sexes

Question
I have two Jack Dempseys, now i know that I have a least one female because she has spawned. What I dont know is if the other is a male. The female(i think) is large with yellow and blueish spots down the sides and a red stripe along the dorsal fin. The other is smaller darker not as much spots but also has red stripe. The smaller of the two gaurds the eggs.

Answer
Hi Tony,
 In the wild, in general, a pair would consist of a larger male and a smaller female but that doesn't mean that your smaller fish couldn't be a male.  The red stripe doesn't tell us anything about sex either, unfortunately.  The basic problem is that male and female Jack Dempseys look very much alike.  A female will have a slightly different shape with a rounder belly than the male, but that is pretty hard to tell unless you have a whole bunch of them in front of you to compare against.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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