[Joels fish]

I got home tonight and went to feed my fish, and noticed that my supposed male OB peacock was holding! Not that peacocks spawning in my tank is odd or anything, but this particular peacock never has much to do with the other two peacocks(1m 1f ) . In fact it usually hangs around my brichardi who have accepted him/her in their territory. This guy has all the usual male traits like more ornate fin markings egg spots , but is apparently infact female.
anybody ever experience this before, and if so how common is this gender bending in OB peacocks?

 

[Joea]

If it's holding eggs, it's a female. How long have you had this fish? Sometimes hormones can give even females the colours and finnage of males, eggspots are not necessarily a male trait.

 

[Gibbs]

I thought that female OB peacocks can carry some colour (unlike female peacocks).

 

[Dave]

As Joe suggested, hormones will make a female look like a male in both color and finnage. Also, the OB peacock really hasn't been well established yet as a breed, so there is no standard for what either a male or female should look like. In fact, they are still being crossed with other peacock species. Also, OB females from mbuna lines are often very colorful.

Eggspots are typically a poor indication of gender in most species of African Cichlids.

 

[hollyfish2000]

I just returned a ruby red peacock that turned out to be female. Dropped eggs out of "his" mouth was sort of a give-away. I have an all male tank . . . supposedly. I should have known something was suspect because "he" didn't look that great and didn't have long fins. But he was red, so I thought maybe he was just a poor specimen . . . Nope, hormoned female and she is now gone . . . thank God that my Red Empress wasn't too nasty about claiming her for his own and no one got hurt . . .

 

[Joels fish]

If it's holding eggs, it's a female. How long have you had this fish? Sometimes hormones can give even females the colours and finnage of males, eggspots are not necessarily a male trait.

I've had this fish since Oct. 07. I've never had any reason to suspect that it may have been treated with hormones, well not till now anyway. I have also never seen this fish attempt to spawn, but always figured it was simply out competed for the females attention. This fish has had a very "blah" pesonality .Very boring.
Oh , and I kinda figured if it was holding it was a female :lol: . [/quote]