Q about parrot cichlids?

[Thanes]

Whats the best way to sex them besides vent sexing.Asking because mine just started to colour over the last couple of days & some have green heads & some have blue heads.Does this make a difference to the sex of the fish?
Thanks in advance Brian.

[Hypancistrus Zebra]

What size are they? because if they are only just starting to colour up it sounds like they have a whole lot of growing to do.

Wilson.

[Thanes]

The smallest are about 8-9cm tl & the biggest about 12cm.The blue headed ones are the smaller but their bodies are also darker in colour.
Cheers Brian.

[ndoboi]

G'day Thanes,
Can you post some pics mate, much easier that way  :)  The boys of the strain that I used to keep had spots on their fins, were larger and had less colour than the girls.

Here's a pic of my old girl -
[img:1ac4b9ba9f]http://www.users.on.net/~stephenyoung/parrot_cichlid.jpg[/img:1ac4b9ba9f]

Cheers
Steve

[Thanes]

Here are some pics.
[img:988bd65d3c]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c287/thanes_/IMG_0701.jpg[/img:988bd65d3c]
[img:988bd65d3c]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c287/thanes_/IMG_0696.jpg[/img:988bd65d3c]
[img:988bd65d3c]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c287/thanes_/IMG_0723.jpg[/img:988bd65d3c]
[img:988bd65d3c]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c287/thanes_/IMG_0724.jpg[/img:988bd65d3c]
Sorry about the quality.
Cheers Brian.

[ndoboi]

Nice pics Brian - nothing to be sorry about there!!

They are (IMO):
Pic 1 - Girl
Pic 2 - Boys x 2
Pic 3 - Boy
Pic 4 - Boy and Girl

Based on colour and spots through the fins on the boys.

HTH
Steve

[joffbell]

sexing a parrot is done by the marking

the female has a line the whole way down the body and the abdomen will have a red tinge, whereas the male has a spot on his side about half way down

Joff

[Thanes]

Thanks for the replies Joff & Steve.The 2 in the last pic seem to be nesting & some of the others are showing spots on the side & the line,maybe they are confused or cross dressers??Once again thanks for the help.
Cheers Brian.

[joffbell]

If they are only 8-12 cms they are only juves still, so when they get bigger the marking will go one way or the other. They grow to about 25-30 cms so they still got a lot of growing to do.

Joff

[Thanes]

Thanks Joff,looks like I might have 6m & 2f
Cheers Brian.