Sexing red devils

[Gershom]

I can’t find the info I read from Duane on forehead profile for sexing Central Americans, but I’m not sure if it mentioned labiatus…

Well, I have half a dozen aggressive American species, all fairly young, and I recently added shredded beef heart to the diet. After a few days, several species started showing courtship behavior (green terrors, motaguense, and a carpintis courting a red devil. The carpintis is a bit larger, and dominates the tank, but doesn’t bully. (They’re all in the 4.5 to 5.5 inch range.) The carpintis has tolerated that red devil in its area, for months now. My devils all have a mild “hump”, caused by an indentation between nose and upper head, and I can’t distinguish sex among them. And judging by the forehead, I wonder if the carpintis is female.
(I included a picture of a second devil for another forehead profile example.)

 

[Gershom]

Ok now I found Duane’s article, and he mentioned that he didn’t know as much about Amphilophus.
Great article though.

 

[troublesum]

If sexing by looking at humps i would say first RD pic looks male and the Texas looks female also the cream cicle RD looks to be female

 

[Mark Pogarasteanu]

I found sexing by looks alone, especially in the young, to be more an educated guess than an exact science.
My advice would be to vent them. If you can take pics of the vents, post them, and we'll see who is who.

 

[duanes]

With many of the Amphilophus I have kept, fore head does not seem a reliable method to ID gender, because both males and females develope nuchal humps.
Herichthys are much easier,

Male carpintus left......female right, not only the more streamlined forehead, but the dark color in the dorsal for females when mature.

 

[Gershom]

Yes, I believe Duane—all 4 of my red devils have distinct humps, though small. So far, neither of the carpintis do (which I call blue devils now, after trying blue angels, silver devils; anything but electric blue Texas cichlids).

And I think the 2-3 inch festae are too small to guess at…