Male Or Female Cockatoo?

[FreedomFighter]

So I went on a spending mission today, decided to treat myself!

I bought a new computer monitor, and some Cockatoo cichlids. I bought a pair, but looking on the pics on here and google, it doesn't look much like a female to me.

What do you think??

 

[ZoddyZod]

when you bought 'a pair', did the shop specifically say "male & female pair"? Lots of fish are sold as 'pairs' as part of a deal (2x£6 fish for £10 for example) but often that doesn't mean you will get a male and a female.

 

[FreedomFighter]

male

when you bought 'a pair', did the shop specifically say "male & female pair"? Lots of fish are sold as 'pairs' as part of a deal (2x£6 fish for £10 for example) but often that doesn't mean you will get a male and a female.

Yeah it was definately sold as a female

So how can I tell it is male? "he"'s not as colourful as the other male I got, so if I can't tell by colour then how do I tell?

 

[ZoddyZod]

they are quite different, females are much drabber in color although during breeding they can turn a bright yellow. They dont have the magnificent red 'crest' and they are also smaller than the males.

be be fair though, yours might be a female. Do you have a pic of the 'male' as well?

here's an example of a female

http/t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ5OWmYomeBfUX1JNyrouhhe11BedTMZ5sSXNRaN3NwtY7Gd5T3vg

 

[FreedomFighter]

was the best I could get, he wouldn't stay still

 

[ZoddyZod]

changed my mind.....first one is a female.

 

[elisew]

changed my mind.....first one is a female.

I too would say you do have a male and a female

 

[FreedomFighter]

Thanks. It was the colours that seemed odd at first, because i didn't see any females with blue pelvic fins, and all the females seem to have the first few spines of their dorsal fin in black, this one doesn't.

 

[MHunt]

I was going to say the first was female. The first couple of spines on the dorsal are way too short even without the colour difference.

 

[karin]

However, in your picture the fish is missing the black forward portion of the ventral fins. Isn't that how you tell a female? The dorsal just looks wrong, to big for a female. I think it is a male.

 

[MHunt]

I don't think they display the black ventral bars all the time, mine only got theirs and became really pronounced when they were sparring with each other and trying to attract the male.

 

[ste12000]

Nice cacatuoides.. They are two males though The fins are far to long on the smaller fish to be female.. The differences are staggering in large adult fish and its easy to tell them apart, females always show black ventrals even when not spawning..

Female.

Wild male.

As you can see the males fins are more developed than the females!!

 

[karin]

Only on second glance did I see the fry. HOW COOL! Nice photos.

 

[Whitey_144]

Only on second glance did I see the fry. HOW COOL! Nice photos.

me too! such a good photo!1

 

[FreedomFighter]

That wild males fins are stunning!

Sorry for the terrible picture. But I swear his fins have grown!!