flowerhorn gender

23 11:46:27

Question
how can we determine the gender of a flowerhorn fish?

Answer
Hi Dondon,
The only way for sure is just before and during breeding. The male's genital papilla (breeding tube) is pointed while the females is more like a flat-ended tube. Other than that, males MAY have a larger hump on the head and MAY have longer fins, but this isn't for sure and you need to see hundreds of them to see the difference. If you have seen ALOT of them (100's) you can also see that the female has her weight centered more in the belly while the male has it more in the chest region but this is very subtle.

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