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Sexing Psuedocrenilabrus.m.multicolor

Mike Wise

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Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Like all haplochromines, the males are very colorful and the females are rather drab. If you can't see the difference then the fish are all the same sex or very young.
 

dheideman

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5 Year Member
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12
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Like many fish, these guys have the unfortunate habit of really "washing out" when stressed (for example, in a store tank, or bagged up at an auction) so it can look like you've got all of one sex even if the fish are mature and will color up for you nicely in just a couple days.

Personally, I've found the most reliable thing to look for is the one marking that doesn't wash out completely--the orange on the tip of the anal fin. In a mature male, it may be a good-sized orange blotch on the very tip, in young males it may just be a tiny bit, but it's always there on a mature fish. Note that these are not the traditional "egg spots" of many cichlids, but a marking really on the tip. It looks like someone dipped the very end of the anal fin in paint just like a paint brush. If there's ANY orange on the fin tip itself, you're looking at a male, and if there isn't, you've got a female (or a sexually immature fish, but these guys sex out pretty small.)

I bought a bag of 8 of these guys at a local club auction a couple months ago--in the bag they all looked identical, pale and stressed, except for the orange dots, but within 2 days of being in my tanks, the males brightened up into the colorful little creatures they're supposed to be.

I'll see if I can get a couple photos of mine in the next few days, to show the dot. Sometimes it's easier to show than explain.

I'll see if I can get a couple photos
 

eranu

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
57
Location
Sheffield, UK
Thanks for that guys. I'd love to see some photos too.

Is this a male then?
Psuedocrenilabrus_multicolor_01.jpg
 

eranu

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
57
Location
Sheffield, UK
Thanks for that. I have another fish thats the same colouration but a bit smaller, so that must be a male too. I'm trying to find females.
 

Mike Wise

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5 Year Member
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11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Females are a bland silvery gray. There is no mistaking them as males once they reach 1½"/3.5 cm in size. Usually these are all that's left because the inexperienced hobbyists grab the males first.
 

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