Dovii wolf cichlid male or female???

[ANGUS260Z]

Hi all i got a juvenile dovii its about 3 inches would anyone be able to tell me if its male or female??? Ive had a look on google but im still not sure. The bloke i got him from thinks its a male and apparently was the dominant one in the tank.

 

[justarn]

Looks female, if it get dots in its unpaired soft finnage it's a male.

 

[SaltyPlum]

From my understanding males have scatted spots (freckling) and looks like your dovi is starting to freckle all over the body, so im leaning towards a male. Plus it also has spots on the gill plates which is another male trait. Just looks a bit washed out in colour due to your tank being so bright.

Im in the same position as you and also questioning the sex of my dovii. Ive been growing out a dovii for a month now and its also around the 3 inch mark. I did a vent check and im pretty sure its a male from what ive researched on what to look for when venting, but im no expert and not 100% sure. Apparently at 5 inches its really easy to tell the sex of doviis.

 

[justarn]

No, dovii can look male or female right up past 7-8" ime, spotting in in paired fins is the only traits that only the males exhibit, easily visible at 3-4 inch.

 

[ANGUS260Z]

Thank you guys for the information. Hi Justarn what do u mean by paired fins? And are the female doviis as aggressive as the males?

 

[justarn]

Sorry, auto correct, in the un-paired fins.
So the single fins, dorsal anal and tail.
If it has spotting in these it's a male.

 

[SaltyPlum]

Justarn, what would you rate the sex of my dovii to be?

 

[SaltyPlum]

Thank you guys for the information. Hi Justarn what do u mean by paired fins? And are the female doviis as aggressive as the males?

Females are meant to be pretty aggresive, but nothing like the males. However when they spawn they're meant to be full on. But you have a nice looking female with nice spots showing already, you could always find a nice looking male to pair her up with if you have a big enough tank.

 

[justarn]

SaltyPlum male 100% ...

Females still get huge and some are prettiest tbh, I'm not a fan of humps on dovii so I prefer females alot of the time. Any fish can be aggressive male of female, comes down to the individual.

 

[ANGUS260Z]

Cheers mate very helpful. Last question for you lol Ive done some research now on the dovii i know that the males can get very big 25 inches pluse and the females From what ive read in the wild get upto 16 inches do u know what the average size of a female dovii gets in captivity??