# Sex my GT and a few questions/pictures...



## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

I posted about this a few days ago and didnt get much response... now I have some pictures so maybe you can help??......

I have had this GT for about 2 months and it has really grown and colored up nicely...

I was thinking it was a nicely colored female for the first few weeks... however, the tank also holds another GT... I got two to grow out and then plan to re-home the less impressive one....

One has almost doubled in size, the other has not grown nearly as much and shows little color and two strong verticle stripes..

The larger one has recently started coloring up ALOT and also starting to show pointed fins and (i think) a slight hump on his head.... in the last 2 weeks or so the larger one has been showing mating behavior toward the smaller one.... not aggression, clearly shaking circling, showing fins, slowly following etc... the little one has shown zero interest at this point....

So, I am wondering a few things... would 2 females show this behavior? do you think the pictures below are a male GT... still not sure....

If I was to remove the female at this point, would the male show less color and slow down without being the "dominant male" in tank?? The larger one is only about 3-3.5 inches and the smaller maybe 2.5 or so....

maybe if they pair, I will just keep the pair??? let me know what you think....

Male?? with female in background???









Male?









Their tank... only a 55, but will upgrade to 75 or more if I keep the pair or once they are larger...









And my little dwarf puffer tank, just for fun!!


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## SEAN420 (Nov 24, 2011)

Im going with male.. imo. Wish i knew what mine was.. think i got a female on my hands.. gotta post pics soon. beautiful fish though


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## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

thanks... give it some time on your fish....

mine was showing a lot of female and male traits from the get go and many people I asked said female.... suddenly, within the last 2 weeks or so the fish has colored up and started to look much more like a male...

I was about to give up and try again at one point...

This fish is for sure the most interesting and pretty fish I have had.... has a lot of personality and always up to something.....


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## marvo (Nov 24, 2010)

vent for confirmation..lots of questions in your topic too many to answer..i have said it many times out of experiance consider the jd's will yeald up to 500 frey be prepaired.


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## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

eh... not venting for confirmation, not really worried about it..

if they spawn they do if not no big deal... not my goal or anything...

I am close to certain it is a male, hump seems to be showing more daily...


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## GTWilly (Nov 17, 2010)

Looks like you have a young male and young female. My guess (based on your size est. 3-3.5 in) about 6-8 months old. Possibly from the same batch. Males will grow much more rapidly after hitting about 2in. Keep in mind, not all males develope the hump in the head, and those that do, may not develope it until they have seen a couple years. The fact that the larger fish is growing more rapidly, coloring up, along with the courting behavior leaves little to doubt. The courting going on means that you may have eggs soon. The shaking and flicking of fins stimulate the egg production. Check the female for roundness of her belly. If she looks fatter than normal, you got a couple days at the most. The female may take some time to warm up to the male, though they are large enough to breed. First batch i wouldn't be too worried about, there is a pretty low chance of any of the eggs making it to fry. Let us know how it goes.


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## marvo (Nov 24, 2010)

GOSKN5 said:


> eh... not venting for confirmation, not really worried about it..
> 
> if they spawn they do if not no big deal... not my goal or anything...
> 
> i am confused the fish in the picture looks like a jack dempsy to me.... no big deal wow i can catch JD's in canals and almost any pond at a colege campus in florida


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## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

not a JD.... it is two Gold Saums, commonly known as Green Terror, but not the true GT....


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## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

GTWilly said:


> Looks like you have a young male and young female. My guess (based on your size est. 3-3.5 in) about 6-8 months old. Possibly from the same batch. Males will grow much more rapidly after hitting about 2in. Keep in mind, not all males develope the hump in the head, and those that do, may not develope it until they have seen a couple years. The fact that the larger fish is growing more rapidly, coloring up, along with the courting behavior leaves little to doubt. The courting going on means that you may have eggs soon. The shaking and crazy of fins stimulate the egg production. Check the female for roundness of her belly. If she looks fatter than normal, you got a couple days at the most. The female may take some time to warm up to the male, though they are large enough to breed. First batch i wouldn't be too worried about, there is a pretty low chance of any of the eggs making it to fry. Let us know how it goes.


I see the hump forming slowly, as I have been watching the head closely because it was very rounded and not nearly as sloped as it is now.... I actually dont like the hump on GT so hopefully it wont grow to large... I know most dont...

The fish are probably not from same batch, since I got them at two stores in two different states, but it is still possible I guess....

As I said, my goal is not to breed anyway... I just want an impressive large male for the tank.... if they breed that is cool, if not its fine too....

thanks for the help though..


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## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

what type of spawning site do GTs prefer? A flat rock, cave or what? I am not sure...


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## GTWilly (Nov 17, 2010)

You can try a flat rock, but most young parents, especially if they are new to the tank may find the open space not secluded enough. Most likely they will dig out a spot in the gravel, or sand, down to the glass behind some cover and start there, unfortunately away from prying eyes. Keep in mind they will be very aggressive at that time. You might have to send some tankmates to the big tropical fishtank in the sky (i meant flushing their mutilated corpses down the toilet, in case you didn't understand my meaning)


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## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

Well since my last post I added a few rocks...

The female choose one and laid about 100 or so eggs, they turned into wigglers a few days later and she dug a big pit in the sand under a rock and moved them all there... They are not quite free swimming yet but I expect them to be tomorrow or 6riday for sure...

Weird thing is the male has done nothing with the spawn... Doesn't even go over to the site except passing by... They also have not gotten any more aggressive at all... In fact the male has become very skittish and actually lost the noticeable hump that was forming... He was banging glass before the eggs now he hides when I walk over.... Strange huh??


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## GTWilly (Nov 17, 2010)

They will act strange the first couple spawns. The female usually takes the dominant role in caring for the young, regardless of age. The males role is usually seek and destroy anyone but the mate. older couples with a little more time with each other do a lot more team parenting watching over the young and moving them about. What may have happened with your couple is the females hightened aggression because of the fry, may have made the male switch into a more submissive role. Probably because of the relative closeness in size mixed with his instincts to not attack. You will see the difference in size grow rapidly and eventually the male will tolerate the females nagging nips and still assume the dominate role. They are great parents and i am sure you will enjoy watching them learn and grow.


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## GOSKN5 (Feb 23, 2011)

well the first brood made it about a week after free swimming... less and less each day and today they are all gone....

a few interesting observations... the female got tired of guarding them and eventually would leave the area for long periods of time... at that time some of my lemon tetras would pick off any fry that left the cover of the cave....

I also noticed that the mother did not fight off my catfish as hard toward the last few days... he probably took care of a bunch of the fry...

either way pretty cool, interested to see how it changes the next spawn... I might pull a few to grow out later on....


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