# male or female?



## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

how can you tell if a fish is a male or female?


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## Desi&lt;3 (Feb 13, 2008)

Depends on the fish!

Post a pix and we will tell you. We cant however w/o a pix or the species.


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## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

ok. i'll post some soon. i gotta get batteries for my camera


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## jhunbj (May 16, 2005)

You can tell a fish is a female when you see its mouth full of eggs(mouth brooding fish). :wink: :lol:


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## xclub (Apr 15, 2008)

http://www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex.htm


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## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

argh!!! those are gross pictures....what do have to hold my fish out of the water? how on earth are you supposed to get a hold of them for that?


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## tropheus duboisi breeder (Jan 31, 2007)

Sexing is best done by venting. It can be done by watching if the fish holds or if male and females have different coloring, but sub dominants can be tricky sometimes (ex. Saulosi).


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## Desi&lt;3 (Feb 13, 2008)

Yes I agree.....I never want to see those pictures again :lol:

They do however make a good point.

And you can also tell using colors holding and temperament.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Colors and temperament and pointy fins can be clues, but you can't tell absolutely unless you vent (the pictures you object to) or see the fish holding. To hold the fish, wet your hands, net the fish, and dump the fish from the net into your wet hand. Or if you are squeamish, just nudge the fish around within the net. Venting may not work until the fish is mature however.


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## Desi&lt;3 (Feb 13, 2008)

Could you post what a male and female peacock vents look like? I have 10 subs and would like to know the sex before they start getting colors!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Click on the link in the earlier post. And if they have not got their color yet, you probably can't vent them with any success yet either. There is also an article on sexing fish in the library.


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## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

i got batteries for my camera. i know some of the pictures did not come out very well, but if anyone wants to take a stab at gender, be my guest

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Also if anyone could ID that lest picture that would be good. It mostly looked brown in the past with yellow tipped fins but lately it had been lightening up a lot and showing more bars as it gets bigger


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## edouthirt (Jan 22, 2008)

My stab...

1.) could be either
2.) Kenyi... with female colors but could be male who hasn't colored yet
3.) can't tell... but looks way too fat or dealing with bloat... be careful
4.) I would guess male by the seemingly long pelvic fins
5.) can't tell
6.) can't be sure on any of them... most of them seem to young to tell...
7.) ditto... fat yellow lab... or might just be the picture... but be careful not to overfeed
8.) can't tell
9.) male
10.) can't tell
11.) looks like a female now... but that could change in a month or two
12.) can't tell

gotta vent if you need to know for sure... behavior is a good tell as well.


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## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

i know...i have problems with overfeeding. trying to work on that one. all my fish end up really fat. doesn't matter what kind it is. REALLY trying to work on that one. i have started feeding them less in the past few weeks. how much should i be feeding them?


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## edouthirt (Jan 22, 2008)

once a day... what they can eat in 30 seconds is plenty... some do twice a day...

for these guys... i would do once a day... for a while... maybe skip a day once a week.

fish can survive a long time without food... don't think you are starving them.

Overfeeding can be much more harmful than underfeeding!!

And yes they will always act hungry no matter what... they will eat themselves to death... avoid the temptation to drop food in the tank if you walk by and they all swim to the surface!!


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## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

ok


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## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

ok, thanks


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## TailorO (Apr 7, 2008)

ok....i will try to cut back on feeding.


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