Sexing silver dollars

[fraggle]

Hi can anybody clarify how to tell male and female dollars? On the info on the fish it all says that the male has a red anal fin and it is longer. Well my one that I thought was male because he had the red anal fin, I think is the girl. One has a red anal fin but it is just straight, the other one does not have a red anal fin, but it's longer, got the convex bit at the bottom. I figured he was the male after they first started to spawn and he went all orange round the gills, and went really red on his tail, and got a thick black outline on his tail, and on his dorsal fin got a bit of red and lots of black spots with a black outline and got 2 smudgy black spots near his gills. The other one the red got a bit darker on the anal fin, and little bit of a black outline on the tail, and a few black spots on the dorsal fin. But everything says that the male has the red anal fin?
I'll attach a couple of pics so you can see what I'm talking about!

Cheers! It's really now that important I suppose in that they've spawned 3 times and got fry once (they didn't last though, my husband bought me an oscar the day that they hatched and I didn't have another tank to put them or the oscar in!) so there definatley is a girl and a boy, I just wanted to know for future reference when I get some more!

[fraggle]

Take it either no one saw this or no one can help me? lol, or all too busy! :c10:

[squirt_12]

I don't know how but in pics #1 and 4 it looks like that silver dollar has something wrong with it....i would check that out.

[Lady Hobbs]

I have 9 Dollars and would love to know the answer as well. I know there's been information on how to sex them on the net but man, mine all look the same. I have about studied them to death and see no difference and never see any type of pairing off. My luck, all of mine are boys. LOL

[Dave66]

Take it either no one saw this or no one can help me? lol, or all too busy! :c10:

Look down at them from above, fraggle. The females are slightly but noticeably broader than the males. That's the easiest way to sex them, but they have to be mature to really see it.
Sorry about the delay in replying, I didn't see your post until today.

Dave

[Lady Hobbs]

OH MY, I didn't look at the big picture of them and they really are in terrible shape. Is something attacking them?

[fraggle]

The female (anyway who I think is the female) in pics 1 and 4, got pushed against the heater when they were spawning, that happened on the Saturday of a long weekend, that was why I had a go at making the home made melafix! She gets really roughed up when the do it! Couldn't wait til the Tuesday for the shops to re open, she looks heaps better now, nearly all gone, but I've still got to get a cover for that heater so it doesn't happen again! She also had something going on with her nose too( I know they don't one, but that's the best way to describe it lol), she does run into the tank, or jump at the lid, so damaged it or something.
I thought they'd gone on there is the order that I attached them but obviously not! So 1 and 4 are who I think is the female, but according to the info is the male because of the red on the anal fin, but 2 and 3 is who I think is the male because he colours right up, and has the longer tail (or "bump" at the end anyway)
I should have put in the first post that she (he maybe lol) was pretty beat up, sorry!

Thanks for that Dave, I'll check it out when I'm doing a water change today, I take it mine are mature if they are spawning? They are about 4", so they are pretty big.

[jbeining75]

good luck with the breeding and I hope she gets better....

[fraggle]

Thanks jb, I don't think I'll have any luck with the breeding til I can get another tank! My husband bought me an oscar for Christmas, the day the the first lot of eggs hatched, and he couldn't go in the other tank as it had a betta, a 1" bristlenose and a few odd tetras in it, so he had to go in with the dollars, so unless I get another tank to move the eggs to, not much going to happen I dont' think!
Nearly got one the other day, my sister in laws, brother in laws girlfriends parents (ok, don't ask me to explain that again lol) had a 200G tank, with the stand, the gravel, the filters, heaters, everything, for $300!!!!! I told Stace to tell them that I'd take it, but by the time that she did that they'd already sold it and sold it for only $200!!!! Big bummer. I was cut I tell you. Could have shifted Oscar and co into the 200G, and had the current tank for the dollars! Oh well.

[jbeining75]

what 200 dollars...... man that was a steal... sucks you missed it. The stand foer a 200 gallon cost more than 200......

[fraggle]

I know!
I've missed out on a few good deals, I actually got GIVEN a 2400L tank, (now what that in G, I'll have to use the calc for that one 634G, there you go) it was 300cm (118") x 100cm (39") x 80cm (31"), but it was before I had bought a house, and then the house that we did buy was an old one with wooden floors, didn't have anywhere that I could put it! I held over 2 tonnes of water! Let alone the gravel etc that it would hold (hubby wanted to buy a spa kit and turn it into that lol), anyway it would have just had to sit outside somewhere and probably get broken, so I swapped I got one of the LFS to make me 2 48"x18"x15" tanks to go either side of the old open fire place in the house that we bought, I think they got the better end of the deal, (tank looks amazing, they set it up as one of they're display tanks as they were just moving to bigger premises) but if I had of held on to it, it would have gotten broken, then I wouldn't have got anything out of it! So at least that got me my 2 tanks I have now.

[Lady Hobbs]

I'm glad to hear she is better. Man, she looks just raw. You should get a Visi-Therm Stealth heater. It's submersible and all enclosed in plastic.

I had an angel fish get stuck behind my old heater and she got a bad burn, too. It took forever for her to heal.

[fraggle]

She is looking HEAPS better thanks Hobbs (go the home made melafix! Works like a charm), and I do need to get something for the heater, he gets really rough with her, I'll have a look for that stealth heater, seems like the way to go.

[fraggle]

This is what the burns looked like first up, I really thought that I might lose her! THEY looked raw, it really was down to the flesh. I didn't know what had done it at first, then next time they were at it noticed him pushing her up against the heater, then saw more and they looked the same at the first ones, just not as deep, (luckily!) I've tried to move the plants that I've got in there around it a bit more so that he can't get her up against it, seems to be working, but thank goodness for Melafix!

[Lady Hobbs]

The males fins are supposed to be longer and a bit redder but gez, every one of mine look the same to me. Since they go into a panic when you near the tank and go 100 miles an hour, it's hard to really study them closely.

[fraggle]

Well I've worked it out, my male (I thought he was because he coloured up more, and checked it with Daves post that the female is fatter) actually doesn't have any red on his anal fin but the anal fin has a "bump" at the end (or start depending on which end you start at lol), but heaps more red on his tail fin with a really thick black edge, and a bit on his dorsal fin, he is also really red around the gills and has these 2 smudgy black dots behind his gills.
I've done a couple of pics in paint, (please ignore that they aren't artistic! I can't draw for pittance! lol) just to show the differences, my 2 aren't too bad at running away, they seem quite content to sit still (sometimes), you can see some of the differences in the first pics, with pic 1 and 4 being the female (although it looks like her tail has a bump too, just the angle it was on) and 2 and 3 being the male.
She is also decidedly fatter when looking from above, thanks for that Dave!

I don't know whether these differenced would only be present if they were spawning, but I reckon that the bump on the tail would have to be, and I had a look at the LFS today in his display tank, and could pick a few there that had the bump, he also said that those were the ones that were the males, so might be something in it.
It might help Hobbs!:c12: