Id Fish

[Gandelf]

Hi all I have this fish which I believe is a female red zebra, could any one confirm this or put me right please.

 

[tom130691]

google images says red zebra too http/images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=female%20red%20zebra&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[Gandelf]

That seems to confirm my thought but is it male or female, Males are usually blue I know but I have read that you do get the orange ones aswell.

 

[dthoffsett]

In the wild the males are blue with the orange coloration rarely seen, however, in the hobby the orange coloration is most often seen with blue being rare. You definitely have a Metriaclima estherae, as to the sex, I'm leaning towards female, males tend to have a slightly humped forehead. Any chance of more pics?

 

[Gandelf]

dthoffsett I will get more pics as soon as the battery is charged on the camera, so this may be tomorrow now.

I had been leaning towards the female due to the amount of egg spots or lack of them, dont the males usually have around 9 spots where as females only have around 5?

 

[sarahm]

definate red zebra, id go with female, males are more paler orange

 

[Jenste]

I also was leaning towards "female"...seems to a fairly attractive one

 

[dave_oddballs]

yeah its a female red zebra, males, as someone mentioned, have paler fins where as females have more or less body coloured fins, also, and the most obvious difference is the egg spots, although the females do have them (the spots on the anal fin) the males have more, centralised in the anal fin and very much more pronounced.

 

[sarahm]

heres my female, shes currently holding
i know the pic isnt that clear but you can see the egg spots

 

[Gandelf]

Ok guys I think we have established that this is a female (which is lucky as it is called Gloria), now as promised some more pics.