Re: [GSAS-Member] Paradise fish... males vs females...

[Connie Carlson <nwconniec@hotmail.com>]

Well,
 
NO GUARANTEES by the way, but looking at the following has worked for me so far:
 
The tail shape - they both have those U-shaped tails with top and bottom frilly 
things hanging off, and the dorsal and anal fins are long and extend back to 
the tail, right?  Well with the females I have IDd the tail itself is like a 
crescent moon with not much extending past the main body of the tail, but in 
the males the tail ends are more elongated.  And with the males, the pec and 
dorsal fins are much longer and narrower and seem to extend past the body of 
the tail (ie past the U/crescent, but not longer than the tail ends themselves) 
but in the females they dont - these other fins are shorter and more petite.  
This alone is the primary criteria for me, but the other two below seem to 
confirm it - 
 
The shape of the body - Subtle differences but the females, especially when a 
little more mature, have that rounded belly look and the males are narrower and 
more streamlined.
 
Behaviour - I have yet to see a female build a bubble nest, but males always 
seem to have some sort of bubble grouping if not actual nest, especially when 
isolated in their own container.  
 
AND, FYI, the males seem to outnumber the females, at least from what I have 
spawned, but not by much.
 
That said though, I peeked at those two that got auctioned off last week & they 
both looked like females to me, so go figure.
 
I hope this helps!  I do agree that taking three of them out and leaving the 
other two might get results, and check how warm the water is too.  ANd last but 
not least, the good ole water change trick worked once or twice for me with the 
original pair.  The flirting I observed when I had a group of them was subtle 
and not very frequent but it WAS there, keep looking.  ;+)
 
Have fun, & hopefully this helps!Cheers,
Connie
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