsal fin has a bit of yellow across the tips. Could this still be the right male? Sorry I cant get a good pic. borrowing a friends 8mp this weekend so I'll try again.


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

There's a wide range of variations, they're a hybrid fish. They can range from almost blood red to nearly white. Would like to see a pic of the male if you have one.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

stupid photobucket. I've got too many passwords and usernames floatin' around in my brain! cant remember my photobucket password. give me a few minutes...


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Here's what I think must be the male


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## bulldogg7 (Mar 3, 2003)

looks male, he'll probably color up great in a couple of months, the barring may go away. Sort of looks like an albino eureka without the pink eyes, but would probably still be called a strawberry.


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## aussieafricans (Dec 19, 2007)

here's my old male he was awesome, color was amazing :thumb:


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Here's one of mine, just to show how colors vary:


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Cool! How old/big do they need to be to breed? are there any signs I should watch for? the M & F do follow eachother around all the time... Can u tell I'm desperate for babies?? lol


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## ibr3ak (Jan 4, 2008)

Around 2.5".


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

I'm hearing these arent pairing fish? mine seem to be... but extremely non-aggressive.

So many people here are bashing me for mixing species, saying I'm doing everything wrong. It seems everything I do gets such a negative response. really bums me out! But my tank looks exactly like I want it to and all the fish are doing great! the ick is gone and they are all just doing their own thing. No one is getting picked on. The lfs owner i've known for years and he keeps 85 tanks at home and raises these so he lets me know temperment and everything. Everything I've done that he's suggested has worked exactly like he said it would. in spite of my decisions being so unpopular on this site! My brother told me he quit on these sites because he was sick of getting beat on. He has an 800 gal system at home. It's a reef tank with the main tank of 600 gal. It's really cool. So I think I'm not gonna be on here so much anymore. it's not so fun anymore.


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

The thing you don't see to be getting is that it will not last. They might be okay for the moment, but they've all been together for what, a couple days? These are juvenile fish. Come back in a year and tell us how happy they all are.

When you come to sites like this and ASK for advice, you better **** well be prepared to hear things that you didn't necessarily want to hear - like you have a bad mix of fish. Why even ask if you get angry at the answer?


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

wow. thanks a lot. appreciate it SO much. maybe theres more than ONE way to do things you know?? and for the record - I'm not angry at all.


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

There's quite a few ways to do things. But there's a million more ways to do it "wrong" and have problems with your tank. You're likely on that path at the moment.


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## chapman76 (Jun 30, 2004)

Based on what you said, you said he has 85 tanks at home, plus a store he runs. I'm guessing most of those 85 tanks are small and are for fry. Unless you raise them until sexual maturity, you can basically put whatever you want together. It won't matter. I could put some tropheus, fronts, a green terrot, some demasoni, some peacocks, and some apistogramma in a tank as juvies. Most likely they all would survive with one another, but none would thrive. Then, when they reach sexual maturity, that is when chaos and deaths start to come.

I've raised cichlids for over 15 years and while there are exceptions to the rule, those are far and few between. I don't simply want my fish to be OK with one another, I want to keep them in the best possible conditions.

I'd gamble even my crappy tanks are better than that LFS owner's tanks because I know what I'm doing and have been doing it a long time. When you start putting money into the equation, you don't have what's best for the fish in mind generally. You have what's best for your pocketbook.


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

holy ****. I think we're going off in a wrong direction here. Lets close this current discussion and you can quite gangin' up on me k? :wink:

Thanks for all your help and have a good week!  :thumb:


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

We're not ganging up on you. You have some very experienced cichlid keepers - more so than your LFS guy, as chapman has already pointed out probably pretty accurately - trying to help you out and trying to make you understand the facts. You insist on telling us we're wrong, so why even bother posting at all?


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

I really didnt write a swear word before... I see it's bleeped out like one. I just wrote "krap" with a c. Please dont slam my lfs owner for my errors. He's head of a major fish organization and he does know a lot.

I set up a second tank , so sit back & put yer feet up. u win. :wink:

Is there any way I can delete my posts? (so this will end)


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

Why would you want to delete your posts? It's a good way for other people to learn before they make the exact same mistakes.


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