Salvini Cichlid - boy or girl?

[mattckf]

Hi. Can someone identify if this Salvini Cichlid is male or female please? The first and second pix are the same fish. The third is a different fish. I think first and second pix is female. Third pix is male. Am I correct?

 

[HUKIT]

I would agree with you, the other way to sex salvini females besides the black blotch on dorsal fin is the presence of a black spot on the operculum.

Below is a picture when my pair was around 3" they are much larger now and both sporting the extremely red stomachs with blue spangles, female in the front and male in the back and you can cleary see all the commons traits when sexing salvini.

 

[mattckf]

Thank you. - your pair of Sals is stunning. I am trying to get my pair to get along. But the female is kind of aggressive and is chasing the male around a lot. Did it take a while for your pair to form or did they take to each other immediately?

 

[HUKIT]

They will start to pair and spawn around 2 inches, as far a compatability each pair is different. This pair is bonded very well and will rarely leave each others side, and defends their side of the tank fiercly.

A large tank and lots of breaks in the line of sight helps but inevitably there may be issues. What size tank are they in?

But the looks of yours is the female larger than the male? She may be testing the male to see if he is worthy of her, this can get rough and it's not uncommon for her to kill him if he fails her test or vice versa when he's ready to breed and she isn't.

 

[mattckf]

Thanks - your advice is very much appreciated. My pair is in a 30g tank by themselves with lots of hiding places. The female is almost twice his size. I will monitor them and if I see that the male is in trouble I plan to remove him to another tank to grow him out a bit. Congrats on your beautiful pair of Sals!