# Male or Female Texas Cichlid?



## texascichlid732 (Aug 20, 2021)

Hello everyone! 
Just caught this guy (or gal) today and im wondering if anyone can tell if its a male or female? Thank you


----------



## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Congrats! 
You have a _Hericthys cyanoguttatus_, Texas Cichlid. Male? Female? Who knows?!! That youngish one pictured in your bucket, displays some physical characteristics of both.
So... maybe some behavioral details will help just a little to inform the M/F gender of this Cichlid.
- Species Confirmation: Is this a true, 'wild' Texas Cichlid? If WC, was it caught in the US side or Mexico?
- Net? Or, did you catch it with a rod & reel? If so, with a baited hook (worms or minnows), or did this fish hit something artificial and flashy (spinner bait, big crank bait).
- Where in the water was it caught? Mid-stream? Lurking near a bank? Or, was this fish visible (sitting mostly still) in a shallow, calm area?


----------



## texascichlid732 (Aug 20, 2021)

This was caught in a fast moving creek on a worm here in lampasas Texas. I saw dozens that day mostly with fry.

Thank you


----------



## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Awesome! My grandparents owned a 20 acre Pecan Orchard/Farm in Junction, TX., about 130 miles SW of Lampasas. Spent some quality time as young lad there, and caught a lot of different fish out of the Llano river.  
It's kind of amazing that Texas Cichlids have been able to move so far north into Texas. Back in the day.... the colder winter temps would have probably killed them off. (Surprised they were able to survive the Blizzard you had there this winter!).
Anyway....
I'm gonna go out on a (pretty thin) limb here and say that I think your little Texas is - most likely - a female. 
Why?
- Mid-Stream location. The males at that size are mostly looking to find a territory and hunker down into it. They defend those territories pretty pugnaciously! Females will move around a bit more, and in prime feeding locations will tolerate each other enough to congregate together in small groups. 
- The worm you caught her with. That sort of helped.... If you were fishing with some sort of shiny, obnoxious kind of artificial lure, I would have said that you almost certainly caught a male. Mature males will hit flashy, shiny stuff like that all day long (aggressively!)in attempts to chase those annoying things outta their defended territories.
-
But, with all of that said, it's still possible you have a young male that was 'running with the school' in loooking for feeding opportunities in that fast-moving stream. So unfortunately, without venting that fish, it's almost impossible to say with any certainty what you actually have. :?


----------



## Central (Jun 3, 2021)

Wow what a stunning specimen you got there! All signs point to this being a male.


----------

