female or male?

[parrotfish53102]

we have a few oscars and two parrot fish. just wondering how you tell which ones are male and which ones are female?

 

[William]

Oscars are almost impossible to tell the difference from what I understand its just better to buy 6 or 7 juveniles and grow them all up together seperating them off after signs of breeding. Others know more though

 

[semper fi]

african cichlids for the most part are easier to tell the males from the females. the males are more brightly colored than the females. in the south americans and centrals you can usually tell by the finnage. the longer flowing fins are usually males and the blunter fins are the females. males will also get the nuchal hump where the females as a rule of thuimb will not. in captivity though females have been known to have the nuchal hump though.

the best and most accurate way is to vent the fish. cichlidmaster will be able to explain how to correctly vent fish. basically it is grabbing the fish and turning it over in your hands and examining it. the holes in the anal area are different. just have to make sure that your hands are wet when you do this and get ready to be splashed. the fish does have to be a certain size to vent though. as said before cichlidmaster would be best to comment on this.

maggie