Sex My Jacks

[Sirron]

I was just wondering if anyone could help me sex these jacks. They are a little small, 3 and 3.5in but I thought someone on here might be able to give me at least a good idea.

3.5in Jack

3in Jill

 

[snowflake311]

I would go by the Gill cover color. They say the Males have less blue on the gills and the females will have almost all blue or bigger splotches. Also males get bigger and have pointed fins.

Top 3 look like males
Bottom 3 look like females. Mainly going by the gill color.

Also the bottom fish looks a bit more stocky and short the top looks longer. Females are stocky males are sleak.

Here is a photo of a male and female. Notice the Bright blue chin that's a female. Your 2 fish are showing the stripes my Blue acaras show when they are going to spawn.

Also the top fish is darker and the bottom looks a bit more pale. Males tend to be darker with brighter spots.

 

[Sirron]

I wasn't sure how reliable the gill cover color was in sexing them. top three pix are the same fish and the bottom three same fish. they are small roughly three inches. I was under the impression that they wouldn't spawn until they get bigger. About how big do they have to be before they are sexually mature?

So we're pretty sure top fish is a boy and bottom fish is a girl?

 

[snowflake311]

At around 4 inch your should be able to tell for sure what sex they are. My Blue acaras had their first spawn when they were only 2" The are a big small type if fish. But still the JD is not a hard fish to breed and I would not be surprised if they did spawn soon.

Have you noticed any spawning behaviour. Fighting/ lip lock, digging, attaching plants, shaking at each-other like they are dancing, becoming more aggressive to other fish?

Here is the photo
[URL="http/cichlids.blue-knowledge.com/images/jd.jpg"]http/cichlids.blue-knowledge.com/images/jd.jpg[/URL]

See the blue chin on the female.


If they are getting ready to breed then seeing the breeding tubes is a Dead give away. The females is MUCH larger and round the males is small and pointed.

 

[Sirron]

Not really anything yet. They follow each other around the tank, one will swim to one end of the tank and the other is never very far behind. They spend a lot of time back in the caves where i can't see them, so who knows what could be going on in the dark!

 

[snowflake311]

Ha Ha cute. Sounds like you have a happy pair.

 

[~T~]

The bottom fish I would say is female although the top fish could really be either.