Brasilliensis

[vanderdraay]

Can anyone please help me to detemine the sex of these fish please what are the differences i was told a while ago that i had a female and ive recently been to my local lfs and purchased what the helpful assistant thought was a male and really want to be sure.Thought i got a bargain at 1.50 for this fish and he had quite a few there .any help would be appreciated



thanks
paul

 

[Verminator89]

I assume you are on about Geophagus Brasiliensis, earth eaters.

They can be hard to sex when young. I have 5 and constantly keep changing my mind about the ratio of males:females i have. Males will become territorial at around 3", and start to bicker with other males, possibly chasing females off to corners. They will establish a pecking order and this took a fortnight of squabbling in my case. As for distinguishing the two, i've found the males tend to get a nuchal hump at around 3". Females IME have the more stricking black markings down the side (although that can't be guaranteed to be 100% correct). The nuchal hump and/or dominance is more accurate.

Hope this helps. Not bad at £1.50 each, mine were £5.25 each at roughly an inch long!

 

[vanderdraay]

i already have 2 and their about 5 inches and have a very prominent black dot on their sides and dont have a hump on their heads the new one ive purchased has more colour and is already showing them off to the other 2 and hes only about an 1 n half inches lol but they all seem to tolerate each other well , fingers crossed il get a pairing

 

[Verminator89]

If they are 5" and don't show signs of a Nuchal hump on their head then its more than likely they are female. My biggest is under 4" and two of them have the early small hump appearing. So its possible you have two females. The smaller new one could be a male, or it could just be an overly confident juvi trying to punch above their weight. You never know with cichlids. Any chance of some pictures, they say a picture is worth a thousand words

 

[snowflake311]

Where is the photo? Males get big and have boxy head they also have more color and get bigger. Females are a bit more round and have a smooth head shape.

Photos would help.

 

[vanderdraay]

if you go into my profile and look in topics theres a pic of my geo there but will try and get some more pics on soon

 

[vanderdraay]

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hope this helps took ages to get both on the same photo

 

[vanderdraay]

Now im looking at the photo i think i may have male and female already . it looks like ive got a male on the right, it also doesnt have a dark spot on his side all the time . What do you think .

 

[Verminator89]

They look the same as mine, but very different at the same time. Odd, although its obviously just different genes in the fish' breeding line.

Its hard to tell, but from the front one facing left looks to be possibly female, and the other looks possibly male. The nucal hump i mentioned is far more distinct on mine, yours is very subtle and rounded. Whereas mine have a distinct blockish protrusion, somewhat like a baby rhino horn beginning to grow (make sense?)

Yours seem very short and plump, almost stout. They are beautifull fish and are fascinating to watch.