A. Calvus

[AmberC]

Can they be sexed just by

looking at the breeding tubes like a lot of other fish? I got some recently for my bday and all but

one have breeding tubes down.. otherwise it is so difficult to tell! They are still young

around 2.5-3.5 inches (I haven't had a chance to measure them accurately yet.. I'm just

guessing right now). I want to get the ratio 1m-3f, right before they go into their tank because I

dont want to have to catch them out later because moving all those rocks is such a pita!

Thanks!

Amber

[number6]

the claim is that venting on

these guys is accurate, though in the couple of cases where I've tried, I wouldn't say that

it was very clear. With these guys being so compressed, I think I'd need someone to point out

the subtle difference before I would trust my guess from the vents.

[fishmaven]

<!--quoteo

(post=2314:date=Aug 21 2006, 06:22 AM:name=AmberC)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(AmberC

@ Aug 21 2006, 06:22 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2314"><{POST_SNAPBACK}

></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Can they be sexed just by looking at the breeding

tubes like a lot of other fish? I got some recently for my bday and all but one have breeding tubes

down.. otherwise it is so difficult to tell! They are still young around 2.5-3.5 inches (I

haven't had a chance to measure them accurately yet.. I'm just guessing right now). I want

to get the ratio 1m-3f, right before they go into their tank because I dont want to have to catch

them out later because moving all those rocks is such a pita!

Thanks!

Amber</div>
The tubes being down simplifies things some. If

the tubes aren't down, look at the gential openings. Two holes the same size-female. The male

will have one hole significantly smaller than the other. Photo representation can be best found in

Ad Koning's _Enjoying Cichlids_ page 52. Many of the articles in this book were written by

others. This particular section was written by Ad.

to number6: If you went through a

bucket of these guys to come up with pairs you'd find it easy in a very short period of time.

Dan