Male or female convict cichlid

[Ralphie126]

Male or female... The first 3 pics r 1 fish.... The next the other.....

 

[IvanMike]

convicts can be a bit hard to sex. In general males have longer filaments on their dorsal and ventral fins, but juveniles can be a bit late in developing this, and sometimes you get a gal with some impressive finnage. Females tend to have more color (usually in the ventral region) but years of inbreeding at fish farms have really muted these colors quite a bit. Wild caught convicts usually stun the **** out of aquarists. (Convicts raised outside also have some awesome coloration - but this fades a bit over time).

when mature males will get bigger.

convicts will sex themselves. you literally add water and if you have a male and a female 99% of the time they will breed.

 

[IvanMike]

btw - lose the frat cups and get some clay flowerpots....

 

[Ralphie126]

Yea I getting rid prob 2morrow

 

[Ralphie126]

Yea... I don't what 2 males to fight... I called petco and they said they gave me 2 male... But I'm not sure about that

 

[Ralphie126]

One of the convicts ( the first 3 pics) has a hint of light orange by his tail fin....female? The other one is hiding now so I can't see

 

[IvanMike]

a male and a female will fight - convicts are feisty. fortunately they usually don't do serious damage to each other. Your best bet if you want to get a pair is to get 6 juveniles and grow them up together till 2 pair off. (you'd need at least a 15 gallon tank - bigger is better but convicts mature fast). FWIW, I've had two males without any serious fighting - now put a female in there and once two pair off and breed they will be very hard on the other one...

 

[5x5]

I got a good laugh out of the frat cup comment. Nice convicts, although a little hard to see in the pictures clearly. Does anyone know how old a convict typically needs to be in order to be accurately sexed?