i currently have 2 adult size flowerhorns and 5 small ones. how do i characterized them as female or male? do males usually have a bigger head? i'm really unsure of their sexes. specially the smaller ones.

male has bigger kok, most of the time colore is better. and female top fins sometimes have a black spot. also there anal is diff shape one has a V shape and other has a U shape I dont remembe which is which.

kok? is that head? sorry im new at this. how do i look at its anal? by picking it up? a

Like importantconnection714 said.... Male USUALLY have bigger head(some female have big head too). ANd female have a spot on the back fin(not 100% right some female don't have). The most accurate way is to look at the anal pore.
V for male U for female(only when they are i think more than 3" big).

If a frys.... i guess there is no way you can tell unless you have experience and it is not 100% right. Well post the pic here and let us see....

just one spot at the top fin? yeah i have one with that. looking forward to breeding it

There are several ways to tell the sex of a LH.

(1) The hump (kok) - USUALLY male fish have bigger humps on their heads.

(2) In the earlier breeds of FH, about 70% of fishes with black spots on the dorsal fin are females. However, with increasing cross-breeding, this method is not that accurate anymore. Also, do note that the double flowers of some LHs sometimes extend to the dorsal fin, again making this method unreliable.

(3) In a batch of fries, the ones that grow the biggest and fastest are usually males.

(4) The most reliable method is to look at the genetalia of the LH - the tube protruding from the underside of the fish (no that's not their ###### hole! It's their sex organ! ) Males have more narrow tubes with a V-shape opening. Females have thicker tubes with U-shape openings. It is only possible to see this when the fish is at least 2 inches. For smaller fishes, you may have to catch the fish, bring it out of the water, and examine it with a magnifying glass!

(5) The last method of telling the sex is to wait and see if the fish lays eggs! When the female fish is about to lay eggs, its body color will darken considerably, it will lose its appetite for a few days, and its tube will be engorged and protrude out of the body prominently. If I dont remember wrongly, ZZ females start laying eggs as young as 5 months old, while JH varieties only lay eggs when they are over a year old.

Hope that helps...

Well said..

Jon

yeah that helps a lot. thanks perrytan.

i cant tell if its U or V tho. they all look like Us to me. hehe could anyone send pictures of anal pores? or genetalia of fh?

Male in the front, female in the back!

Yeah, it's not easy to tell if the fish is small or if you are inexperienced. When I first started keeping FHs, I stared at the damn fishes for hours, trying to take a peek at their private parts, but couldnt determine their sexes! It doesnt help when they move around all the time.

To see whether it's U or V, you have to view it from the front or the back of the fish, and unless you have an unactive fish, usually you are able to only catch a quick glimspe of it. You gotta have a quick eye!

Another way is to catch the fish, bring it out of the water and examine it, but I don't recommend that...

Its difficult enough to visually see the pores... how to catch that on a digicam? Maybe some really lucky and patient FH owner can do that?

[QUOTE]Male in the front, female in the back![QUOTE]

The female looks really horny...hehehe

lol now I know for sure that I got a female

Nice pair

i guess im going to have to wait for my FH to grow... V and U kinda looks the same to me

Click to view attachmentLOOK AT MY FH GUYS, IT HAS A BLACK SPOT ON HIS DORSAL, I GOT THIS 3 MONTHS AGO, AT FIRST I THOUGHT THIS WAS A FEMALE, NOBODY WAS BUYING IT AND SO I BOUGHT IT AROUND 10$, EVEN THE OWNER OF THE PETSHOP AGREED IT WAS A FEMALE, 1.5 INCHES WHEN I GOT IT, AND NOW... =BLACK MARKINGS IN THE DORSAL FIN IS NOT 100% ACCURATE IF ITS A U OR V FH...

Click to view attachment ANOTHER
around 4 inches

i'm just new here!!! i've read what you have said and it helps a lot does the genitalia of the fh is found just behind its annal???? "

and i thought i had problems with finding out the sex of my FH... hello guys! i'm new here... just like most of you i spend hours staring at my FH's @#@*!... i too, cant tell the U from V..

just picture it in your mind, u is very different from v, he he he
and if your able to do it, pls tell me how you did it cause even now i still can't see the u or v from my FH whhhhaaahhhh!!!!!

in additon to that , hope it can help! di ko maiattache yung picture eh!



Male or Female?
How to sex cichlids.

Text, photos and graphics by GARY KRATOCHVIL
©1997 Gary Kratochvil, Exotic Tropicals

One of the questions I am most commonly asked is how to determine the sex of fish. The only positive way to determine the sex of sexually monomorphic species (males and females look similar) is by examination of the vent. This practice is commonly referred to as venting. What is the vent and where is it? The vent is the opening between the anus and the anal fin where the fish will excrete either eggs or sperm. The vent is also referred to as the genital papilla. For females the term ovipositor (egg tube) also refers to the vent. The photo on the left shows you where to look. In this article most of the photos are taken with the fish oriented with the head of the fish pointing away from you and and turned upside down. In addition all specimens photographed were sexually mature adults. With experience you will be able to determine the sex of some species as early as three to four months of age with a high degree of accuracy.

The first six species pictured below are of mouthbrooding cichlids. Female mouthbrooders will lay an egg which is much larger in diameter than their substrate egg laying counterparts. Therefore the diameter of the vent is also much larger and easier to distinguish. Just look at the photos of the Tropheus moorii and Petrochromis trewavasae to see how easy these species are to sex. Conversely some substrate egg layers can be a bit more difficult to distinguish. Neolamprologus tretocephalus for example does not have near the differences in vent size and will require a little more experience to determine males from females. In some cases there will also be a pigment difference between the male and female vent. Julidochromis regani is an example of a species in which the male will have an elongated tapered papilla. In these species you can move your finger across the vent from left to right and the papilla will also move. In the photo below of J. regani I moved my finger from left to right. As you can see the papilla is pointing in the direction in which I moved my finger.

