Lady Hobbs
05-12-2008, 11:39 AM
My smallest firemouth (Mr Mean I call him) was thought to be a male. He was the one who hide behind a fern all day, right in the center of the tank, ready to attack anything that come in the middle in HIS area. The bigger one, his mate, lay on her butt in the cave all day while HE did all the work.
Yesterday HE spawned! LOL Yup. I had these two firemouths turned around sex wise. She is the dominate one, the one to take on anything in the tank and the smaller of the two. A real junk-yard-dog.
My other pair is just the opposite. The female remains in her cave and her mate is guarding their side of the tank and is smaller than she is.
Goes to show you can't tell all cichlids by sizes and temperament. I would have swore that due to her size and her aggression that she was the male but she pulled one over on me. Makes you wonder how two pairs of cichlids can be so different.
I had the same confusion when trying to sex my angels. Some of my males were very large and some of my females larger than their mates. Sexing can be sooooo confusing!
Yesterday HE spawned! LOL Yup. I had these two firemouths turned around sex wise. She is the dominate one, the one to take on anything in the tank and the smaller of the two. A real junk-yard-dog.
My other pair is just the opposite. The female remains in her cave and her mate is guarding their side of the tank and is smaller than she is.
Goes to show you can't tell all cichlids by sizes and temperament. I would have swore that due to her size and her aggression that she was the male but she pulled one over on me. Makes you wonder how two pairs of cichlids can be so different.
I had the same confusion when trying to sex my angels. Some of my males were very large and some of my females larger than their mates. Sexing can be sooooo confusing!