cichlidman2010 Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 im buying a young group of blue dolphins but am not sure how to tell which sex they are. is there any colour/patterning difference between m and f ? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuri08 Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 there head shape 4 me is easiest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 there head shape 4 me is easiest Head shape is not very accurate.. The only accurate way I have found to sex them is looking at the length of the dorsal/anal fins males will be longer than females and go back to the tail fin, females will be squared off and stop well before the tail.. They have to be a reasonable size to sex though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuri08 Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 usually in africans the tail sexing is far more inaccurate than head shape the males will have a much broader and pushed forward head which will be developing a hump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 usually in africans the tail sexing is far more inaccurate than head shape the males will have a much broader and pushed forward head which will be developing a hump Yep you are right But you will find the head development varies between males and different strains of them so is very unreliable and both males/females can get them. This is coming from someone who has kept and bred dolphins for the past 6-7yrs and raised/sexed many adults, so I have half an idea what I am doing with them.. It is very hard to say "usually in africans" because there are individual things that apply to some species more than others. For example.. from http://e0.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=bluedolphincichlid "Sexing It is extremely difficult to distinguish the difference between males and females of this particular species. Both males and females develop the nuchal hump unlike many other cichlid species where only the male develops the vestigial hump. Males are generally larger than females but it would be hard to know for certain whether a captive specimen is grown to full potential or not. Color brightness and clarity is not a dependable way to determine the sex of the fish either because both males and females alike can have a vibrant show of color." from http://e0.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=bluedolphincichlid More advice here http://www.cichlidforums.com/showthread.php?t=17740 The length of dorsal/anal fin is the only thing that has been 100% correct for the 15 odd adults that I have owned and the many adults I have seen grown out from fry I have bred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlidman2010 Posted July 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 awesome. good to know. how long are they going to take to grow to full size if fed well daily with a well looked after display tank ? (quite crowded) they are already 7cm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 In your tank which is quite heavily stocked for a (relatively) small tank they will grow slowly I had mine in a similar setup and got them around 8cm and they took 2-3yrs to get to 15cm.. I recently got back some dolphins that I bred and sold to a lady 2 years ago at 2cm and they are 18cm+ and thick as, totally awesome, everyone who sees them even people who have been in fish for years is amazed with them.. I was so impressed that I have borrowed one back to breed from (and already have some fry), she has an 8x3x2ft tank though and power feeds/water changes and the dolphins were among the largest fish in the tank so that is the key to growing them well and to a descent size. It is also very hard to gauge how a fish might grow later in life because it may have been stunted in its younger years, this is why store brought fish usually don't reach the same potential as their young when you breed them and grow them out in good conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REEVESTA Posted July 30, 2011 Report Share Posted July 30, 2011 Yep you are right But you will find the head development varies between males and different strains of them so is very unreliable and both males/females can get them. This is coming from someone who has kept and bred dolphins for the past 6-7yrs and raised/sexed many adults, so I have half an idea what I am doing with them.. It is very hard to say "usually in africans" because there are individual things that apply to some species more than others. For example.. from http://e0.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=bluedolphincichlid "Sexing It is extremely difficult to distinguish the difference between males and females of this particular species. Both males and females develop the nuchal hump unlike many other cichlid species where only the male develops the vestigial hump. Males are generally larger than females but it would be hard to know for certain whether a captive specimen is grown to full potential or not. Color brightness and clarity is not a dependable way to determine the sex of the fish either because both males and females alike can have a vibrant show of color." from http://e0.aqua-fish.net/show.php?h=bluedolphincichlid More advice here http://www.cichlidforums.com/showthread.php?t=17740 The length of dorsal/anal fin is the only thing that has been 100% correct for the 15 odd adults that I have owned and the many adults I have seen grown out from fry I have bred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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