color changing Kenyi?

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iheartmyed9

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I was at petsmart window shopping when I spotted a blue Kenyi the exact same size as my male and I was pretty sure it was a she since she was blue and around the same size as my yellow Kenyi, but on the way home, he/she clearly was very yellow. He/she has no egg sack things like my male does. What's the deal here?
 
Egg spots are not a true indication of gender in Kenyi. Perhaps it is a dominant female showing some of the male coloration, perhaps it is a subdominant male who will not display full coloration in the tank with your already established male. Hard to say for sure, only time will tell.
 
I wanna say maybe a dominant female. She I hope it's a she anyway was bullying everyone else in her tank before I bought her. Her blue color came out alot when she made her way to my probably more aggressive than petsmart tank. When she adjusts more I'll get a picture.
 
Add a lot more rocks. Lol

I thinks it best to have your rock stack at least half the height of your tank; gives your fish different levels of hiding and creates 'vertical' territories
 
Yea I'm waiting on a large tube of aquarium silicone to keep the rocks together like I want them. They rip up and trash everything that isn't held down.
 
One thing I've noticed is that mbuna's themselves have no problem sensing the genders of each other; so behavior of the male you already have towards this new kenyi will also provide insights in regards to the new one's gender.
 
kay-bee19 said:
One thing I've noticed is that mbuna's themselves have no problem sensing the genders of each other; so behavior of the male you already have towards this new kenyi will also provide insights in regards to the new one's gender.

What behavior would I look for?
 
Matured male kenyi's usually intense aggression towards each other to the extent that it may be hard to keep two fully matured males in the same tank. As juvies they're more tolerable of each other but the aggression will develop.

With maturing two juvie males, one may increasingly try to dominate the other to the extent that it may focus on that activity which will eventually ramp up to full blown aggression. Established mbuna's have a formidable 'home team advantage' so I would expect your pre-existing evident male to be the dominant by default. If the new fish is some how able to counter and reverse roles that would be a clue that it is a male.

From what I've seen any minor 'sparring' between juvies usually indicates the participants are of the same gender.

Males can harass and display aggression towards females as well (to the extent that it's usually recommended to keep kenyi's in harems so any one female doesn't receive all of the male's attention). Male's may try to attract the female by 'displaying', showing some interest in her, before following up with aggression if she's not receptive.

Some times the above activity can be subtle and because cichlids can be driven by a lot of individuality, I only suggest it as a clue or small part of the gender solving puzzle.
 
I am attempting to build a 3-1 female male for all my fish that's why I purchased this what I believe to be female. She is bigger than her yellow tank mate yet submits to him
 
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