Help me with my baby african cichlids

[TaylorT]

Hi I have 30 young arutus, and 60 young electric yellows. They are 4 months old right now. I was wondering how long it will take before I can tell males from females? Thank you

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

That's alot of fish!! how many gallons is your tank?

 

[TaylorT]

40 gallons. The fish are small 1/2 to 1 inch long

 

[carey]

Wait a sec, you have 90 fish in a 40 gallon? Youre' gonna have more issues than male or female. lol

I hope you have another tank to move some over to. I currently have 10-15 red zebra fry in a 10g and I'm itching to get them out.

 

[TaylorT]

There very small and I sell them to petstores so it doesn't stay 90 for long.

 

[mfdrookie516]

In all reality, it's just a guessing game until they reach sexual maturity. You can get a pretty good idea when they get to about 2", but you'll never grow that many out that big in that tank. As it stands right now, I'm sure you're fine, but you won't be able to sex them at their current size.

 

[carey]

Thats just crazy but to each their own.

I would think you can tell on the auratus early since they get the stripes but not sure on the labs. I think they may need to be quite large before you can tell.

 

[TaylorT]

Ok thank you. I knew the lab males had more black then females but I didn't know how long it took to show.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

maybe they would speed up to grow if you used multiple nursery tanks with live foods and slightly higher than normal temps, like 77-80. that way you could sex them quicker as they develop faster etc... seems to make sense IMO
have you done the "breed and sell" thing before?