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Malawi eye biter


Guest BigT

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I have a 4in eye biter I was sold about a year and a half ago , was told it was male and would colour. It is silver with the black stripe still not a bit of blue to be seen , I have a female don't I ??

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Some times these fish colour up at 7cm but usually more like 17 cm or larger depends on the aggression and there status in the tank

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Hi BigT

welcome to ACE

the only way to sex these at 1" is with a crystal ball :no:

does the fish have a red edge on the dorsal fin and a pointed anal fin with egg spots?

females don't get the red edging and the anal fin is rounded with no red or egg spots

link to female pic

http://malawicichlids.com/mw08034.htm

link to male pic note dorsal edging

http://www.cichlids.com/pictures/pic/d_compressiceps-9.html

link shows both sexes pic 3 is female pic 4 looks like either females

or juveniles the other pics are male at different stages

http://www.fishtanksandponds.co.uk/galleries/photo-pages-fw-tropical/cichlidae/dimidiochromis-compreciceps.html

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Yeah it's got a round anal fin , it's a girl !!! Thanks very much for your time and effort everyone , I still call it duggo and my kids still love it so all is great , thanks again

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check the mouth and the anal fin. The males in my experience start to show color there. You will notice a thin red line and what looks to be egg spots form on the end of the tail and the face will start to go blue. 10cm is a little small. All of mine have been atleast 12 if not bigger before they show up

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I have about 30 in my colony of witch there are males with round anal fins, but most males are pointed, the only way to be 100 percent right is the females lay eggs.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Agree anal fin is not the best observation at a small size as it will extend and start to point when the male starts to mature

On most large haps I find the first thing to change is the edging on the fins and he should start to get this on the top fin before anything

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