# Difference between Male and Female Neolamprologus Brichardi?



## olliesshop

I've been doing a lot of research to find out the difference between Male and Female Neolamprologus Brichardi, but I'd like to get more opinions. The best picture, and thread, I've found is ... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=223903&sid=39a535af0492244d741e14d4e2e9efc1








The female is on the left ...

It appears the main differences are as follows:
1. The length of the tips of all the fins are slightly longer on the Male
2. The black line between the eye and the gill is slightly darker and wider on the Male

Any words of wisdom, and/or pictures, would be greatly appreciated !!! Thank you. :fish:


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## 24Tropheus

Look at their bits. Venting. On younger fish that really need sexing these differences you note are not obvious. Besides N.brichardi TB (not the pure WC regional types, these can be quite pricy) are cheap you kind of just toss six or more random small guys in a tank and let em sort out whats what. Just be ready to grab out the ones that do not form the first breeding group in smaller tanks. Pair or trio or whatever they choose they manage this quite well :thumb: . N.brichardi are funny things and seem to like making their own choices of mating system and partners.  
Pop an old male and an old female that do not know each other into a tank and they may well fight rather than breed. Best keep these iether side of a barrier untill they are both showing breeding tubes then introduce but watch carefully, they still might not get on well. 

By the way I love the way you give this old fav a tank it can realy shine and show more of its collony behaviour in. So much is lost keeping em as breeding pairs in small tanks.

All the best James


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## olliesshop

Thanks for the advice and words of wisdom !!! Also, I expect over time, especially as the fish get older, I'll be able to tell the differences between the male and female more readily.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the species/community behavior in my relatively large tank. But that will probably take another 6 months to a year, before I have Brichardi of different ages, interacting together.

Finally. I'm hoping the parents will not eat the Fry as I've heard in some cases and that they will be good parents. Another thing I'm hoping for is that I may end up having two breeding pairs of Brichardi, one pair on each end of the tank. We'll see how successful I am in that over the next few months. I've set up rock piles on each end to help things out.

Thanks again and all the best !!!


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## Lestango

Check out the current post "Community Tank Long Term" and I think you will find information that will interest you. In particular the postings describing two incidents of brichardi complex species, N. pulcher and N. helianthus where one male has established a spawning colony with two females simultaneously. :wink: It could change somewhat the opinion that you have presented in your last post.


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## olliesshop

Thanks for the suggestion on the post, I gave it a good read.

I would guess there's a reasonable possibility I may have one dominant male, with multiple female mates. They are at the age that they seem to be just starting to form pairs. But there is clearly one dominant male, at least I believe he's a male. Who also happens to be the oldest Brichardi in my tank and is about 2 inches long.

Thanks again for all the help !!!


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## Lestango

I never espected the interesting pairings I ended up with. The message to be sent is to be patient and you might be very pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Les


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## olliesshop

Point well taken ... we'll see what pairing I end up with ... patience is very important in this hobby !!! :fish:


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## olliesshop

Well, I've have had the tank for almost a year and know I have both Male and Females, since I've had about 5 broods of fry. But I've been looking at them very closely and still can't see any differences. Can anyone post pictures of what they know are Male and Females? Maybe the vent area that was talked about in an earlier post?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks !!! :fish:


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## olliesshop

Here's picture I found of a breeding pair, but they don't say which one is the male. I assume the male is the bigger one? But based on the post below, it would appear to be the smaller one, since it has the bump on it's head. I don't know ... aaarrgh !!!


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## olliesshop

I also found this at ... http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_brichardin.php ... "I have been breeding brichardi's for well over ten years. I keep reading how everyone says to tell the sex of the fish you look at the length of the tails. In my experience that is not true all the time, and can't be relied on. I have two pairs of brichardi's that the tails longer on the female. *So the better way to tell male from female is to look at the top fin to the fish's mouth. The female will have a perfect arch from fin to mouth and the male has a slight bump in the arch*."

I wonder if that's true? I'll look at mine some more, when the lights come on, to see if I can see this difference. It sure seems true if you look at the picture at the beginning of this post ... there's clearly a bigger bump on the male (assuming the picture is right, of course).


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## Anthraxx8500

try feeding baby brine shrimp. and keep the water quality up. once i added bbs to the mix i got babies every two weeks like clockwork. last spawn numbered at least 60..


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## 24Tropheus

Dunno if I am repeating myself. Yep these are the type of differences you will see in most adult males and females but not all. Kind of like saying males are bigger and stronger in humans. It kind of varies in individuals. Only sure fire way is look at the DNA or their sex organ the primary sexual characteristic.

So who gives much as to wheather one individual is male or another one is female. They are breeding for you. And they are all different individuals. Dunno you prob have some gay males and some gay females by now. :wink:

And for sure some that just help with bringing up others young? Yes

This fixation with the secondary characteristics is kind of not the point with a communal breeder like N.brichardi. If you get just two guys do not expect em to breed if you get 6 or more then you have a good chance. The sex of an individual is kind of unimportant? As a female will not always breed with a male, you need the diversity of choice.
I get kind of sick of folk selling communal cichlids as pairs as if any female will go with any male and any male will go with any female.  

All the best James


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## olliesshop

Thanks guys ... I guess it really doesn't matter. I don't know how I would catch a breeding pair anyways, since the tank is so filled with plants and rocks and I have to use a trap to get them. They are breeding and I'm feeding them Daphnia Moina almost every day ... http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=224327&highlight=. Most importantly, I really enjoy watching the community behavior of these fish, it's pretty amazing. I have fish of all ages in the tank now, probably around 50 of them. One of the fish about an 1" long is taking care of the 15 fry I have right now.

All the best !!!


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## NBrichardiNUT

Scroll to the pic with the 2 fish on this blog with one over the other (fantastic pic) and the Male is definitely the one on top. Look at the finnage on the tail, dorsal, and pectoral fins; the male has slightly longer finnage and if you are trying to sex them by the hump like you might some other Tangy species, you'd be wrong. However, even though both male and female do get a hump on the head, the males' will usually be more defined, like Frontosa. The Female is also, as a general rule, taken in consideration of other physical attributes, usually a bit less colorful when in a breeding pair or group. This is not always the case when a single fish is present, but when used as a measure with other physical attibutes will usually be true. I would recommend that you set aside a few fish and let them decide who will be the dominanat pair and then watch them very carefully for dimorphism (attributes that separate them). They are a lot of fun to just watch...


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## olliesshop

NBrichardiNUT said:


> Scroll to the pic with the 2 fish on this blog with one over the other (fantastic pic) and the Male is definitely the one on top. Look at the finnage on the tail, dorsal, and pectoral fins; the male has slightly longer finnage and if you are trying to sex them by the hump like you might some other Tangy species, you'd be wrong. However, even though both male and female do get a hump on the head, the males' will usually be more defined, like Frontosa. The Female is also, as a general rule, taken in consideration of other physical attributes, usually a bit less colorful when in a breeding pair or group. This is not always the case when a single fish is present, but when used as a measure with other physical attibutes will usually be true. I would recommend that you set aside a few fish and let them decide who will be the dominanat pair and then watch them very carefully for dimorphism (attributes that separate them). They are a lot of fun to just watch...


Thanks ... they sure are hard to tell apart !!! But they are a lot of fun to watch. :fish:


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