The last photo below is a profile picture of the mouth of Tropheus moorii. I have included it in this article because it is an extra tool in determining male from female. As you will notice the upper and lower lips of the adult male Tropheus tend to be much thicker and more pronounced than the female. Tropheus can be easily sexed by examining the vent but this will help you predetermine the sex as soon as you pick the fish up. This thickening of the lips is much more pronounced in older adults than in young adults.

The tools I find essential in the venting process are a jewelers loupe, an Optivisor and a good light source. The jewelers loupe should have at least a 20mm lens. An Optivisor is the brand name for a head mounted magnifying lens. Both of these items can be purchased at a jewelry supply store. In addition I would recommend four buckets. Why four buckets? In the first bucket you will place all the fish to be sexed. Place a bucket on the left and right side of the one with all the fish. As you look at the fish and if you can make a determination of male or female, put the males in the right bucket and the females in the left bucket. If you aren't sure what it is, put it in the fourth bucket. This will prevent you from handling this fish too many times. You will probably end up going through the undetermined bucket several times. Why did I put the males in the right bucket? Well, because males are always right! Just a joke, no hate mail please.

While examining the fish do not keep them out of water for more than about 30 seconds. Try to keep the number of times you examine a fish to no more than 3 times. I would recommend that you first try this procedure with hardy Mbuna as opposed to some of the very delicate Tanganyikan species. In addition be sure that when you handle the fish that you have a wet hand. Vent sexing fish is an acquired skill that you will become more proficient at with the more fish you examine. In the beginning you may hardly see the differences in some species, but after some experience they will become much easier to determine

that FH is a winner in my eyes esco. i live in australia and it is so hard to get a bright red fh. i was also told that flowerhorn can breed once they are 3" is this correct. i have a bright yellow female (not sure what strain if someone can help lata) but she has been breed before when she was 5"

hi, i got this pic of my FH's vent... can you tell if its a U or a V? I have one and i'm pretty sure its a V (he's a big fish; abt 9in already) which means it's a HE? what about this dude? (if its not a clear V, is a U?)

ESCO, you lucky sonofa gun, you bought that for 10 bucks?? wow, i'll take it off your hands for 5 bucks ok...since it's a female...lol

nice fish though.... ))))`

help is ny fh a male or a female?

C:\Documents and Settings\Jolo\Desktop\fish\DSC00183.JPG

Hi guys and girls. I am new to the FH scene and I was wondering if I posted a pic of my FH would it be possible to tell sex by the pic? It's about 5" long and very healthy. but after reading through the forum, I am still unclear about the sexing. Thanks in advance for the help.

Go ahead post your picture. I am sure someone (or even you now) will tell if it is male or female.

let me see a pic of the guys and gals

Hi!pips can u help me recognize d gender of my FH...plz.........

Hey,

I jsut joined today and was wondering if anybody could tell me if my fh is male or female and also is that an ok lookin fh?

pics

Welcome to FHUSA! You can use photobucket.com to create an account to post your pics here. Just cut and paste your IMG tag. Picture will help members to easily determine the sex of your FH.

BTW, it is advisable to create a new post instead of using one that is 1 yr old.

how do you post pics? file attachments?

go to this site:

1. www.photobucket.com

2. Create an account and upload your pics from your PC

3. Cut and paste the IMG tag into the body of your post

This should allow you to post your pics.

Hope this works.

i had the same problem i use to tell the difference between my fish by seeing if it had a black dot on its top fin if it had one it would be a female. but that doesnt really work anymore. the male would be the one who goes crazy when the female is around.

This is a nice link with regards to topic.

http://www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex.htm

Hope this helps..

-nick

I am very new to FH, @ first, i couldnt sex them. then one day it was clear! male tubes look like the tip of a pen but 10 times smaller, and for the females it looks like a small rubber straw. I hope that helped!

right on brother

hey guys n girls.....
i am new here...
it is any different the colour FH when we want to buy male or female in the same strain?

i have also read that a prominent black spot on the top fin(dorsal fin?) is a sign that its a female..is this true??

o i get it

hi der pips... im new hir... can u post apic hot to know if the FH is male or female...???
tnx a lot guys.....
maybe someoder time ill post a pic of my FH....

hi der pips... im new hir... can u post a pic how to know if the FH is male or female...???
tnx a lot guys.....
maybe someoder time ill post a pic of my FH....

great info thanks you

By the hump of course

hi guys.. i had this FH about a yr now and i the breeder that gave me told me it was a male. now, upon reading ur blogs i kinda wonder if its true.. can u help me out.. tnx..

yep his right but i had a female n when first buy it i thought its a male as the tube is like the male but later it lay egg so its a f seeing a tube of a fh u must wait above 3or4 inch

Hope this helps

frogstone-restday.blogspot.com..

GO TO THIS BLOGSPOT..THERE ARE PIC OF FH SEX

I am a noob at FH. The FHH is around 8 inches now and it killed most of the fish in my 90 gal tank. I took a video using my cell phone and I am wondering if you guys can help me identify if this is a flowerhorn hybrid and if it is a male or female? I am planning to get another FH si see if I can mate them but I will need to know the sex first... Thanks!!


Video

yours should be a male, if it is a female, it must have layer eggs already..