Ready To Breed?

[bluedollars]

i have two red zebras...one of them i am sure is a male ebcause he has a blue anal fin and enough egg spots...the other im not sure because he/she isnt at the same size as my male...so im not sure if it may get the blue anal fin...lately he has been shaking his body in front of the other one in an attempt to mate...the other cichlid just basically swims away....

basically my question is...does this mean the other cichlid is male as well...or does it mean that she is just not sexually mature yet...

please help out...because if its another male i plan on trying to get an old enough female...

thanks!

 

[Ferris]

Could be either i'm afraid - the shaking can be the sign of a dominant male intimidating another male or it can be part of a mating ritual, both are equally common.

Any chance of some pics of the mystery fish?

 

[bluedollars]

hold on im uploading them now

this is the cichlid im sure is a male

this is the other fish i am unsure of

notice the amount of egg spots and the lack of blue in the fish with the unknown sex


and just for the heck of it can u help me identify this fish

 

[Ferris]

The 1st pic is definately a male - no question.

2nd pic is almost certainly a female but not all male estherae's fins turn blue so it is possible that it's a sub-adult male, but unlikely.

3rd pic is a Pseudotropheus Crabro - they have a reputation for being killers but IME this is VERY overstated. I've kept several Crabro in different tank setups and never had a serious aggression problem with them. My current Crabro is the tank wimp.

 

[bluedollars]

yeah i know the first has got to be a male def no question...but the female seems like she has no interest in mating...is it because shes still to young...my male is almost pushing 3 and a half inches...shes about 2 inches the most...

haha and the other fish yeah he pretty much doesnt bother anyone...my big male is the bully of the tank...the funny thing is is when my big male comes out the crabro loses the color in his stripes...

the male estherae used to also pick on the crayfish but they seem to have established rank...after hes done eating the crayfish will come out getting the left overs...haha...even over all the other fish the male estherae eats first...

 

[Ferris]

At 2" the female (probably) is a little young for breeding but watch out in the future.

Your Crabro is definately playing sub-dominant to the male estherae - faded colours is a sign of submission with Mbuna.

Really nice pics by the way.

 

[bluedollars]

thanks a lot!...it was hard to get them to stay out of their caves..there camera shy lol...im cant wait until shes old enough i want to breed these guys...

when it happens i will probably be back with more questions haha...

here is just another random picture of my cobalt blue

any chance of telling whether a male or female?


and this is just a picture of my whole tank

lol excuse the hood and light...and also the heater and powerhead...i was in the process of cleaning

 

[Ferris]

Difficult to tell the sex from those pics but as a guess i would say female as it appears to only have a couple off egg spots - a male is likely to have a lot more at that size.