Help Sexing New Firemouths

Verminator89 · Oct 20, 2010

Righto, so now my Dempsey Biotope is finally up and running i had a 3ft tank looking rather empty with only 2 angels and 3 female boesemani's. So i went out and bought what i've wanted to try for a few years now - Firemouth cichlids

I feel somewhat like a child in a sweet shop agian. I around a few shops today after i finished work and found a couple of shops that had some young juvi's instock. After picking the two best bunches i bought a pair (i think) from each shop. Just to keep different genes in the mix to be honest. Now i have what i think are a male and female from each shop. So 2 male, 2 female for those who struggle with the mathmatics

Now i apologise now, i can't get a none blurry pic of all 4 at once to make it easier, and doing it indivudually gets confusing which fish i've taken/posted a picture of. So this shall have to make do for now.

Looking at them i feel i know which is which, from that picture i can only say i'm almost certain the 4th one (left to right) is male. The other three could be either to me

I have a horrible feeling i have 3 males, 1 female

mattlee · Oct 20, 2010

i think the males have the more red markings below the mouth. they look really nice James :good:

very tempting

star4 · Oct 20, 2010

Fin shape is no indicator with these guys I am afraid, my male firemouth turned out to be female :lol:

Going on sexing my Elliotti look for slightly paler colour and deeper in the body for female. Bottom right looking right looks female to me, the one above male. The other 2 a bit harder as they are not fully side on, but bottom left possible male, the other I couldnt really guess, sorry

What size are they at the moment?

star4 · Oct 20, 2010

Seen on the other thread they are only little, may have better chance once they are bigger :good:

Verminator89 · Oct 21, 2010

Right so i've painstakingly got some better pictures to hopefully sex them somewhat more accurately. I'm aware they may be a tad small to get a positive sex currently as they are all about 1" (including tail), biggest one might be just under 1.5".

I'll list them individually to make it easier. Number 3 i couldnt get a decent shot, he/she is a blighter and won't stay still long enough, so i got two half decent shots

Firemouth Cichlid 1 - Male?

Firemouth Cichlid 2 - Female?

Firemouth Cichlid 3 - Male?

Firemouth Cichlid 4 - Female?

Hopefully someone will have a clearer idea than me. Never sexed firemouths, and certainly never had a go at sexing cichlids this small and unobvious as these. Number 1 keeps chasing number 3, making me believe more it is a male chasing a male, but this is guess work.

Cheers, James