what is the difference between a male and a female flowerhorn fish?

Question
hi Ron

i would like to ask you how to know the difference between a female and a male flowerhorn from its early stages or about one to two months old.

Answer
Hi HJ,
  Actually you likely cannot tell the difference between male and female flowerhorns at that size.  The reason is that they fish might not yet have decided which sex to be!  Some Central American cichlids have complicated ways of determining sex. Unlike humans which have a simple system (two X chromosomes makes a female, an X and a Y makes a male) many fishes have much more complicated sex determination systems. For some of these cichlids, sex is partly determined by environment, not just genetics.  The decision of which sex to become may not occur until quite a bit later than the first few months.  For example, midas cichlids can be quite large (several centimeters in length) before they "decide" which sex to be.  

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>