# Sexing juvenile africans - general guidelines?



## jprime84 (Apr 14, 2010)

I am pretty new to cichlids. I have a tank going with 5 young individuals. My curiosity towards gender has more to do telling whether or not I have males which will color up or females that wont, for the dimorphic species.

In particular, I have two Aulonocara hybrids sold as "Strawberry Peacocks". I will get pics later, but they are about 2.5 inches in length, and display noticeable vertical bars, but not much bright color other than a ting of red along the dorsal fin. They also have well defined egg spots on the anal fin. Is there a way to tell gender at this point? If not, at what size should it become obvious by?

I have a similar question about the species and gender of a victorian that I bought labled as Nyererei only. It is also about 2.5 inches, has defined egg spots, and fairly dull color. Lately I have noticed some yellow slowly bulding in the fins on the lower half of its body. It has vertical stripes also, more defined as you move towards the head, and especially the stripe through the eye. Again, I will get pics after I get home.

Thanks for the help


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## jprime84 (Apr 14, 2010)

Ok, here is the media. I apologize for noisy photos, I didnt like most of the results with the flash, so I had to crank up that ISO. I tried to adjust the white balance to most reflect the colors they appear to be in person. All fish are between 2 and 2.5 inches, and have only been in the tank for days.

First up is my yellow lab - my only question here is are those blue spots on the fins normal?









Blue scolofi - no questions here









First of the two hybrid peacocks - male or female?









Second hybrid peacock - male or female?









Female Borleyi I think?









Now here is the big question. This was sold to me labeled only as "Nyererei". Does it look like something in that species? Can anyone be more specific? Male or female? All pics are of the same fish.

















I also took a quick vid if thats easier. Sorry about the focus issues. It was shot with a DSLR so I had to focus manually while shooting.





Thanks for looking!


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Juveniles are very difficult, if not impossible to determine the gender. In the peacocks, as they grow, the males anal and dorsal fin will become more pointed, squared off, while the females will stay as they are now.

The victorian hap, is most likely a male, as females don't usually have that much colour. Of course, it could be just reflection from the flash too. Not sure it is a nyererei though.

C. borleyi is far too young to tell yet.


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## soulpride (Aug 30, 2009)

my p. nyererei male at 2.5" right now and is showing tons of color. when i bought the trio.at 2" male, and 2 female at 1.5". he have his nice color. from i hear the male should start to color up at 1.5"-1.75". it could be a female since my female p. nyererei look like that.


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## jprime84 (Apr 14, 2010)

Well the two photos I included for the nyererei were taken without a flash, so I am now hopeful its a male. Plus, it has a defined egg spot and some pics of juvenile females that I have been able to google dont have that.


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