african cichlids

Question
Hello...I have a 125g with mostly Lake Malawi in it. I am looking for a male B.B Ornatus (bumblebee) and females for E.B Johanni. How do I go about and be gender specific when I order fish or can't I. When I order online is seems I am getting many male fish, which I love for the color, but was possibly going to breed a few. Thanks

Answer
Hi Jim

When ordering fish online, you have to be gender specific. There is usually an area on the order page to select gender, color, size etc. Most of the time, the females won't be pictured simply because they are usually less colorful. Most people buying fish are buying based on appearance, so the breeders will make more money by selling and advertising the most colorful fish. For this reason, some breeders won't even carry the females at all. Just keep trying the online stores and if not successful there, call a few of your local fish stores. They can usually order fish for you from private breeders, that don't sell the the public.

Here are a few of the online stores that I frequently buy fish from

http://www.freshwatertropicalfishonline.com/howtoorder.php

http://www.livefishdirect.com/

http://www.liveaquaria.com/

http://www.oddballfish.com/

http://www.thatpetplace.com

Hope this helps, good luck!

Richard