Help sexing Hypsophrys Nicaraguensis (Nicaragua Cichlid)

[henknaert]

Hi,

Long time reader....first time poster

I need some help determining the sex of some Hypsophrys Nicaraguensis (Nicaragua Cichlid) I bought about three weeks ago. When I bought them all were very dull (basically completely gray/silvery without any color), one has colored up nicely (the most dominant specimen), the other ones are still in the process of coloring up I assume.

When looking at the most dominant specimen, apart from coloration in the finnage, I would assume female (I thought this was typical female coloration). However the strong pattern in the fins points towards this fish being male. The remaining 5 are less colored up, and have less noticeable markings on their fins...They do resemble more the images of male nicaraguensis found on google, but then again have less markings on their fins...

Anyone who can help me sex these fish? My apologies for the picture quality, I'm not the best photographer, and I need to clean the glass. First two pictures of the most dominant fish, remaining pictures of some of the other 5 (they look rather similar). The fish are currently about 10-12 cm (about 4 inches). Thanks！

 

[Cyberman]

From my understanding the females are smaller and much more colorful and have the blue on the head with sometimes gold or orange in the lower bodies and the males have longer extensions in the fins with dark speckles.

 

[fug202]

Does the more colorful individual always have the longitudinal stripe? As you note, the stripe is usually indicative of a female, but I had a male that started with the stripe and then lost it as he matured. Its fins certainly point toward male. The fins of the lower fish also look male to me, perhaps a subdominant individual.

Here are some progression shots I took of a male and female Nic as they matured from juvenile to adult colors. Note that the female's fins lack pattern, whereas the male always has it (even with the horizontal stripe in the first photo of a male. When breeding both developed humps, although the male's was larger.

I'm sure it will sort itself out before too long. Great looking fish you have!
- Ian

Female









Male









Breeding colors

 

[henknaert]

The dominant fish never looses its stripe. Of the other 5, three show a stripe when frightened, but otherwise not, and two never show a clear stripe.
If the dominant fish wouldn't have the those markings in the fins I'd just assume it's female, now a bit puzzled though. Your male looks spectacular in breeding dress...How big are your fish in the breeding colors picture?

 

[jonjoker]

the first two pics looks male based on the pattern on the finnage. the rest may not yet be matured enough to sex...

 

[jonclark96]

The pattern on the tail fin is the best indicator for sexing nics that I know of.

 

[henknaert]

ok thanks for the input...so finnage pattern more likely to be a correct indicator of sex vs general coloration?
I have a boy who looks like a girl? It's just that this fish doesn't look much like a male nicaraguensis, as far as I can tell after some online image searches, apart from the finnage then...(I'm no expert, I rely on google image search and have not ever seen any adult nicaraguensis alive, only online pictures, hence the questions... )

 

[cichlidfish]

The pattern on the tail fin is the best indicator for sexing nics that I know of.

I agree.

Here is my female.

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Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[henknaert]

hm...can't open the attached file

 

[tokenTANKguy]

Hi,

Long time reader....first time poster

I need some help determining the sex of some Hypsophrys Nicaraguensis (Nicaragua Cichlid) I bought about three weeks ago. When I bought them all were very dull (basically completely gray/silvery without any color), one has colored up nicely (the most dominant specimen), the other ones are still in the process of coloring up I assume.

When looking at the most dominant specimen, apart from coloration in the finnage, I would assume female (I thought this was typical female coloration). However the strong pattern in the fins points towards this fish being male. The remaining 5 are less colored up, and have less noticeable markings on their fins...They do resemble more the images of male nicaraguensis found on google, but then again have less markings on their fins...

Anyone who can help me sex these fish? My apologies for the picture quality, I'm not the best photographer, and I need to clean the glass. First two pictures of the most dominant fish, remaining pictures of some of the other 5 (they look rather similar). The fish are currently about 10-12 cm (about 4 inches). Thanks！



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Well from what i can tell , The first one is a female. I would assume that the finnage will change as the fish grows. could be wrong but the others look like males for the fact of the tail fins look like my male