convict cichlids sex?

[zigzag131]

i have 4 convict cichlids ( the petsmart name ) 3 of them have orange stomachs that are very very bright and the other is like grey with black stripes.

are the ones with orange stomachs female?and how can i tell the males from the females if their stomachs are not orange

 

[zigzag131]

this is one of my fish

this isnt my fish but the other three look like this

 

[unwritten law]

females have the orange belly

 

[brian1973]

well unwritten beat me by an hour...as he said females have the orange

 

[zigzag131]

ok one more question. thos fish above are about an inch long maybe a little bit more. are they mature enough to lay eggs?

 

[brian1973]

YES..lol..the little sucker will suprise you..they are also big enough to kill larger fish that they feel are a threat to their nesting site..i found all this out the hardway.

 

[zigzag131]

ooh ok well thank you. ill start reading up on how to raise them and ill prob move my oscar into my other tank lol

 

[Chris_A]

Uuummm... So yes, Females have the colours on their bellies... but that top one *LOOKS* like a female... Sorry... I don't know why, Just body shape I guess.

I have seen some "late bloomers" before but I the more and more I look at it, I'm starting to wonder if you don't have a hybrid there. Possible with a Honduran Red Point. The colours are off for it to be a full blood HRP but I just can't shake the feeling that that's a female.

That said... It has been a LONG time since I payed any attention to smaller Con's, so I am fully prepared to be wrong . Time will tell better than anything else! If you end up with fry, that will be a dead give away lol.

Chris

 

[zigzag131]

lol thank you for the input

 

[midmichman80]

Chris, it does look like a female to me too. My female female convict kept me guessing for a long time before she finally sported her orange stomach. Perhaps this is a subdominent female that isn't showing her color. Depending on the size of the tank and the oscar, you may be able to keep the oscar with the cons, but I would get that kissing gourami out before the cons start to pair up. I have my cons in a 29g and the male is twice the size of the female, if not larger, and have breed a few times already.

Good luck with your new additions zig zag

 

[zigzag131]

yeah im working on new homes for the fish but im gonna keep the cons in the 29 gallon

 

[brian1973]

I am going to go off the color alone and agree that the top one is female based on the fact that none of my males have had any coloration in their dorsal fin, I cant tell you from body shape. I too have noticed the males grow at a much faster rate than the females with may femal topping maybe 2 in and the may 3 to 4 and he is more rounded I guess you could say were the female is sleeker for lack of better terms.

 

[zigzag131]

well then if i do have 4 females lol would it be ok for me to buy only 1 male?

 

[unwritten law]

I'd put them all in the 29 and wait a month or a month and a half to see if two pair off... I thought I had two female keyholes... then lola turned into larry.

 

[zigzag131]

lol thank you. and atm they are all in my 29.

 

[zigzag131]

what are the cichlids mating habbits like? lol


so far the most interesting thing ive seen is the one that i thought is a male kissing one of the females (looks like kissing lol) they will get right in front of each other and run their faces together.

 

[zigzag131]

anybody know anything about the cichlids mating habbits?