# Sexing Lamprologus Ocellatus (with pictures)



## xWingman48 (Apr 8, 2008)

Sorry to tempt everyone and then not have pictures of my own to share. I'm just sincerely hoping to have someone submit pictures.

I'm looking at getting some Occies from my LFS, and I want to make sure I get one male and a couple of females. The problem, however, is that they all look the same to me, and I know better than to blindly trust the high school kid fishing them out.

I'm looking particularly at the "Gold" variant. Could someone who's taken a few pictures show some of each sex and give me some pointers on what to look for?

Thanks!


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

If they're juveniles, then you can only go by size and get a mix. If adults, even easier to go by size, and 
there are also subtle color differences. The male (pictured below with fry) has dark highlights in the 
scales and fins. The female stays a more solid gold color throughout her body and fins. Sorry, no pic of 
a female. I've read about a white stripe on females, but none of mine have it. I have a dozen fry right 
now, and there's no way I can sex them except guess by size. Adults are very obvious by size, color, and 
behavior.


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## Donfish (Dec 24, 2007)

They guy at the LFS got mine right, 1 male and 2 females. Early on only size and behavior, male bigger and more aggressive, although he turned into a puss for awhile until territories were established and was the only one that dove into the substrate and hid for a day. He also seemed to have a darker stress and nighttime colored body.

Now the females have a definite white stripe on the dorsal and anal fins, just like someone took a paint brush and painted it 1/8 inch wide. Males look much more "bulldoggie" the female face is more petite.

Look here at this pic someone posted.

http://www.shelldwellers.com/index.php/topic,2141.msg17474.html#msg17474

The male has an overall hue to all it's colors the female white stripe stands out without a hue.


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## Snakes to Cichs (Dec 29, 2008)

> has dark highlights in the
> scales and fins


Wouldn't that be a low light? :wink:


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## Laetus_in_praesens (Aug 4, 2007)

breeding pair. first the male

















he is bigger ( at least 2 cm bigger) and bulkier ( i would guess he weighs twice what she does )


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