Sexing The Dempsey

[nano cichlids]

ok ive often been asked at work, and online how to tell the sex of a Jack Dempsey. lets start with some basics a Jack is a lot harder to sex then most cichlids but if you know what your doing its a breeze. first you really cant tell the difference between male and female until about 5in (IMO), theres a few ways to tell the sex of your jack one way is the fins, as with most cichlids the males the Dorsal fin and Anal fin will be pointed (http://badmanstropicalfish.com/anatomy.html) the other way to tell is the amount of blue scales on the jacks gill plate, if there are a lot of blue scales and they are compact it indicates female, if there is less blue scales and they are spread out this indicates a male.

here are some pics to help you. (these are not my fish)

a female can you see all the blue?





a male notice the difference between the two?






I hope this answers anyones question and i hope this get stickyed

[jm1212]

males also tend to be larger as they age

[mostlycichlids]

Size is a great indication the female will be more torpedo shaped and the male will be more brut and blunt (taller). My make is almost double the size of my female.

[BigFishKeeper]

Hi Kyle,
Some good info there on JDS.
BFK

[skooby13]

ok so then what is this??? has characteristics of both male female splotted female face bulky big 10inches of male and spangling