Male Or Female????

[phishphorphun]

I have had this A. Calvus for a couple years now. Male or Female???

 

[daniel4832]

Bobby,
How big is it?
Thanks,
Daniel

 

[okimavich]

Kinda hard to tell. Have you tried venting it?

 

[phishphorphun]

About 2 1/4".

Venting??? I don't breed my fish. So I am guessing I should put him in a net and check out the the area near its anal???

Sorry for my ignorance. I just haven't had a need to examine them before.

 

[Pat Kelly]

I have never tried doing it either Bobby.
Always sounded a little dirty......

Sorry I have not been any help either. Never kept them.

 

[okimavich]

Calvus are a bit hard to visually inspect from outside the tank. The only way I can tell which one is the male/female of my pair is by relative size. Considering you only have one, venting is the more accurate way.

 

[daniel4832]

At that age and size it is a female.
Daniel

 

[phishphorphun]

Well, I moved this guy and the A. Comp back into the the four foot 33L tank. The new setup, shared with the growout Cyps, is beginning to make me think the A. Calvus could be a male. The calvus is definitley showing a dominant behavior toward the the A. Comp.

Whatever the sex, I like this fish and plan on keeping it for a long time.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[AndyNarwhal]

Correct me if I am wrong and I will certainly yield to someone with more experience but I did not believe that venting was a reliable method on fish that were not mouthbrooders. On mouthbrooding cichlids the eggs are much larger which means the female needs a larger vent to pass them hence the difference. With egg laying cichlids like A. calvus the eggs are much smaller so the vents are not as large and telling the difference from male and female is very difficult. But I may be wrong so if anyone has any thoughts I would appreciate the feedback.
Andy