Lake Victoria Basin, West African, Madagascar & Asian Species • please!!!!! sex my red forest jewels

[kfenk]

now i know there are so many different kinds of red jewel cichlids, apparently they are Hemichromis lifalili (thats what i got told). heres a vid of them. please help http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvK4RMpioSM

[810Aaron]

I would guess that both are females because of their size.
I'm sure a more experienced member will chime in soon.

[oldwheat]

It's difficult to tell much from the video. How large / old are the jewels? To me, it appears to be a pair with the male being the larger one. Have you noticed any interactive behavior such as the larger fish displaying in a nose down attitude to the other fish? They seem to be getting along well which is another indication of some pair bonding.

[kfenk]

dont know how old they are. the bigger one is jus under 2" and the other is a little smaller. the bigger one seems to be darker now and a little aggressive to the smaller one. if thats any help

[BRANT13]

too hard for me to tell from the videos sorry

[oldwheat]

I took another peek @ your video & still believe that you have a potential pair or possibly two males. As I mentioned before, look for signs in their behavior. Two males will assume a side by side posture, facing opposite directions & spread their fins & 'shimmy'. Usually in mid levels of the tank. A male displaying to a female will put his nose down, spread his fins & 'shimmy' near her head (usually near the substrate). Inter-specific aggression is par for the course with most cichlids ; especially hemichromis, & is not a good determination of sex although a male will often chase a non-responsive female. Look for an increase in girth in the smaller fish indicating egg development, also a good indicator of sex..

[bigpipe]

The jewels and the africans should be separated, as jewels are infamous for killing all other fish in the tank when spawning.

The 180 litre is not really large enough for the africans, youd be better off with a 75G 48" rectangle tank or larger for them.

[oldwheat]

The jewels and the africans should be separated, as jewels are infamous for killing all other fish in the tank when spawning.

The 180 litre is not really large enough for the africans, youd be better off with a 75G 48" rectangle tank or larger for them.

I've been breeding hemichromis in community situations for over 40 years without mishap & often in tanks 1/2 that size. The rep that they have of being more aggressive than most other cichlids is pretty much 'urban legend' IMHO. The bright red coloration is there to keep prospective fry predators @ a distance. Most fish are smart enough to do so & if not, the parents will send them on their way. Extensive chasing or mayhem are not part of the game plan as it would tend to leave the fry open to attack. However, other territorial fishes such as cichlids can present a problem as they may be stupid enough to stand their ground.

[kfenk]

heres a new video. i think they are two males (but im no expert). they dont seem to attack each other but they do flare fins. sometimes the bigger one goes a more red color but the smaller one stays the same. also the bigger one seems to chase the other one every now and then but mainly during feeding

[kfenk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S35Z-reXgk4
sorry forgot to paste the link lol

[mbargas]

Here's a brief film clip of my female lifalili which I posted on another thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQqbnVLawks

The male is much darker. I'll try to get a video of him.

[kfenk]

good news i think. i took the fish out, changed the tank around a bit and added a driftwood and plant. the drift wood seems to have yellowed the water but the fish seem happier. i also added another red jewel and two seem to have paired off. i think.... they chase the smaller one off whenever he come out of hiding. will remove if they spawn. but im still not 100% sure they are a pair. help any one? will post vid if any one interested.

[BRANT13]

lets see the vid

heres the female from my old pair guarding her eggs

[kfenk]

this vid prob wont help much but you can see them colored up now. they seemed more interested in me standing there with my camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wPty_zjVGs

[BRANT13]

hmm....mine were always a dark deep red...ures look alot paler and almost gray with the exception of the more colorful one....i cant really sex them from the video sorry.