Telling the difference

[GrlIntrpted]

How can one tell the difference between a male and female in Firemouths,
Convicts, Red Devils, Jack Dempsey, and Jewel fish? Is there a website that
covers this type of information?

Thanks in advance,
Mariana

[NetMax]

"GrlIntrpted" > wrote in message
.net...
> How can one tell the difference between a male and female in
Firemouths,
> Convicts, Red Devils, Jack Dempsey, and Jewel fish? Is there a website
that
> covers this type of information?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mariana

Offhand, and my advice will surely be improved upon:

For all of these fish, the external characteristics tend to appear
shortly after (or during) the males (and females) establishing themselves
in the tank's pecking order. You can usually pick out the alpha male
with little difficulty by behaviour alone. The external characteristics
then start becoming more pronounced. By the same method, you can
sometimes spot the alpha female, who usually has less pronounced external
characteristics. After sexing other cichlids which have minor external
sexual characteristics (Discus, Angelfish etc) you start noticing the
behavioural clues. Adult fish are much easier to sex, including the
nuchal hump of many of the males of the species:
http://www.cichlidae.com/articles/a145.html

Firemouths: male larger, redder breast throat and lips, longer dorsal &
anal fin.

Convicts: approx. same sized (during pairing off, larger males are
typically chosen), female more colourful (reddish belly to tail), male
has longer dorsal & anal fins.

Red Devils: (limited experience, never spawned), male has longer dorsal &
anal fins.

Jack Dempsey: approx. same size (male grows slightly larger), male is
more colourful, typically with a more pronounced red edge on the dorsal,
both dorsal & anal fins are longer.

Jewel fish: male larger with more pointed dorsal & anal fins, both more
colourful during spawning but female is brighter (red).

Various cichlid sites: Check to see if they have an articles section.
This is where breeding characteristics usually get discussed.

http://www.algonet.se/~cichlids/
http://www.fishlinkcentral.com/links/Freshwater/Cichlids/
http://www.fishhead.com/photos.htm
http://cichlidae.com/gallery/default.html
http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/cichlids.shtml
http://www.fishprofiles.com/profiles/cichlids/
http://cichlidae.netliberte.org/
http://www.cichlidforum.com/
http://www.cichlidpress.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/or2/cichlid102/
http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/
http://cichlidresearch.com
http://fishgeeks.com/index.htm
http://www.mediamarketing.de/cichlid/en/db.asp
http://www.cybercichlids.com/

NetMax