Convict Sexing Help

[idlefingers]

When I bought these two convicts yesterday, the bloke at the lfs was quite confident they're a pair, but now I'm thinking they might both be female.. but I'm not sure at all.. I need help!!

First up, the one I'm pretty sure is a female because of the orange colouring..

Now this one, I was conviced was male, but now am not sure because it now has a small orange dot on it's belly which I didn't notice yesterday...

So, is it just females which get orange on their belly (so I have two females) or can males get it, too and I have a chance of a pair still?

Thanks for any help.

 

[idlefingers]

I just noticed that the pics make the male's(?) fin look damaged, but it must just be mid-flap! The photos don't do the bright orange colour any justice, either.. it looks much more vivid than that to me when I look at her.

I've been watching them for a while and they seem to stay together quite a lot but then the male(?) suddenly decides to chase her off every now and again.. Maybe courting.. Maybe bullying.. I'm not sure..

I really hope I have a pair.

 

[andypo20]

i'd say 2 females personally ;( the chasing is probably an invading space thing, what size are they? about 1 1/2 inches?
what did they cost you?

 

[idlefingers]

damn. I asked the lfs if I can bring one back if they're not a pair and they said it's fine, so thats good at least.

Yeah, they're both around 1 1/2 inches.. with the less coloured (and more aggressive) one being a bit bigger.

They cost £3.95 each.

 

[andypo20]

shame if you were closer i could have let you have a couple,
when you go back watch the tank behaviour for 5 minutes, 9 times out of ten you can spot a dominant male....
if you are getting them for breeding maybe try to get a marbled or pink male???
are they on thier own in a tank?
mine tend to breed in coconut shells.....

 

[idlefingers]

Thanks! I wish I did live closer

Yup, they've got a tank to themselves and I'm trying to breed them. Which one do you think I should keep? I didn't notice any other types of convicts, but I'll make sure to ask when I go back.

Here's a pic of my set-up at the moment. I'm thinking of what to put on the right hand side (if anything) and the coconut cave sounds nice..

(the little one's been chased into the bottom right corner )

I need to re-do the background sheet.. It's ended up with a big, annoying bubble in the middle!! Then I want to get an external heater, a black inlet pipe to the external filter and a stick-on thermometer.. then I'll be more happy. I like how the minimal look of this tank is completely different to my heavily planted tank.

 

[andypo20]

nice looking tank!!! the pink ones are lovly looking, like albino but not, they havent got the red eyes
the marbled ones are like the normal ones but the bars are all broken- looks like marble = im looking for a couple of these myself

i have a fully grown male paired up wit a young pink one - just started nesting

a nice plec also goes well in the tank.
check my tank in my sig pink con middle front left of the socolofi