Two Female Convicts

[Tobigara]

i have two, 2 inch, black convicts. Now, i was led to believe that if they had red/orange on their bellies theywere female. Both of the convicts have this orange on them and it's not just a little either. I found eggs in the tank with one of them fanning the eggs. They ate the eggs soon after but if the orange means that they're female can they still go thru the motion of spawning or is one of them a male. One of them does have long, pointed dorsal and anal fins. i'm kinda confused here. i bought what i thought was 2 females because i didn't want them to breed...i don't have the room.

 

[Tobigara]

these are the convicts if that helps any.

 

[england]

search forum for convict pics and see if they look like males/females.....and yes two females will go through all the motions all the way to laying eggs but obviously they wont come to anything..

 

[Tobigara]

i think they might be too young to tell

thanks nelly

 

[england]

first one not sure from angle...second one looks female...they do look young...brreding tubes,,,,male long thin and pointy,female fat short and stumpy..

 

[freerunner416]

I had con's for while. I would say the first is a male (85%) sure and the other is a female for def! My males would have the orange under their bellies when they were happy. That is one happy female you have there with the blue in her fins!! Love those fish!

 

[Tobigara]

thanks a bunch

 

[jayjay]

Does the second picture look like a convict X HRP to anyone else?

 

[Tobigara]

What a HRP again?

 

[Alistriwen]

Before I even saw that post I was going to suggest that those cons are not pure convicts. Neither pic one or two looks like a purebred con to me which might explain why youd have a male with more intense orange colouring. My male con does have a small yellowish orange patch on his belly that becomes visible around breeding time, but it is nothing like what your con has, and it's only there for a while. The fact that the 2nd pic fish is much more intensely coloured than the first may also support the theory that your cons are hybrids in which case sexing them could prove more difficult. That said, it is still very uncommon to see a male with that much orange. I have never heard of females laying eggs in the absence of a male, I dont think it makes much sense biologically.

 

[Tobigara]

Before I even saw that post I was going to suggest that those cons are not pure convicts. Neither pic one or two looks like a purebred con to me which might explain why youd have a male with more intense orange colouring. My male con does have a small yellowish orange patch on his belly that becomes visible around breeding time, but it is nothing like what your con has, and it's only there for a while. The fact that the 2nd pic fish is much more intensely coloured than the first may also support the theory that your cons are hybrids in which case sexing them could prove more difficult. That said, it is still very uncommon to see a male with that much orange. I have never heard of females laying eggs in the absence of a male, I dont think it makes much sense biologically.

so you think that they are HRPs or a hybrid of some kind? what's an HRP? and what do you think it's a hybrid of?

 

[jayjay]

HRP = Honduran Red Point

Female cichlids do occasionally lay eggs together when there's no male though.

I'd go with HRP X convict, they are one of the most common.

 

[Tobigara]

HRP = Honduran Red Point

Female cichlids do occasionally lay eggs together when there's no male though.

I'd go with HRP X convict, they are one of the most common.

What are the differences between them? convicts and HRPs i mean

 

[jayjay]

Colours mainly, along with head shape.

 

[Tobigara]

ok...so i can safely assume that i don't have convicts? i have either HRP's or hybrids?