Re: I can't believe what I see.

["Ken Roese Jr." <ken1@iwaynet.net>]

Max,
        I have also read several articles about the "Alpha" female
transforming into a male.  I had this happen in my filamentosa (I can never
find good looking specimens of the maculatus).  As you stated, this could
have been a sleeper male, but these were older fish.  I had them for over a
year when this happened.
        My thinking, until I read some of the articles about "sex-changes",
was that this was a male all along who was hiding from the dominant male by
not showing any of his male traits.  As soon as the dominant male was gone,
he used that opportunity to show himself to the other females.  Again, this
was just my impression. I could be way off base too...
        I never did get a successful spawn.  Several attempts, but no fry.
I hope to be trying again soon when I can find some healthy looking fish.

Ken Roese



At 10:43 AM 8/16/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>Back to dwarf cichlids at last. Can we vote people of the Island?
>Here is a little story for you to start with:
>I 've got a trio of D.maculatus half a year ago.They were about 1-1 1/2"
>when I bought them.
>The male died a month later (I'm still kicking myself for feeding the poor
>chap some Bloodworms). The two remaining  females never had any fry or
>spawned with the croaked male to my knowledge.
>I noticed lately that one of the females started to grow a bit bigger than
>the other.The fins and the face are starting to color up.The fish starts to
>look more and more like a D.maculatus male.The ventral fins grew longer and
>show a little blue and red.The caudal has a striped pattern and a more spade
>like shape to it.Is there truth to the story at
>http://www2.cichlidae.com/articles/a091.html
>or is this just another sneaker male?
>I'm documenting his/her development with pictures.He/she is now 1/2" bigger
>than the other female.Same tank, same died. I know that this was discussed
>before on this list but I like to bring it up again because it seems to
>happen in my own tank.
>Max
>
>
>
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